I’m viewing this about a week after Keith announced that due to two strokes suffered in 2018, which left him partially paralyzed, he doubts that he will ever be able to play in public again. His unfortunate announcement has been covered by many mainstream news outlets. I’ve been a fan of his for over 40 years, collected most of his recordings, and attended several of his concerts, both solo and with his American trio. In addition to his technical abilities, which you covered in great detail, I consider Keith to be one of the best interpreters of the American standards. And his creativity while improvising has been simply remarkable. I will miss hearing new music from him, but his recorded output is so abundant that I will be listening to as much as I can from this day on. Thank you.

A few years ago, I did an hour-long phone interview with Keith for Jazz Times Mag...a few days later he was in my home town to do a concert and an arrangement was made to meet after the gig. The final tune he played that night was a ballad so impossibly beautiful that it left me speechless...(at the time, I remember describing it as like warm wax, slowly melting down the side of a candle.) Anyway, hearing two hours of his brilliance and esp. that final ballad, left me so discombobulated, that I totally lost any sense of coherence or social poise. My wife literally forced me to go meet Keith in the Green Room. The trio was there socializing with about 10 other people, mostly the concert promoters and spouses I think. Anyway, Keith was standing by himself, drinking bottled water and I couldn't even meet his eye...I was still safe (whew!) because he didn't know what I looked like. What could I possibly even say to this genius who left me speechless?.... and who himself was also notoriously speechless when decompressing from a major concert. Anyway, my wife dragged me over to Keith and we made some very uncomfortable small talk...after about a minute, I thanked him and fled the scene. The problem with meeting a giant, a master of all music, is that it made all of my gig playing, chart writing. teaching and journalism seem like just a small time hobby!

Fascinating.

The way his playing breathes, like an organic, living thing is magnificent! My favorite KJ quote: “ The more experience one has, the more simplicity is profound.” Genius!

This guy invented a new profession: keith Jarrett´s commentator.

Thanks, Dave. Finding someone equally moved by the incomparable genius of Keith Jarrett and the brilliance of 2/27/69 Dark Star. These KZfaq gifts of yours are much appreciated. Will contact for a lesson. Peace. MS

Amazing video, thank you so much! Keith Jarrett's genius is indeed on a level I can't even comprehend.

I was fortunate enough to attend this. It was amazing. Thanks, Dave!

Very very beautiful execution ! Thank' Dave Frank !

As always, you're just terrific Dave. Love your enthusiasm and style. Please put out more videos.

Incredible Dave!....Really enjoyed the class.

May I also mention, that "One Day I'll Fly Away" from that same charlie haden album is one of the most beautiful things I've ever heard in my life, and this video helped me to appreciate it even more!

Wonderful class. Thank you for posting!

Thanks Dave! Great analysis of a genius.

Duuuude!!! Amazing amazing soulfilled presentation! That was awesome! The 3 layers basically melody rythym and harmony with 10 fingers i love it! Thank you very much

I am sincerely grateful to you dear Dave Frank !

Actually, the genius come through when one listens to the movement of the thumb. It is all so subtle. Thanks Frank I had not known this before.

Very cool. Thanks Dave.

That's a great job, thanks for posting!!!!

I find that I almost always close my eyes when I listen to Keith. It helps me to focus on the full breadth of the music.

Thanks Dave for a great class on KJ!!

Dave, as a long time listener of Keith Jarrett and a student of piano I can't thank you enough for these insights!

Dave, thank you so much for such an enjoyable, funny and insightful musical hour. Now i have a reasonable excuse for all these dozens of Keith Jarrett albums that i've bought over the years. Like many Germans, the first time i listened to Keith's music was in the late 70's after his '75 Köln Concert had received critical acclaim and greatest popularity. Then i discovered his earlier works before i totally fell in love with all the great standards he did with the trio since 1983. Gary Peacock and Jack DeJohnette are congenial figures who delivered and added so much substance to his playing. And yes, i also love the two albums with the late Charlie Haden, so i'm very happy that you have chosen a piece for your speech. It all seems so easy and natural, when you listen to the tunes - no unnessescary notes, although it doesn't feel stripped, naked or cold. No pretentiousness, although it's still virtuosic. Just the essence of the songs with their own melody and personality. I share your view and judgement of Keith as the greatest pianist, but i assume your statement causes much contradiction - for there are so many great, legendary and outstanding pianists like Tatum, Peterson, Evans, Brubeck, Corea, Hancock etc.. I must admit that i find some of Jarrett's long solos annoying and his accompanying singings disturbing. On the other hand, his variety of musical styles, rhythms, harmonies and melodies are just second to none - not to mention his superb technical abilities. His wacky thumb is indeed remarkable. ;-) But also the other fingers of both his hands seem quite muscular and powerful, due to all the decades of energetic playing. So thanks again for uploading this! By the way, nice and well-played musical intro of yours.

Thanks for your classes Frank. I am learning a lot.

Your respect for Keith Jarrett's abilities and playing style so thoroughly shines through in this lecture - so it has to be maybe one of your greatest tutorials. I have never personally paid too much attention to Jarrett's playing and style, perhaps because he is more than jazz, and my brain only human. Thank you so much for communicating your valuable insights !

Thanks for this Dave. ....it's an engrossing discussion and just.......beautiful

“He is the only jazz pianist who doesn’t have a consistent style” Exactly correct

Thank you Dave!

Keith is the physical manifestation of a divine component that solely belongs to Jazz! Thanks Dave for an incredible analysis on this beautiful ballad. I enjoyed it so much. It takes a great to teach us about a great! Thanks again Dave! Dwight . . .

Thank you, Dave Frank, for this wonderful session.

Dave I love your master classes! Am a Huge Keith Jarrett fan also

What a great lesson. Thanks again!

Dave Frank very beautiful dear Teacher ! Thank's !

THANK DAVE!!!!

Amazing!

his left hand playing reminds me of that soothing sensation you get, for instance, with Max Richter in his "Dream" songs. just the continuum flux of time ticking away which simultaneously creates space for the right hand to play away. and on top of that, what you call rising and falling, a sort of coming-to-be and passing-away. the end of all teleology, time as circular.

It has to be incredible to be in the mind of a master!

An excellent summary of a living Genius! Let's also hope and prey that his health problems improve as he is truly a "Living Treasure"".

Right on the money, Dave. Thank you!

43:35 phew!....That's exactly what I said too: Keith's feel and sensitivity on that ending, is just unbelievable man.

Something about that figure he repeats at 17:22...it's just...it's the depths of your soul. It's immense.

A very well presented masterclass on my favorite fellow pianist!

Great! thanks!

TERRIFIC CLASS, DAVE ! I ALWAYS LOVE WATCHING YOUR VIDEOS ! YOUR LOVE FOR MUSIC AND ALL THE OTHER GREAT THINGS IN LIFE IS VERY CONTAGIOUS AND INSPIRATIONAL FOR ME ! I THINK OF YOU OFTEN ! AND BY THE WAY, YOU AIN'T NO SLOUCH YOURSELF BROTHER ! 'LOVE IT !

it's almost one year since u posted. Thank you. : )

Awesome video! Thank you.

First of all, thank you for this video. It's high time this man is recognized for his artistry, in his lifetime. I'd say the capacity of Keith's ability as a musician is unmatched, let alone his abilities on the piano. From a purely musical perspective, Keith's capacity as a master of just about every great musical genre is unmatched. Whether it's jazz, improv, classical or folk/pop, his abilities are astonishing and of the highest caliber. Yet he composed breathtaking works in each of the aforementioned categories, forging original and timeless works. But for me, the highest accomplishment Keith expressed throughout most of his professional career are his improvisations. Nobody in recorded music has ever come close to the staggering output of Keith's spontaneous creations, nor is it likely that anyone living could ever get close. How is it possible that someone can produce hours upon hours of extemporaneous musical expression, sometimes with such terrifyingly technical precision and complexity, and never seem to miss a clear note? Nobody alive and possibly nobody dead has been able to harness the creative muse in such ways, both lyrically or technically as Keith Jarrett. What Keith offers to all of us is possibility. He says it's "in the air". And the best way to understand this is to let it access you in an act of surrender.

I thank you in advance !

Tried to apply his LH technique (as I could follow from the class video on Somewhere Over the Rainbow, and- even with a little bit of thumb movement moving half step away here and there then connecting to the following chord, made a big difference in my playing- thanks again Dave making this video of one of the most exceptional piano giant Keith Jarrett. And grateful for your eye and ear opening explanations on his immaculate technique. Bless you. Hi

Beautiful masterclass tx Dave

Dave, yep your insights on my fave pianist definitely "wet my sponge " ..... ! lol TY ! Sharing.... ;) Julie

Dave, you sound like Keith Jarrett. Very impressive analysis of Keith's playing!

Great video, Dave, thanks a lot. It would be interesting to hear your comments about Keith Jarrett's compositions and his approach to free playing. Regards from Spain!

Muchas gracias por este analisis de la musia de Keith Jarrett! Sin lugar a dudas el mejor pianista!

Hi Dave! I really appreciate your comments at the beginning. I've been crazy about Jarrett's piano playing and musicianship for about 15 years now and have only met a few other people who get it. I've not been shy about analysing his approach and assimilating as much as I can, but my musician friends seem to think it's a weird subjective obsession of mine. Great to hear someone else who has strong objective reasons for the praise Jarrett clearly deserves.

Great stuff. Thanks. Perhaps you can follow up with the last 10 minutes or so of the first part of the 1991 Vienna Concert as the piece you analyze? Nothing has ever blown my mind quite like that does.

We can surely all agree that KJ is a musical genius and that he had found a niche with his trio that produced some absolutely exquisite recordings. Let’s also agree that musical tastes are personal and that there is more than enough wonderful jazz out there for us to all have our favourites and that those choices can mature and should change throughout our life.

Nice vid 👌 loving that Tristano style at the start

THere would b no mr jarrett without what was and is before him i love what the man has to play

Brilliant analysis. I was surprised to notice that when you played, the left hand sounded like a Chopin prelude. When KJ played, not so much.

Play a transcription from a solo Keith Jarrett performance of 'Over The Rainbow' from the 1997 LaScala recording to experience the genius of Keith Jarrett. And Keith's comping on ballads is nothing short of sublime!

Remarkable

well something new for me...I didn't know Keith was the biggest pianist in the recorded era 🙌 I'm going to listen to Keith

thank you sir for this fine work, sorry about my english (I'm french), I read the coments below and would like to add this ; Keith Jarrett is (on my opinion that I can defend whenever asked) is the greatest or best creator of music with (from?) a piano, more than any other composer (classical or not) he is THE master of time (not only rythm) and THE best incarnation of all the musics we know until today, the combination of all that exist into something personal, unic, and new. For me the difference resids in the fact that Keith does not think or cannot think when he creates (improvises). He received one more gift that other composers or players (Mozart included) don't at this level ; the capacity of traveling through time. Like if you would be able to stop everything that moves around you and stay the only one still able of moving in the picture (but it's hard to explain with words...). I know another piano player close to that : Omar Sosa and I love all the other great pianists in the world. Keith is in another dimension, that's my final word!

Could you make a video on what you played starting at 22:40? Something for beginners with with left hand voicings and some ideas on improvising with right hand in this ballad style (of course not forgetting the left hand thumb...). I really likes how it sound but it still seems doable for a beginner (I might be wrong on this of course :)

Dave. Your analyses give me such a better appreciation of the music and I am a musician. For me, Keith is the most versatile of jazz pianists and his arrangements especially with DeJohnette and Peacock are superb. I have a lot of Keith's piano transcriptions but I cannot find this one. Can you help me out?

It's great to see Dave have such admiration for Keith, he truly is in awe of the man. For me, "greatest pianist in recording history" very clearly goes to Glenn Gould. His recordings of the Goldberg Variations cannot be surpassed when it comes to "each voice being on it's own time plane, having it's own character, speaking in it's own articulation." A fixed composition and spontaneous improvisation may be apples and oranges, but I feel Gould's line independence and clarity is in a league all it's own.

I love your explanation of the genius of jarrett’s playing. No one even comes close to his genius, not Bill Evans or anyone else. I listen to him everyday and it just takes me away, its just so beautiful, I don’t even have the words.

Not a great fan of Keith but the song you chose is gorgeous and your comments really help appreciation of his style.

While all of you were arguing about who is the #1 pianist (silly silly discussion) I was enjoying that encore opening the video, that one by Dave Tristano Frank, very very nice playing.

Jarrett is the greatest, no doubt about it

Thanks from Italy for great video, Frank! Keith is one of my favourite jazz pianist as well, and this Master Class was really impressive and clear! I always wondered about Keith improvising on fast pieces (CDs in the 90s and after), and his ability on going outside the tonality. do you think you can do a Master Class on this topics as well? Thanks again and God bless! Alex

Hola Dave. Soy un pianista de Jazz argentino. Desde que escuché a Keith Jarrett, mi concepción de la música dio un salto cuántico. El tema de la capas musicales que mencionas es muy audible en los conciertos de improvisación soilsta. Te agradezco este estudio profundo de la "magia" que hace el señor Keith Jarrett con la música.

Keith Jarrett is a genius. But I really adore the music at the beginning... Dave Frank's playing. Who else can play like that these days? To me it's as amazing, though of course in a different way.

i gotta say, when i first watched this video i tried as hard as i could to disagree. i then began my journey to listen to almost every one of keiths solo improv recordings that i could find online. i found most of what i heard to be utterly beautiful music, but i found about 2% of what i heard to be so shocking and awe inspiring that i found myself listening to 15 second pieces of his long long improvisations over and over for days. i dont know if he is really the best pianist of the recorded era but i can definitely say that he can tap into something that nobody else can, but to measure him against other pianists, im not sure.

any chance we can get a kenny barron master class?

When I saw Liebman and Bierach there, I had the front seat, right in front of Dave. I had to duck the whole time! (6'6"...).

Hey, nice video ! What's the name of Jarrett's song at 47:00 ?? Thanks :)

Just stumbled upon this video...I gotta say I totally agree with the thesis, and appreciate the attempt to analytically express the sometimes paralyzing awe some of us feel when listening to Keith. I feel like if I had a thousand years to study Keith Jarrett's work, I'd be no closer to understanding how he does it, and I can't say that about any other musician. If I transcribe something by Teddy Wilson, or Wynton Kelly, or even Art Tatum, I'm able to glean some understanding of what they're doing(such and such arpeggio here, pentatonic scale here, bebop lick here), whereas with Keith I'm just as dumbfounded as I was when I started-he melodic inventiveness seems limitless, and he's able to pull off frightfully rhyming sequences(music theory term) at frightful tempos. Then when you think you've heard it all, he does it in both hands two octaves apart(carnegie hall concert)! He can improvise unbelievable counterpoint, play classical music, play any style of jazz, and his solo work often has the rhythmic drive and excitement of a Zeppelin concert. His scope is way too much to even try to express here, because it truly seems limitless. That said, the fundamental way I've been drawn to his playing is even more visceral than analytical. I think in order to truly appreciate him you just need to ignore the moaning and the bodily contortions, and just give yourself over to the pure music. It's also true that I can say I like Teddy Wilson just as much as Keith Jarrett, and I'm also awed by his genius. I see this video less as an invitation to some kind of pissing contest about who is the "greatest", but more as an attempt to express in rational terms the type of awe that is beyond rational.

Good dave, Keith was off the hook in 1966

Why don't you comp?

Hi Frank! I just stumbled upon your video, watched (almost) entirely and I want to add some comments. :) First: you can definitely play the piano. The opening piece is very cool and your tone is amazing. I didn't know you - and for that I am sorry - so I made a little research on iTunes and find a lot of fine recordings I'm planning to listen to. Regarding the subject of this video I do think KJ is one of the greatest piano player in history, but perhaps not for the reasons - or at least not entirely - you're enumerating in this lesson. In fact, putting aside improvisation, every great piano player can do that (I mean, playing different musical layers each with their own rubato and dynamics... Rachmaninoff was a master of that, and also, to name a few, Horowitz, Bolet, Pogorelich, my beloved Benedetti Michelangeli, Richter and many others... and of course Brad Mehldau, who, as far as complexity of layers is concerned, is second to none!). :) Having said that, I really enjoyed your lesson, and I liked the concept of "ring" (we don't call it that way in classical music but I think your description is spot on!) and I wanted to add something to your explanation. KJ not only is always aware of the "ringing" but he usually amplifies that, holding specific notes in both hands (very often he holds the pinky finger in the right hand but not only) so the reason it seems something is happening after he played some notes is because... it is happening!!! Striking notes while holding others would result in sympathetic resonances. KJ extensively use this technique which, btw, allows him to pedalling only to obtain specific colors and not for legato. Hope this is somehow useful and doesn't sound pretentious. I may know very little about jazz, but I know a couple of things about piano playing. :) Anyway, looking forward to your next lessons about jazz masters!

The greatest jazz pianist is still Bill Evans for me 😉Keith is close 2 !

Jacob collier? Opinion of him?

Juice and oranges...

İs he playing the roots with his LH thumb then?

But, we Do know what Herbie sounds like.

Would like to know what would you say about Bill Evans

in matters of taste there is no disputing ... but for me Keith is not even in my top 20 ... Dave you sound great man !

His moaning is on another level

Dave is a Keith Jarrett worshipper. Once you become a member of the "church of Jarrett" you lose all objectivity and worship only Keith. Dave is pathetic, he wants to be Keith but since he can't he worships Keith instead. What is really ludicrous and offensive is you! You are so ridiculously full of yourself. You are known as the jazz piano clown by most New York musicians. Why don't you show a little class, instead of being an ass. Just shut your damn motormouth and play the piano, you fat, old fart, graybeard, ponytail dickhead !! (comment was removed by commenter after 2 days)

WHAT????? OMG WTF Dave

Keith Jarrett also has Perfect Pitch.

To each his own ... I’ll still take Bud Powell, Monk, Barry Harris, Mel Powell, Teddy Wilson, Errol Garner, the Fatha, Tatum or King Cole ... but that’s my personal preference

The most unfortunate thing about Jarrett is that he did his best work forty years ago. A great artist gets better with age.

Argerich or Jarrett…hmmm…I think that the additional improv element takes Jarrett over the top.

The greatest pianist of which era?? Respect to KJ, but whoever made that statement needs to seriously qualify and clarify "recorded era" then give his statement some real hard scrutiny

If keith he,s amazing ....Dave toó...so...what about me....snif snif ...little beginner

What about Bill Evans? IMHO Keith is the greatest now just because Bill is already gone....

Well, probably Dave hasn't discovered Aydin Esen yet...