Rick Beato has interviewed Keith Jarrett for a reasonably slick video presentation. Any one who cares for Jarrett will need to watch. While it is tragic to see a giant after a debilitating stroke, Jarrett is unexpectedly and joyfully straight up in his rap, quite unlike much of his personal presentation in the past.
I'm very late to this thread but enjoyed reading Ethan's analysis, and the conversation below it. I also can't believe we were denied a standards trio with Steve Swallow (!) rather than Peacock, per the video.
I've been thinking a lot about the connection between Jarrett, Corea, and be-bop. The "hole" in Jarrett's bebop playing probably comes down to vocabulary, but I wonder how much can be explained by a distinct lack of "playfulness" in his approach to jazz (and life...). Bebop is not ONLY playful music (I couldn't describe most of Bud Powell that way) but Bird, Dizzy, Monk, even Barry Harris, etc. were often very humorous and jovial in ways that Jarrett isn't. (The only real joke in his oeuvre that I'm aware of is the famous "opera chime" figure that opens Koln.) Jarrett chose a more lyrical path, even when he went "out" (a la Ornette). This choice certainly appears to have aligned with his temperament.
Now take Corea: smiling, winking, goosing to the core. His "out" stuff is pretty playful, too, and nearly always entertaining. (A side note: Bud Powell might not be all that playful, but "Bud Powell," the Chick Corea tune, is—while incorporating a fair amount of Bud.) Corea obviously listened to more bebop than Jarrett and had the vocabulary down. But his impish personality at the keyboard may have provided an important piece of the puzzle. (I wonder, in fact, how much of Chick's humor was drawn from the bebop playbook he studied.) He may have in fact OVERemphasized this aspect of bebop at times, but it's notable that it still feels authentic when he does.
I feel this way about Metheny also - it's a failure of classification, not the musicians. We call all of this improvisational music "jazz". Jarrett plays "Jarrett Music" and Metheny plays "Metheny Music" which could be grouped into a genre called "ECM music".
In Keith in particular I hear a lot of "church" and not just Bach's sacred music. His playing has a folk-gospel aspect - a total detour from bebop, bebop's children, and "soul jazz". It's almost as though he was a fully formed musician from another universe who was injected into the jazz world without a map.
Metheny likewise claims a deep Montgomery influence, but I don't hear it - he too, very explicitly in album titles, has this midwestern plains open space thing going on that is very NOT bop nor blues nor anything else obviously carrying the Black American musical lineage - that lineage more subtly guides his approach, it's always there but maybe as a set of principles rather than style.
I think of them both as "jazz" musicians because they simply have nowhere else to be - that's where they fit best even if the fit is often imprecise.
And lastly, regarding Keith - if Steely Dan copped something I wrote, I'd consider it the greatest achievement of my life. It is probably out of Keith's top ten thousand.
I’m intrigued by this “More bebop, less Bach” critique. Unique I think and respectfully provocative. I’m wondering what your overall take on John Lewis might be: grounded in modernist bebop, and Basie-inspired lean blues, then... Bach. Do you hear him similarly? Best wishes. cm
Captaintrips comment re: the “church” in Jarrett’s approach rings true for me. Not entirely off-topic: heard Branford Marsalis play “Long as You’re Living Yours” live Saturday night and it swung. I see that he recorded “The Windup” on a recent album. Guess he likes that “Belonging” album!
I'm very late to this thread but enjoyed reading Ethan's analysis, and the conversation below it. I also can't believe we were denied a standards trio with Steve Swallow (!) rather than Peacock, per the video.
I've been thinking a lot about the connection between Jarrett, Corea, and be-bop. The "hole" in Jarrett's bebop playing probably comes down to vocabulary, but I wonder how much can be explained by a distinct lack of "playfulness" in his approach to jazz (and life...). Bebop is not ONLY playful music (I couldn't describe most of Bud Powell that way) but Bird, Dizzy, Monk, even Barry Harris, etc. were often very humorous and jovial in ways that Jarrett isn't. (The only real joke in his oeuvre that I'm aware of is the famous "opera chime" figure that opens Koln.) Jarrett chose a more lyrical path, even when he went "out" (a la Ornette). This choice certainly appears to have aligned with his temperament.
Now take Corea: smiling, winking, goosing to the core. His "out" stuff is pretty playful, too, and nearly always entertaining. (A side note: Bud Powell might not be all that playful, but "Bud Powell," the Chick Corea tune, is—while incorporating a fair amount of Bud.) Corea obviously listened to more bebop than Jarrett and had the vocabulary down. But his impish personality at the keyboard may have provided an important piece of the puzzle. (I wonder, in fact, how much of Chick's humor was drawn from the bebop playbook he studied.) He may have in fact OVERemphasized this aspect of bebop at times, but it's notable that it still feels authentic when he does.
I feel this way about Metheny also - it's a failure of classification, not the musicians. We call all of this improvisational music "jazz". Jarrett plays "Jarrett Music" and Metheny plays "Metheny Music" which could be grouped into a genre called "ECM music".
In Keith in particular I hear a lot of "church" and not just Bach's sacred music. His playing has a folk-gospel aspect - a total detour from bebop, bebop's children, and "soul jazz". It's almost as though he was a fully formed musician from another universe who was injected into the jazz world without a map.
Metheny likewise claims a deep Montgomery influence, but I don't hear it - he too, very explicitly in album titles, has this midwestern plains open space thing going on that is very NOT bop nor blues nor anything else obviously carrying the Black American musical lineage - that lineage more subtly guides his approach, it's always there but maybe as a set of principles rather than style.
I think of them both as "jazz" musicians because they simply have nowhere else to be - that's where they fit best even if the fit is often imprecise.
And lastly, regarding Keith - if Steely Dan copped something I wrote, I'd consider it the greatest achievement of my life. It is probably out of Keith's top ten thousand.
Hi Ethan:
I’m intrigued by this “More bebop, less Bach” critique. Unique I think and respectfully provocative. I’m wondering what your overall take on John Lewis might be: grounded in modernist bebop, and Basie-inspired lean blues, then... Bach. Do you hear him similarly? Best wishes. cm
Captaintrips comment re: the “church” in Jarrett’s approach rings true for me. Not entirely off-topic: heard Branford Marsalis play “Long as You’re Living Yours” live Saturday night and it swung. I see that he recorded “The Windup” on a recent album. Guess he likes that “Belonging” album!