HAPPY BIRTHDAY!...KEITH JARRETT...70!!!!!

[A Lark Ascending]

I've kind of got the impression that the last 25 years of Jarrett's career have been the equivalent of a sports team holding the ball in their own half, running out the clock. Don't want to attack, don't want to do anything embarrassing or foolish, you've already won, just play it safe and run out the clock.

If you buy into the idea that all musicians must 'progress', 'challenge', 'push envelopes' then your analogy might hold true.

But isn't there another way (aren't there many ways?)? Taking something that works and then concentrating on refining it or revisiting it from different angles. I've often had the 'oh, not another Standards Trio' feeling but when I've listened to the discs I've always found plenty to absorb me.

I understand the appeal of perpetual change but this is really a very Western concept fuelled by the way our capitalist system (I'm not using that term in a derogatory way) works - the need to create rapid obsolescence. Jarrett's approach might well reflect other philosophical systems.

Which is not to say that I wouldn't have preferred hearing him in some other contexts.

Edited May 14, 2015 by A Lark Ascending

[xybert]

I've kind of got the impression that the last 25 years of Jarrett's career have been the equivalent of a sports team holding the ball in their own half, running out the clock. Don't want to attack, don't want to do anything embarrassing or foolish, you've already won, just play it safe and run out the clock.

If you buy into the idea that all musicians must 'progress', 'challenge', 'push envelopes' then your analogy might hold true.

But isn't there another way (aren't there many ways?)? Taking something that works and then concentrating on refining it or revisiting it from different angles. I've often had the 'oh, not another Standards Trio' feeling but when I've listened to the discs I've always found plenty to absorb me.

I understand the appeal of perpetual change but this is really a very Western concept fuelled by the way our capitalist system (I'm not using that term in a derogatory way) works - the need to create rapid obsolescence. Jarrett's approach might well reflect other philosophical systems.

Which is not to say that I wouldn't have preferred hearing him in some other contexts.

Yeah, totally. I actually tied myself up a bit adding 'good on him, nothing wrong with that, he can do whatever he wants, we're lucky that he's done anything at all, he's done more by being 'safe' than most men will ever achieve, all due respect, this is not a diss of the music itself etc' stuff to my original post, but it came off as insincere (and i meant it sincerely) so i dropped it and just posted.

I'm projecting on Jarrett, i know, and i get that it's way more complex than that.

[JSngry]

If he gets off just one grunt as nasty as Errol Garner, he can hang it up with a Clear Jazz Conscience. Until then, he needs to keep going.

Hey, Artistry Is Hell.

[A Lark Ascending]

Yeah, totally. I actually tied myself up a bit adding 'good on him, nothing wrong with that, he can do whatever he wants, we're lucky that he's done anything at all, he's done more by being 'safe' than most men will ever achieve, all due respect, this is not a diss of the music itself etc' stuff to my original post, but it came off as insincere (and i meant it sincerely) so i dropped it and just posted.

I'm projecting on Jarrett, i know, and i get that it's way more complex than that.

Don't worry. We all tie ourselves up with our speculations.

After all, this is an informal bulletin board, not a place for academic rigour and compulsory peer review!