“I've played Steinways since my childhood. I can't remember the first one I played, though over the years it occurred to me that only a Steinway piano would have the kind of consistency that would allow me to mold my work through it.”
Keith Jarrett
One of the most significant pianists to emerge since the 1960s, Keith Jarrett's career has gone through several phases. He gained international fame for his solo concerts, which found him spontaneously improvising all of the music without any prior planning; but he has also led a series of dynamic quartets/quintets, performed classical music, and later played explorative versions of standards with his longtime trio.
After studying at the Berklee College Of Music, Jarrett moved to New York and received another education playing with Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers and touring internationally with the popular Charles Lloyd Quartet. Following a two-year stint in Miles Davis’ fusion group, he began performing exclusively on acoustic instruments, and led two groups of his own at the same time as his solo improvisation concert series.
By the 1980s, Jarrett was performing and composing classical music as much as jazz, playing a variety of keyboard instruments and a variety of music ranging from Bach to Pärt. Jarrett's own compositions include several works for soloist and orchestra and works for piano, clavichord, and organ. Of his classical recordings, his Handel Keyboard Suites have been hailed as the best on record.
Jarrett has been a Steinway Artist since 1981.
Photo: Rose Anne Colavito