Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Pianist Corner - Non Classical Contact info for Keith Jarrett?

After searching the web and not finding an official site or email address, I thought I'd post and see if anyone knows of a contact address. I'm probably too lazy to send something to a snail-mail address, so I think I'm really looking for an email address.

Try ECM Records. They are his record label and post his touring info.

I doubt you'll get to e-mail him directly though. Good luck.

Thanks. I found a general email address for ecm records and will try that: ecmrecords@ecmrecords.com

hey Charles, why don't you ask him how much he usually charges to come to your house and give you a lesson?

Dave Frank

Hehe . . I actually sent him some pointers!

Just curious, what's your reason for contacting him?

Who knows, maybe Keith J is cruising the music forums anonymously, under an alias so he won't get spammed or a ton of email from his fans. In fact, he may be lurking here already, at this moment, seeing what others are saying about him.

Another way to contact famous musicians is through their local musician's union directory. Sometimes the management who represents the artist has an email address that will forward messages to them in the book.

katt

I attended his concert this year in San Francisco (I wrote up my immediate impressions in a post here on the forums back then). Since then, I've listened to more of his work and they've underlined for me what of course everybody knows - that he is rarely not interrupted by coughing, and so he addresses this issue once or even multiple times in each concert.

I worked with an art professor in college who did research in what a 'public spectacle' (not meant pejoratively) is, and I also wrote on one or two topics in the philosophy of art. This background got me to thinking about why Jarrett is so unsuccessful getting his audiences to quiet down. (In San Francisco, he addressed it so many times that many people left.)

In addition to this, I've noticed that Jarrett says sometimes that if he himself can keep from coughing, so should the audience.

All these things sparked my suggestion to him, which is that his projects are shared artworks and that the reason the audience is not reciprocating is because they haven't been invited to join him. San Francisco was confrontational - members of the audience were calling Jarrett nasty names (very loudly and clearly), believe it or not.

Jarrett has said in some concerts that he draws from the audience, and this is familiar to any performer. And Jarrett is right that when you are creating, you tend to suppress coughs. The roadblock has perhaps been that the audience has not had a stake in the artwork.

Is this all just to say that Jarrett should be nicer when he asks people to be quiet? Maybe. It seems to me his usual method is to make his first request humorously, and then unfortunately to show annoyance to the crowd.

My art professor gave me a tour of the Colosseum in Rome, which was of special interest to him since the audience had so much power there. This - the power of the audience - was one of the things which his research associated with public spectacle. Here, the emperor had to curry the favor of the masses just as much as the gladiators did (and the Colosseum was a vehicle for both). One thing I took away from it was an unshakable respect for the audience.

You must have gone to this concert:

News

What was KJ's reaction to the audience verbally attacking him? He is known for his outbursts at times, but in that review it says he gave 4 encores.

Some of the comments after the article were from people attending the show. Sounds like both parties were at fault.

Maybe it depends on his mood on the night. One of you recently posted a you-tube link of Danny Boy from Tokyo 2002, and at the end of the song, Keith actually bowed reverently to his audience to thank them.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CbesyPby7P8

Or maybe it depends on where the audience is. Last time I saw Jarrett in London a year ago there was not a whisper from the crowd (although the way he milked the endless applause for encores drove me a bit nuts). He did not say a single word to the audience.

Jarrett actually mentioned this in the concert - he didn't mention London, but rather Japan. (Bizarre, the idea of not only showing annoyance, but explicitly criticizing the audience.)

Still, I don't know whether to agree with him or to be proud of my fellow Americans!

He bowed also in San Francisco - very deep, long bows. He also said 'thanks' after at least one of the longer applause times.

Yes - that's the one! A great write-up, I think.

I wish I had a recording. I find I only appreciate his music fully after listening a few times.

His reaction to the verbal attacks was surprising. I expected an outburst, but he didn't reply at all. At one point he even said that he'd tried to learn since Umbria . . . (if so, it didn't bring him or us much benefit obviously).

That was a good write-up indeed. I was especially intrigued by this passage from the review:

The oddest and perhaps most tragic thing is that Jarrett's tantrum came after a piece that has to rank as one of the most heartbreaking beautiful performances I've ever heard coaxed out of piano. Maintaining a rolling, expansive ostinato, Jarrett carefully sketched a fragile melody that seem to encompass all the heartbreak and joy of being alive, and especially the moments you can't quite tell the two apart.

Does anybody out there know if this particular portion of the concert made it onto YouTube or is otherwise available for listening? This description makes it sound sublime.

I shouldn't think there is any chance of that, you would have to be pretty brave to try to video a Jarrett gig. Luckily he has recorded dozens of solo albums you can listen to, all of them sublime (imo)

I could listen to the Koln Concert forever.

Just looking at the comments on that article, I agree somewhat with this one:

"What a disappointment! I stayed through the last encore, hoping that Keith would salvage the concert, but it did not work for me. It was a shallow and bitter performance, cut short and chopped up into little pieces. Keith should not do concerts in the US - stick to Japan where they don't cough."

I felt the concert never got off the ground. It was a collection of pieces, few of which were allowed to take off.

Finally, I'll add that if Keith Jarrett knows that his art will not work when people are coughing, why on earth did he not request that cough drops be available at all entrances? That's inexcusable to the point of unprofessional.

the are huge vats of cough drops outside every entrance when he plays Carnegie Hall - ricolas.

DF

Here's a site with a lot of Keith Jarrett live concerts, all bootlegs. I'm sure they are all unauthorized, but I'm just the messenger:

http://keithjarrettlive.blogspot.com/