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Piano Jazz for January 04, 2007
1:05 PM - 2:00 PM
[Program Website]
Today's Highlight: An Encore Program Featuring Keith Jarrett
For years Marian McPartland has been trying to line-up Keith Jarrett for a Piano Jazz session. Following his stellar performance at Carnegie Hall in 2005, Marian confronted the elusive performer and convinced him to put in an appearance on her show.
Born May 8, 1945, in Allentown, Pennsylvania, Jarrett's talents emerged early. Called a child prodigy, Jarrett began his classical piano training at the age of three. He performed recitals and concerts throughout his childhood, some of which featured some of Jarrett's own compositions. Jarrett threw himself into Jazz as a teenager, and attended Berkelee College briefly before moving to New York, where Art Blakey "discovered" the pianist and asked him to join the Jazz Messengers. A gig with Charles Lloyd's quartet followed -- a group that included drummer Jack DeJohnette, who would become one of Jarrett's frequent musical collaborators. Jarrett played electric organ and electric piano when he and DeJohnette worked with Miles Davis in the early 1970s.
Jarrett began playing and recording as a leader in the late 1960's with bassist Charlie Haden and drummer Paul Motian, and by the time he left the Miles Davis group, he was charting his own unique path on the jazz scene. In addition to his trio work and studio solo albums, Jarrett began performing improvised solo concerts. The recordings of these improvisatory concerts have been huge commercial successes -- his album, The Koln Concert, is the best-selling album of all time.
In the 1980's, Jarrett reunited with Jack DeJohnette. They were joined by bassist Gary Peacock, and the group began applying their collective improvisatory talents to the American songbook, at a time when standards were considered passé. The group celebrated the 20th Anniversary of their Standards Trio with the 2003 release of The Out of Towners, their 17th album together. Jarrett has also recorded a number of classical albums, including works by Bach, Mozart, Handel and Shastakovich., and given a number of classical recitals around the world playing more contemporary classical pieces by Bella Bartok, Peggy Glanville-Hicks and Lou Harrison.
For over 20 remarkable years, jazz pianist Marian McPartland and her guests have teamed up for an hour of weekly jazz sessions. Whether it's solos, collaboration, reminiscences, or straight talk about influences and style, no two Piano Jazz sessions are ever the same.
More than 500 exciting, talented, jazz professionals (newcomers and all-time favorites) have joined Marian over the years. In fact, Piano Jazz, a production of South Carolina Educational Radio, has been hailed as the "definitive" place to hear the greats of jazz.
Why? Piano Jazz hits a perfect balance between historical perspective and sheer entertainment, a formula that has made the series the longest-running national performance program on public radio.
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