“Long as You Know You’re Living Yours”: Keith Jarrett’s European Quartet

Long as You Know You’re Living Yours is the third track on the 1974 album, Belonging, featuring the American jazz pianist, Keith Jarrett, with saxophonist Jan Garbarek, bassist Palle Danielsson, and drummer, Jon Christensen. Jarrett’s collaboration with the three Scandinavian musicians resulted in a group which became known as the “European Quartet.” Infamously, Long as You Know You’re Living Yours heavily influenced Gaucho, the title track of Steely Dan’s seventh studio album, released in …

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“Solar”: Keith Jarrett and Miles Davis

Jazz is there and gone. It happens. You have to be present for it. That simple. -Keith Jarrett Originally attributed to Miles Davis, the tune Solar was written by the jazz guitarist Chuck Wayne. It was first heard at an intimate 1946 jam session in Oklahoma City. Later, Davis included it on his 1954 album, Walkin’. Here is an ecstatic improvisation on Solar by the American pianist, Keith Jarrett. The athletic performance took place in Japan in …

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“Then I’ll Be Tired of You”: Keith Jarrett, John Coltrane, Fats Waller

In its original form, Then I’ll Be Tired of You is the quintessential catchy popular song from America’s jazz age. The composer Arthur Schwartz (1900-1984) wrote the song in 1934 with lyricist Yip Harburg. It was first recorded on August 9, 1934 by Freddy Martin and His Orchestra. The same year, the legendary jazz musician “Fats” Waller, exponent of the Harlem stride style of piano playing, made his own recording. Recordings by singers such …

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Jule Styne’s “I Fall in Love Too Easily,” The Keith Jarrett Trio

Today marks the 116th anniversary of the birth of the great American songwriter, Jule Styne (1905-1994). Born in London, Styne grew up in Chicago, the son of Jewish Ukrainian immigrants. He was a child prodigy pianist, performing with the orchestras of Chicago and Detroit before age ten. Later, he played jazz, withdrawing from the concert stage because of the limitations of his small hands. He created the scores for some of the Broadway theater’s …

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Keith Jarrett: “My Song,” 1978

Keith Jarrett’s My Song is infused with a sublime simplicity and directness. It first appeared as the title track on a 1978 studio album featuring Jarrett with his “European Quartet.” (The collaboration involved the Scandinavian jazz musicians, Jan Garbarek, Palle Danielsson and Jon Christensen). Over the years, My Song returned in Jarrett’s improvisatory solo piano concerts. It has become a standard with other jazz artists such as guitarist Pat Metheny. Here is a performance from Keith Jarrett’s December 12, …

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Brahms’ Three Intermezzi, Op. 117: Autumnal Lullabies

Composed in 1892, the three Intermezzi for solo piano, Op. 117 are among the final works of Johannes Brahms. Filled with wistful nostalgia, they were written two years after Brahms’ formal retirement at the age of 57. The critic Eduard Hanslick described these brief autumnal works as “monologues” of a “thoroughly personal and subjective character…pensive, graceful, dreamy, resigned, and elegiac.” Brahms once described them as “three lullabies to my sorrow.” Along with …

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Keith Jarrett: Encore from Tokyo

I cannot say what I think is right about music. I only know the rightness of it. -Keith Jarrett The American pianist and composer Keith Jarrett (b. 1945) began his career performing with Art Blakey, Charles Lloyd, and Miles Davis. He remains firmly rooted in jazz. Yet, when you venture into the magical world of Jarrett’s solo piano improvisations, the shackles of category fall away. Pure music remains, with echoes of Debussy, …

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