Watch this video for free (and without ads) over on Nebula! nebula.tv/videos/aimeenoltemusic-why-keith-jarrett-blows-my-mind/

As someone who is autistic and plays piano, I ADORE Mr. Jarrett's explanation of why he makes his sounds when he is playing. So often when I am playing I feel like I can't get the full sound out and in my mind it almost too much and it just overflows out of my mouth. It feel so great to know that a master does the same things that I do makes me really happy. This was a fantastic video Aimee!!!

I've been in love with the Koln Concert for over a decade, absolutely majestic and to think it's all improvised.

Keith Jarrett is absolutely masterful. Encore in Tokyo is so powerful and moving. One of my favorites of all time. Great video Aimee.

I’m so lucky to be a fly in the wall of your badass musings. One of The coolest jazz moms. Imagine a reality tv show in the vein of “dance moms” with you in it. Lol! The scandals and trials of Jazz moms. Lmao “FOLLOW YOUR MOTIF TO THE END”

Yeah, Standars In Norway, in my favorites...Love is a many splendored thing.. OMG

I remember playing The Köln Concert when I was on WRUW-FM (college radio) back in the 70s. He has had an amazing career!

" There's not enough space for the input and output at the same time, " says Keith as he refers to his penchant for vocalization of his lines. I love that. Jarrett's music is in a class of one, inhabiting a space that includes Jazz while simultaneously transcending it.

You don’t cease to find fascinating subjects, and you present them better and better.

Thank you Aimee for this video about Keith Jarrett. Thank you also for tuning your Hallet & Davis piano before making this video so we can hear both harmony and melody more clearly in your demonstrations. I've been playing jazz piano for over seven decades, and I've studied Keith's playing for many of those decades. I've met him numerous times after concerts and discussed music with him. Keith, Jack and Gary all signed my "Standards in Norway" C.D. which I've all but memorized after countless plays. You have done a great job in analyzing Keith's playing, especially his improvisations. One of Keith's most praised abilities has always been his skill in playing improvised right hand lines. But in recent years, I've concentrated less on his lines and more on his piano sound, since I am constantly drawn to it as a romantic is drawn to the scent of fragrant flowers. Three of the most prominent things about Keith's playing are His Harmony, His Piano Sound, and His Solo Piano Intros, especially on ballads. First, his piano sound is unique. It has an exquisite elegant, polished sound, which emanates from his left hand chording. His chord voicings are delicious, touching, and gorgeous. His harmonies are a wonderful evolution of Bill Evans harmony, and although Bill's harmony often evoked different degrees of melancholy in the listener, Keith's harmony evoke a far greater range of emotion. The concept of "creating the listener's moods through many different harmonies" is a goal which is rarely considered. Harmonies which instill mystery, sadness, beautiful joy, exquisite richness, wonderful sensuousness, and often intrigue in the listener. Unfortunately, I'm using words to describe these feelings, and they are a poor substitute for the higher art form of music, but suffice to say that Keith's harmonies are highly evolved, and are almost always moving and delicious in one way or another. After years of studying his harmonic technique, which is mixed into his piano sound, I've finally discovered how he creates it. First, since he is a signed Steinway & Sons artist, Steinway provides him with his choice of model "D" concert grand pianos. After Keith has chosen the piano for his performance, the piano is delivered to the concert venue and it is freshly tuned, then retouched with a fine tuning minutes before the performance. Second, Keith plays within a vary narrow range of the keyboard, not extending much more than an octave above or below middle C. He tries to keep the harmony notes of his left hand and as many melody notes in his right hand within that narrow range around middle C, because that particular range of frequencies are most conducive to avoiding harmonic overtones, while also sounding most pleasing to the human ear. Third, Keith often comps with his left hand in a very staccato, peppery way, playing very sparsely. Finally, he uses very little sustain pedal. Often, he uses no sustain pedal at all. This approach dampens all the unused strings, while eliminating overtones and harmonics. It also projects a far clearer harmonic sound, much cleaner, which translates to a much more beautiful sound. Playing without using sustain pedal is very difficult, and it requires a far greater amount of muscle control and effort. I suggest you try playing any of your favorite tunes without the use of sustain pedal, and you will quickly discover that your fingers have to work much harder to get the sound out, but the cleaner sound can be worth it. If you watch Keith's feet during his concerts on You-Tube, you will notice his reluctance to use much sustain pedal. Also, his body movements while he is standing, gyrating, and dancing as he plays, is another physical feat which makes playing even more difficult. Exactly how he gets such a beautiful sound out of the piano, and plays such strong improvised melody lines while standing, dancing and gyrating....with his eyes closed, is truly remarkable. If you try doing all of this, you will quickly realize what an incredible piano athlete Keith was. The third outstanding attribute Keith has shared with listeners, is his incredible, deep, intimate, and often heart-breaking solo piano intros to tunes, especially ballads. While Jack and Gary sit, waiting for their cues to join in the tune, Keith will play the most personal and touching piano introductions. It's as if you were the only person listening to him play, and he was playing it just for you because you are the love of his life. Rich, sensuous, tender, gorgeous piano introductions. And, he often uses very few notes. He knows how to play spaces, just as Miles Davis could play spaces as well as notes, Keith knows how to phrase, and use bits of silence as effectively as he uses notes. Listen to his piano introductions on his You-Tube recordings of "Somewhere Over The Rainbow", "Danny Boy", "I Fall In Love Too Easily" "With A Song In My Heart", and so many more tunes. Exquisite !! A pianist's greatest temptation, after seeing the piano's 88 keys, is to play as many keys as possible, and as fast as possible. Liszt, Chopin, and other composers would write piano music to challenge pianists to play impossible mountains of notes at fast tempos. The instrument itself presents all of its notes to you as soon as you sit on the bench, and your natural inclination is to play them. Keith, using mostly that small portion of the keyboard, playing in a simple, spartan uncluttered way, with no sustain pedal, has managed to achieve one of the greatest goals that any pianist can accomplish. That is to have the ability to make this 88-note percussion instrument sound like a wind instrument. Part of this technique is the ability to quickly gliss into and out of chords and melody notes, while playing other distracting notes in the left hand. Magicians call this "misdirection" meaning to get the viewer to look at one hand, while the other hand is doing something else. After years of studying Keith, and discovering the secrets of how he accomplishes his elegant, polished liquid sound, I've tried to copy it, but with little success at times. It all seems so simple and easy, not highly technical, yet it has taken Keith years to perfect his rich, polished piano sound, and for the most part, the listener is not even aware of it. However, the listener does indeed feel the effects of it emotionally. I realize you have concentrated mostly on Keith's right hand improvised lines, and many people have transcribed his playing note for note, as have you. He has played some amazing stuff, and not necessarily to satisfy his ego, but rather to be creative in service of the music But, I urge you to listen to the other, deeper, more emotionally expressive aspects of Keith's playing as well. His left hand harmonies, his comping, his ability to play without sustain pedal, his overall gorgeous piano sound, and his deeply intimate piano introductions.......especially on ballads, as well as his solo piano recordings....especially ballads. One other thing I've noticed about Keith's playing is a kind of musical maturity. His ability to play simple, beautiful things without the need to impress the listener with lots of notes and indulgent showing off. If you compare his playing to other top Jazz pianists, you will notice it is not ornamented much. Keith rarely uses any extra notes for effect. Even though he can play fast and complex improvised lines, they are all full of musical nutrition. No superfluous runs, grace notes, trills or gimmicks. Unlike many famous Jazz pianists, (mostly men) Keith rose to a point where he didn't feel he had to prove he could play lots of notes and fast tempos just to impress listeners. When he does play that way, its because the music calls for it, not his ego, or his insecurities. I could write for hours about Keith's moaning, singing, caterwauling and grunting, as well as the love/hate relationship he developed with audiences over the years. I've attended those concerts where Keith and the audiences got into shouting matches, and near fist fights, but that is a subject for another time. I've discovered that the best teachers are those who inspire you, who move you. I've studied a handful of great Jazz and Classical pianists who inspire me deeply, and those people seem to be the ones from whom I've learned the most. Fortunately, I've been lucky enough to study privately with a couple of them. As pianists, we are all lucky that Keith has left a rich piano legacy for us to enjoy and to study. I'm so glad he has inspired you, and I'm sure he would be happy to know that he has become part of your creativity and your playing. I wish you all the best in your rich musical journey.

It's nice to hear him not being snide or arrogant presumably because of Marian. Lovely vid, your enthusiasm is contagious.

Thank you Aimee!! He is a great influence not only for the jazz players but also for us classical pianists!! One of the giants❤

Thanks for the video Aimee. Keith has been my favorite also for the past 30 years. Hearing somebody say “go listen to ‘At the Deer Head Inn’ made me happy. 😃

Keith Jarrett was (until his recent troubles) the greatest musician on the planet. Bar none. Given his composing, performance, collaborations. THIS IS WHY I LOVE AIMEE! She not only has made me a great guitar player in terms of voicings, but also in terms of listening. Thank you for teaching me my ears are the most important part of a musician. I've seen Keith 5 or so times (I live in New Jersey) and had tickets to his last cancelled CarnHall concert. Thank you Aimee for this. A gift.

Loved this! I've long been entranced by Keith Jarrett's music, but your enthusiasm was still infectious and delightful. Thank you.

BRAVO! Keith Jarrett performances can still bring tears to my eyes these 45 years after my first discovery of him! Your theory analysis coupled with your personal joy brought greater meaning for me of his standards. Thanks for all that you do and sharing your enthusiasm, it is infectious.

My favourite Jarrett moment is probably the tune "Old Folks" on his trio album "The Cure". I also love the intro to "Bye Bye Blackbird" on the "At The Deer Head Inn" album. And I love the whole "The Melody At Night With You" album, which never fails to calm me down.

Great video. Absolutely fascinating from so many angles, including seeing your transcription: fabulous.

Very thoughtful, insightful and respectful discussion of Jarrett's playing, thank you. Will check out the Nebula class !

Great video, Aimee. Love the examples. I discovered Keith Jarrett from watching Rick Beato’s channel and now I love him.

Lovely video! Keith has been such an immense inspiration on my playing and felt such a deep relation to the way you expressed the magic in Keith's musicality.

Love your insight, analysis and appreciation of one of my favorite artists.

Thanks Amy. Been watching Keith perform since 1973. I miss him on the stage but he's always raised the bar for me as a pianist.

I've always been a fan of the channel, so calming and informative

Love it! I love it! Thank you sis.

Hi Aimee! I don’t often watch your videos because they’re a bit long, but I think in this one really emerges the love that you have for the Music. Thank you!

Wow Aimee, what a great vid. I have long said Standards in Norway is possibly my favorite jazz album of all time and it's great to see someone else recognize how great this work is. An underrated Jarrett recording for sure.

What a stellar video for a stellar pianist. Well done Aime

Hi Aimee, This is such a rich and positive analysis of these tracks and Keith Jarrett's playing - there are so many great observations to think about, and the transcription is really helpful as a way for us to 'see' the things you speak about - the use of bebop vocabulary and so on... This is great! I am working my way through your videos and getting so much from them - thank you!

I'm sure you're familiar w/ the live version of 'The Days Of Wine and Roses', from the Keith Jarrett Trio 's 'Complete Live At Blue Note' album. That intro can only be described as 'sonic poetry'. His touch, dynamics, the tone he gets from the piano and the improvised intro itself, where he takes the main theme and does digressions on motifs, going into these little detours, while never leaving the core of the melody...its' brilliant and they go off into the tune and Keith goes into one of the most incredible piano solos I've heard him play, spontaneously picking melodic patterns/motifs and imitating w/ the correct accidentals to fit the next change, many great masters, but Keith is unique in the way he builds it on the fly to a climax...it's supreme and Jack and Gary are right there w/ him. Top shelf.

'Standards In Norway' has always been my favourite Jarrett trio album. Thanks for explaining it to well, and bringing it to the attention of the people. Not enough musicians give it the credit it deserves. Melody, motivic development and lyricism is the key!

I love your deconstruction of Jarrett's music. It opens up the complexity of the process within his improvisations and how he constructs the music. Fascinating.

Wonderful episode here. And I love Keith’s reflection on ‘The Good America’ on extracurricular sounds (squeal) made in striving for that full expression that isn’t quite attainable! Thanks for all of this Aimee!

That was great Aimee, Keith had a way of achieving a strong flow state that just takes the listener on a voyage if they are receptive and willing.

Near the top of my fav Keith Jarrett albums! Thanks for this video!

Very nice. Kieth Jarrett is so special. It’s hard to overstate how musical his playing is or how much a pianist can learn from him. Thanks.

Thank you.. as a jazz pianist and longtime Keith Jarrett fan, I'm loving this!

Been in love since Personal Mountains. Also, I love this channel! I love the slow pace, normal voice, intelligent digging through ... Perfect for an old fart like me

Excellent video!! Love Keith Jarrett!!!

That was wonderful. Thank you! (And you’re right - that album is insanely good. Probably my favorite.)

Thank you I loved this. He is one of my favorite.

Great transcribing !! What a broad thinker Keith Jarrett is.. such swing to.. idea developed one after leading to another.. Don’t get around Much in there.. Thanks Aimee this is great !!

I love his rendition of "I got it bad (and that ain't good)". It amazes me every time I hear it!

When I play, the audience makes that sound!

Thanks sooooo much. This is soooo inspiring 🙏🌸🙌

Keith Jarrett is fearless. That is why there is never any hesitation in the music. Just pure power.

Great discussion on Keith Jarrett Aimee. Now I want to hear the Mariam McPartland interview with him and the Jazz Standards album he made. You open up so many ideas for me...thank you so much!

Thanks. Really insightful analysis

Thanks so much for this article and review. Very informative and thorough.

I love the 2 duo albums he did with Charlie Haden. It's mostly ballads and some of his most lyrical playing.

Very interesting, thanks for this

Keith Jarrett is out of this world. Simply Everything he did is miraculous, but the standards are just stellar. And out of all these stellar gems, the one that will never stop blowing my mind - literally - is The Song Is You from "Still Live" (1986). And to be precise, the incredible vamp that starts somewhere around 8:45. It also starts with a too-good-to-be-so-simple motif and then develops and develops until he exhausts it and leads it to yet another, very close motif that also develops into one of the most exciting, sensational, breathtaking and any other superlative I'll ever come up with. This is definitely, without a shade of a doubt my favorite 5 minute of Jazz ever. Forget it, of any kind of music.

Mucho Thanxo, Maestra Aimee. 🌹🌹🌹🌹

Danke!

I got into Keith back in the 70's when Koln Concert album came out. I was a guitarist and didn't listen to a lot of solo piano but that album really drew me in. Over the decades I've listened to Keith off and on and did go to hear him live once. I went with my business partner whose degrees was in classical piano performance. It was funny watch my friend squirm watch Keith girations and standing when he played. She finally calmed and and got into the music. She told me later she just closed her eyes so she couldn't see Keith and just listened. Now I'm trying to learn to play piano and listening to Keith especially the Standard albums. They album that really grabbed me recently and I can't stop listening to is Bye Bye Blackbird something about that album really does it for me.

Thank you! This is great.

Great video. Thank you Aimee. Keith Jarrett is the greatest pianist of our time. His playing is Jazz for me! I like his recent concert albums the most. My favourite album of his (in addition to perhaps Koln Concert) is “The Melody at Night, With You”. He does not have to swing to play great jazz!

Hi, Aimee.Thank you for mentioning that album. I got the exact same feeling as you when I heard that version of “All of you”. This is one of the greatest and less known albums by the trio. I also appreciate the way you take your time to really explain in depth and show on the piano in your videos. It makes it a lot easier for us to learn. Keep up the good work👍

Keith Jarrett is amazing and Standars in Norway is my favorite album, ...those songs, playing, sound. And as a bass player just love A Little Girl Blue...Gary`s bass solo is just unbelieveble😮😊

Fantastic video.

Thanks for this posting. Keith has easily become my favorite jazz pianist. I certainly love McCoy Tyner, Herbie Hancock, Bill Evans, Oscar Peterson and so on. But What I noticed about Keith is that he seems to have an endless vocabulary. He's recognizable in a blindfold test but never really plays the same licks if you will that can often be used to identify a musician. I could do without some of the grunting heard in many of his recordings but that's Keith and part of his musical exploration. I'm a guitarist and wish I had that facility. Anyway, I own all of his trio recordings with Gary and Jack as well as several solo recordings. He's phenomenal.

Terrific discussion….thanks.

My brother introduced me to Keith Jarrett this year, and I love him.

Excellent take on Keith Jarrett, his sense of harmony is out of this world, there’s no one like him! I have a recording of Glenn Gould doing some Bach inventions on vinyl and he vocally goes along with it too, sometimes you can hear him. On digital cd format, you can’t.

My favorite pianist of all time... His rendition of Old Man River from Tokyo 2002 is incredible, and it was an encore.

By chance I saw him live once and towards the end of the concert he was standing up in front of the piano playing percussion and leaning over the keyboard plucking on the strings inside the grand piano grunting and sighing extracting every possibility out of the instrument. When the concert was over I felt like a little kid who had just seen and heard a piano being played for the first time and was totally enthrawlled.

Luuiiv KJ so much! Was first exposed to the Standards trio on PBS and I had to get all his trio albums and DVDs! KJ is the most powerful musical sorcerer of the 20th century!

Just found you looking for music notation/ manuscript tips and saw this vid on Jarrett's Norway standards album. OMG, I've never heard it. It's astoundingly good. Cadenza on I Hear a Rhapsody knocked me out of my chair. So glad i found your channel

I love all incarnations of Keith Jarrett, but the Standards Trio I listen to the most. "My Foolish Heart" is maybe my favorite, the ballads are very special on that occasion and the rest swings incredibly hard & goes deep. Even a spectacular ragtime section. Great setlist and very restrained when it comes to the screaming.

I think the music such as Keith Jarrett's don't make you only a better musician, but a better human. Most of us are not musicians. But we all need to have good inspirations. This music is like light and love. And, thank you Aimee for your gentle and inspirational analysis and examples!

I wasn't such a great fan and you just killed me with your voice and passion. Now, I have to go fetch all my old albums of his! Damn you, Aimee ! 😊

Yes!!! Jarrett is INCREDIBLE AF!!!

and now this..... (news voice)....thx Aimee great episode as per usual...yay

Great video. Not easy to talk about KJ. Thoughtful and soulful.

Thank you for sharing your enthusiasm and energy. Like others have already mentioned I find Keith’s Koln concert 2B a fav. The story line of that particular performance moved me. Keith’s willingness to work with what was made available to him even though it wasn’t up to his usual standard. IMHO, he showcased a musical version of the idea “ when all you’re given is lemons, go out and make lemonade “. The best tasting lemonade. He also speaks volumes for embracing life as an adventure.

I love the koln concert

Thank you Keith

Thanks for leading me to new vistas Aimee.

Excellent

i love how johnette is on every other concept jam album. sure i got time, i play with your student project. well i guess its what keeps him young.

My favorite KJ solo (and all-time favorite improvisation, period) is on “Too Young To Go Steady” from Standards Live. A slow-building, lyrical, logical but unpredictable masterpiece over an unstoppable groove from Peacock & DeJohnette. Also, I was in the audience for Disc 4 of the Live at the Blue Note set. I got to shake Keith’s hand afterward (I was nervous as hell). An evening I’ll never forget.

I know he's going through a lot right now, but what I would give to see him play some day

Great video Aimee. Keith is one of my favorites players. He’s also a great classical musician, just listen to his Mozart and Shostakovich. Probably he is motif driven because of his strong classical music background.

thks for this....ik hadn't listen to Kieth in years (like 30 yrs)

The “Facing you” album is probably my favorite. Particularly the song “Lalene”. So beautiful

talking about a genius... great vid!

Well said Aimee!

Thank you Aimee - Keith Jarrett is one of my top favourites. ‘God Bless the Child’ has to be one of my most played tracks as well as the Standards in Norway LP. Thanks for this very informative video - more of these please. Chick or Herbie next?

Thanks Aimee, this was dope! Forgot how great Standards Norway is, thanks for the illuminating reminder. 🤜🏼 🎹 🎥

Thanks!

I’ve listened to Spiral Dance a thousand times and it sounds new and blows my mind every time

One of my favorite classical albums of all time is Keith Jarrett performing book one of the well tempered clavier by Bach. It’s beautiful.

The The Köln Concert is my sanctuary of peace.

'At the Blue Note' is my go to album when I'm writing - it's rare to find such virtuosity mixed with such musicality, served up so effortlessly. Keith truly is the living embodiment of the piano.

Nice to see this, and I think it's true to say that Keith is in a class of his own. Even though the focus of this video is his fantastic lines (which I've always loved because they have bebop roots but also reference a more free aesthetic, all under the umbrella of his ecstatic lyricism), they're only one part of what he does. You also have his incredible left hand, his beautiful touch and voicings, his deep contrapuntal sense, his mind boggling ability to improvise breathtakingly fast lines, and his ability to create complete structures on the spot. Then you have all the legit classical recordings, the music of his 2 quartets, and other varied projects. What a musician.

I love Keith Jarrett. Standards in Norway and the Keith Jarrett at the Blue Note box set are my favorite albums in the jazz trio genre of his remarkable career. Standards in Norway was recorded six years after his original Standards studio albums, and the playing reached another level of perfection. I enjoyed Aimee Nolte's analysis, enthusiasm, and insight into Jarrett's playing.

Thanks for posting. I confess, I'm a defect. Jarret's performance (lyrical ideas, execution, delivery, etc) is as good as it gets in my opinion. If I was a kid just starting to learn the genre (or music in general), I'd be trying to get as much of Keith Jarret's music in my ears as possible. I'm not exactly sure how to articulate it, but is just so pure and musical; like it breathes life on its own. Its so perfectly good...

You are breath of fresh air.

I love his stellar interpretation of Bartók's 3rd piano concerto :)

After listening most of his recordings and playing some of his transcriptions I came back to Over the Rainbow. The version recorded in London, 91. I hope he will be playing again.