Keith Jarrett
Keith Jarrett (born in 1945) is an American pianist and composer who performs both jazz and classical music.
Early in his career he played with the famous musicians Art Blakey, Charles Lloyd, and Miles Davis. Jarrett has often cited Davis as a vital influence on his thinking about music and improvisation.
Since the early 1970s he has enjoyed much success as a group leader and as a solo performer in jazz, jazz fusion, and classical music. His improvisations draw from the traditions of jazz and other genres, especially Western classical-music, gospel, blues, and ethnic folk-music.
In 1973, Jarrett began playing totally improvised solo concerts, and the popularity of his many concert recordings made him one of the best-selling jazz artists in history. He has said that his best performances have been when he has had only the slightest idea as to what he was going to play at the next moment.
Jarrett has played harpsichord, clavichord, organ, soprano saxophone, drums, and many other instruments. Since the early 1970s, his success as a jazz musician has enabled him to maintain a parallel career as a classical composer and pianist.
Jarrett is intolerant of audience noise, and for many years he has been opposed to electronic instruments and equipment.
One of his trademarks is his frequent, loud vocalizations (grunting, squealing, and tuneless singing), similar to that of Glenn Gould, Thelonious Monk, Charles Mingus, Erroll Garner, and Oscar Peterson. Jarrett is also physically active while playing: writhing, gyrating, and almost dancing on the piano bench. These behaviors occur in his jazz and improvised solo performances, but are for the most part absent when he plays classical repertory.
Keith Jarrett received the Polar Music Prize in 2003, the LĂ©onie Sonning Music Prize in 2004, and was inducted into the Down Beat Hall of Fame in 2008.
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