During the last forty years, Keith Jarrett has come to be recognized as one of the most creative musicians of our times - commonly commended as an improviser of unrivalled genius ; a professional at jazz piano ; a classical keyboardist of great depth ; and as a composer who has written lots of pieces for his varied jazz groups, and extended works for orchestra, soloist, and chamber ensemble. Born May eight, 1945 in Allentown, Pennsylvania, Keith Jarrett started tinkling the keys at age three and undertook classical music studies all though his youth ; performing as a child in programs at the Academy of Music in Philadelphia and at Madison Square Garden. He undertook formal composition studies at age fifteen, before moving to Boston to speedily study at the Berklee University of Music. While still in his late teens, agreements were made to study composition in Paris with the great pedagogue Nadia Boulanger, but then canceled at the last moment in favour of moving to Long Island in 1964 to play jazz. After an initial period sitting in at the Town Vanguard and other Manhattan jazz spots, Jarrett toured first with Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers. From 1966 to 1968 he was the pianist with the Charles Lloyd Quartet which swiftly became one of the most well-liked groups on the changing late-Sixties jazz scene with top selling records and worldwide tours.

He soon led his very own threesome with Charlie Haden and Paul Motian ( which in 1972 extended to a quartet with the addition of tenor saxophone player Dewey Redman ). Then in 1970 / 71, Jarrett changed into a featured member in Miles Davis ' electrical fusion group, playing electrical piano and organ - his last stint as a sideman, thereafter, dedicating himself totally to performing acoustic music as a solo artist and as a leader.In 1971, Keith Jarrett commenced his recording partnership with German producer Manfred Eicher and ECM Records ( Editions of Up to date Music ). This fruitful partnership has produced over sixty recordings to date, unique in their scope, variety, and quality.The bedrock of the Jarrett / ECM discography is made of the landmark solo piano recordings which have helped redefine the task of the piano in recent music. The piano improvisations on Facing You, Solo Concerts, The Kln Concert, Staircase, Sun Bear Concerts, Moth and The Flame, Concerts, Paris Concert, Dark Intervals, Vienna Concert, and La Scala incorporate a broad range of musical idioms and languages - classical, jazz, ethnic, gospel, people, blues and pure sound - exposing a creative process primarily based on an extraordinarily conscious state of awakeness and listening in the instant, making music both extraordinarily private, yet universal.This body of solo piano work is without case law with the Kln Concert being the top selling piano recording in history.

In May 2005, ECM released Glow , a new 2-CD set of solo piano improvisations recorded live in Japan in Nov 2002. On Sep twenty-six, 2005 Keith Jarrett performed his first American solo concert in just about ten years at New York's Carnegie Hall. The sold out concert which featured 5 encores including solo versions of his well-liked compositions My Song and Paint My Heart Red was recorded and is being prepared for CD release by ECM in Sep 2006. In 1999, The Tune At Night, With You, a solo piano studio recording of classic tunes was released by ECM and has turned into one of the finest selling instrumental recordings by a jazz artist during the past decade, winning many Best of the Year awards in Europe, Japan and the US. For the last 20 years, Keith Jarrett's main context for playing jazz has been his threesome with bass guitar player Gary Peacock and drummer Jack DeJohnette, which in 2003 celebrates its 20 th Anniversary together. The threesome first played together in 1977, when Jarrett and DeJohnette played on Peacock's first ECM Records recording, Stories of Another ( Jarrett and DeJohnette had already played together in the late-'60's with both Charles Lloyd and Miles Davis ).

In 1983, Jarrett invited the other 2 to make playing standards - the wealthy body of American Broadway show and jazz tunes from the 1930's, '40s and '50s. At the time it was considered pass for quality players to work on standards, rather than original material, but Jarrett thought that it was necessary to show that : Music was not about the material, but what the player brings to the material.. The original 1983 trio session in New York produced the trio's first three ECM releases: Standards Vol. 1 and Vol. 2, and Changes. “live” concert recordings have followed on ECM, each recorded in a different international city: Standards Live , Still Live , Changeless , Tribute , Standards in Norway , The Cure , Live at The Blue Note , Tokyo '96 , Whisper Not , and the releases, Inside Out and Always Let Me Go , both recordings of freely improvised trio music recorded live in concert.