Keith Jarrett: A Biography (Popular Music History)

Having been a devotee of Keith Jarrett for 40 years I was glad to see this book finally translated from German into English. I have had Ian Carr's book, the only previous biography of Mr Jarrett, since it was published, but it is now way out of date.I have to say that I was rather disappointed - the book has lots of information, but very little 'soul'. I get the idea that the author admires Mr Jarrett's playing, but for me that's not enough. I love Keith Jarrett, despite all his idiosyncrasies, and his playing is not just technically brilliant but it has been an essential part of my life. I suppose I wanted to get something of that from the author (although not a hagiography).Of course, the book was written without any input from Mr Jarrett, who doesn't usually discuss his music or his life, but still a bit of 'love' would have been welcome.Sadly, ill-health has now forced Mr Jarrett's retirement..

Still reading it as it was a Christmas present and enjoying the insight

I presume serious followers of jazz like me have amongst their jazz vinyl or CD collection, a number of core titles by pianist Keith Jarrett. From the brilliant Facing You, the massive Sun Bear live concerts collection and the multi-selling Koln Concert to later works including Live At the Deer Head Inn to La Scala , Radiance to Budapest Concert. These titles alone reveal the genius of this man and his intuitive, impassioned approach. However to find out a bit more about this very private person, author Wolfgang Sandner (thankfully translated into English by Chris Jarrett) has dug deep, including one small interview at the near conclusion of this book to reveal quite a lot about the inner workings of the man behind the piano. While born in Allentown USA, Jarrett has spent a lot of his time via European settings. Either as part of his Standards Trio with drummer Jack DeJohnette and bassist Gary Peacock or via his many European live concerts. Of course his main musical offerings come by way of prestigious German Jazz Label ECM. Interesting to note early on, is that on meeting ECM founder Manfred Eicher a firm handshake is all it took to confirm a recording life with ECM. It is these sorts of examples of information that make this book thoroughly interesting and there are many in-depth revelations at the pen of Sandner. He also tells of the back pain Jarrett endures owing to many years ago, helping to push a car to get it started. He suffered through the pain for many of his live recorded performances. The real essence of this book is in how on many occasions Sandner puts forward many reasonings at how and why Jarrett reaches and creates many of his classic recordings. This book is an intellectual reflection of the life of an astounding genius and composer, which makes one absorb and think along to every intelligent paragraph. I feel very proud to own this book. I gain more and more from it after many readings.

This book is not a biography in the strict sense. It doesn't contain many details about Keith's life, for which we would be very curious about. This is probably due to the well-known closeness of the musician with respect to his private life. Jarrett has made very few public declarations and does'nt like to talk about his music or his life. However, rhe book is an extensive artistic biography, with many details on the main faces of this great musician. An incredible effort that returns as a result a first possible categorizing of Keith Jarret's vast artistic universe, often with well-chosen extra-musical references to European and American culture.Not to be missed for those who want to have a listening guide, especially of Jarret's lesser known and unusual recordings.However, some limits are recognized, due to the author's personal approach and preferences. Allow me to list a few:- The exposition (by chapters) is by “categories” (beginnings, Amercan Quartet, European Quartet, Solo, Trio, classical performer, composer) and seems to be independent of the evolutionary development of Jarret's art over time. Some of these phases, albeit simultaneous, are treated separately as watertight compartments.- The detailed analysis of some of tha Jarret's creations, though admirable in describing things which, by the author's own admission, it is very difficult to talk about, concern only particular moments of this or that piece, sometimes losing sight of the general structure of the sessions. Structural recurrences, especially in Solo performances, are only rarely analyzed and revealed.- There is almost no cross-correlation between the various "categories" of Jarret's productions, the influences that each of the Jarrett’s facets has on the others: classical performances on Solo performances, Solo on the Standard Trio music, etc.- No reference is made to the vast unofficial production, but still available on various media.- Some judgments absolutely not acceptable (but here it is a matter of personal preferences): the 6 CDs of the Jarret Trio at Blue Note liquidated with just two words; the Soul experience of Sky Dive, beautiful in its specific kind (with giants like Freddie Hubbard, George Benson, Ron Carter and Billy Cobham), judged as a "forgotten" CD.With the retirement of this great artist, many new detalis on his life and music will come up and new more complete analysis will be done. For sure this book will be a reference for the ones to come.

Keith Jarrett – A Biography(German original by Wolfgang Sandner, translation by Chris Jarrett)How is it possible to write a biography about an artist who tries to avoid fixed statements and rules, musically and verbally? What can be told about a character who loves to object against and correct or even contradict what has been said? There seems to be a way: trying to understand what is probably most revealing - his art. `Keith Jarrett – A Biography' is not a biography in the common sense telling us about the backstage life of an exceptional musician, it rather is a topography of the musical landscapes of Keith Jarrett and a lot of famous fellow musicians in jazz as well as in the classical world, describing their play `in action'. Wolfgang Sandner actually presents us a history book of music on just about 215 pages that is both, satisfactorily encyclopedic and comfortably narrative. In fact, this book is a treasure chest of notes poured into letters, enlightening most of all those readers who find satisfaction in the `search for the most appropriate word'.Sandner opens his little masterpiece with philosophical thoughts, bringing up the idea that it seems symbolic that Keith Jarrett's date of birth coincided with one of the most important days in history at all – the end of World War II on May 8, 1945. In his opinion, the role that Jarrett has played in music for decades on either side of the ocean would not have been the same if there had not been a new formation of world order from that day on. This seems puzzling at first, but Sandner's knowledge of music history and political history helps him to justify it well.In the first chapter, readers of the translated version are served a delicacy: thanks to the fact that the German original has been translated into English by Chris Jarrett, the youngest brother of Keith and an excellent composer and pianist himself, they get a bit of extra information about cultural aspects of Jarrett's European family background, which is all the more precious because information about Jarrett's private life remains scarce throughout the whole book. It is only in the beginning and at the end of the book that we get a more accurate impression of his life at home in New Jersey, Pennsylvania.While following Keith Jarrett's musicianship from combo membership through band leadership and more and more solo performing to `perfect mastery', the author gives also insight in the creative periods of a number of Jarrett's fellow players and jazz giants like, for example, Bill Evans, Charles Lloyd and Miles Davis. He explains the ambitions of record labels, managers and producers and illuminates their relationship to the musicians, so that on some pages we might wonder when he will get back to `Keith Jarrett'. It seems that Sandner wants to make sure we have an almost perfect idea of what the music scene was like in America as well as in Europe at the respective time before he finally brings Jarrett into play again. Sandner uses all this to prepare the stage on which he likes to represent Keith Jarrett, be it in the background or be it in the front. Instead of pointing at the `Wunderkind', Sandner carves an extraordinarily gifted musician who now and then had to struggle with his surroundings in music as well as in personal life before he became more and more successful with his own special style of interpreting and unique kind of improvising - being equipped with seismographic senses that helped him navigate through a life that started not at all in glamour, he found his own specific destination in music (jazz in the broadest sense and also classical periods) only step by step, or as the author puts it, in “winding paths”.We are taken behind the stage on which Jarrett created his most famous live recordings like `The Köln Concert'. We learn about accompanying circumstances and we are given a glimpse of Jarrett's health problems and even financial crises. We are provided an insight into unique musical relationships between Keith Jarrett and selected fellow musicians and other important people, particularly the German producer Manfred Eicher of ECM, and we read about less known composers like, for example, the Russian Thomas de Hartmann, whose works Jarrett liked to interpret for a while.Sandner likes to classify Jarrett's music, and at the same time he makes an effort to separate it from music-historical developments, granting it a special status for its entirety. This applies to Jarrett's ensemble playing with his partner musicians (Charlie Haden, Paul Motian, Gary Peacock and Jack DeJohnette being the longest standing ones), dealt with mainly in the first half of the book, and even more to his solo projects, mainly in the second half. The process of improvising, occupying most of the pages, is described so vividly (not lacking lyrical passages and even biblical parables) and so profoundly analysed that it seems the author has seen every session through the magnifying glass, witnessing a music that is so diverse that readers who don't have a detailed knowledge of Keith Jarrett's recordings feel challenged to quickly make up for it.Sandner likes to compare Keith Jarrett with the greatest composers of bye-gone decades and centuries, which seems partly ironic, and sometimes he seems to subliminally criticize Jarrett's point of view, but in the end he always sincerely tries to explain Jarrett's attitude, especially when referring to the artist's spiritual streak and philosophical thinking. Pursuing this, the author uses the different chapters to reconsider new aspects of more or less the same episodes, quite in the same spirit in which Jarrett likes to come back to earlier compositions trying to get even closer to the `real core' of them.This music biography serves its purpose the best possible way, calling for all late ones to finally take the time and do what Keith Jarrett always used to require from his audiences: to carefully listen to the music, which will be even more thrilling after enjoying Wolfgang Sandner's impressive work, and hopefully keeping what Sandner's words promise.K. E. 2021/03

キースの伝記とのことですが、この本は優れた音楽評論だと思いました。大変面白い読み物です。音楽は聴くものですが、優れた音楽を言葉に置き換えてみることは大切だと気付かされました。　『多様性の中の統一』という表現が出て来ますが、正にキースの音楽の幅を指し示しています。キースがやりたかったことに対して米国の音楽業界が意外にも狭量で、欧州が早くから心を開いたことは興味深い事実です。ルー・ハリソンのようなキースに近い音楽性を持つ作曲家も米国にはいるのですが。 イアン・カーのようにキースと親しい人が書いた伝記も面白いですが、著者のようにあまり親しくはならなかった人はより客観的な見方や評価が出来るのかなと感じました。　余談ですが、私はキースのソロ・コンサーツに出会い深い感銘を受けたのですが、その後まもなく社会に出て以来長い間キースのコンサートに行ったりCDを買ったりする精神的な余裕がありませんでした。ようやく職を去りキースを聴いていこうと思った矢先キースの病を知りました。とても残念なことですが、キースが残してくれた多くの音楽を今少しずつ聴いています。

I am a K. Jarrett collector ( No; 2 after Miles}. So there is not more to say, ? , last week I bought THE 10 LP Box !