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Speaker 1
I'm Adam.

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Speaker 2
And I'm Peter.

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Speaker 1
Martin, and you're listening to the You'll Hear It podcast.

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Speaker 2
Music explored.

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Speaker 1
Explored, brought to you today by Open Studio. Go to Open Studio jazz.com for all your jazz listening tape. Peter.

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Speaker 2
Hey. How are you doing?

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Speaker 1
Pretty good man. How are you?

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Speaker 2
I was good. Did I make you nervous?

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Speaker 1
No, but I wanted to give it a little twist. Yes. Me on the old all exciting episode today.

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Speaker 2
The exciting episode. That was a nice little intro. Man, you sounded great.

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Speaker 1
Give it up for Bob and Caleb, too, on the bass and drums. Helping us out today on the curves and outros. You got a special long outro on the way out for a full tuned performance. That's going to be fun. Stay tuned for that.

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Speaker 2
This. Yeah, I mean, this was interesting adapting some music from the record we're going to talk about today.

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Speaker 2
Because this is possibly I'm going to put it out there, I'm going to give it a floor run and see how it plays. Yeah, possibly the greatest solo piano record ever.

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Speaker 1
I think it's got to be in the conversation. Is it in the conference?

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Speaker 2
I put it I want to put.

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Speaker 1
It in the conversation. And let's be honest, any fan of yours, Peter, who's been a fan of the show for a while and has heard you talk about music for more than two minutes, yeah.

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Speaker 2
Has.

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Speaker 1
Seen this day coming from a mile away. Yes, we've we've all known that Keith Jarrett's facing you would eventually be on the pod because you love this album. This is a seminal work for you, I think.

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Speaker 2
I think, well, it's a seminal for Keith as well. As it turned out, I would say that I never thought this day would come not to contradict you, only because.

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Speaker 1
We've shared what.

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Speaker 2
We have just gotten.

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Speaker 2
Well, if you're watching this, we were able to obtain licensing, right? We're not sure we might just be doing it for ourselves with ECM, notorious for not allowing,

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Speaker 2
usage of, even in what we would consider a fair usage context and educational sharing. We're trying to highlight and share, but they are not words.

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Speaker 2
So shout out to ECM records. I mean, shout out to ECM records for the beautiful music. You know, across jazz, classical, many different genres. One of the most innovative and exciting records. And I think Keith Jarrett, I don't think there's any artists that's more associated with ECM. I don't think there's any label. Although he did some wonderful impulse records on Atlantic and in impulse, different types of project.

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Speaker 2
But once he got with ECM. Yeah. And the record we're going to listen to today is Facing You, his first record on ECM, although it's actually not the first thing he recorded for ECM. Little known fact that I found out.

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Speaker 1
Oh, we got a history lesson.

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Speaker 2
We're going get to that. People don't.

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Speaker 1
Often know. This is also a noted musicologist. Peter, I believe you have a little bit of an intro for it. Yes. You take it.

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Speaker 2
Away. Thank you very much. At just 26 years old, Keith Jarrett found himself at a crossroads after playing electric keyboards with Miles Davis. He was torn between the commercial appeal of fusion jazz and his own artistic instincts. We're going to put a little asterisks by that. We'll come back to that as well. During a European tour with Miles Davis, Jarrett had a single day off in Oslo.

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Speaker 2
Rather than rest, he made a decision that would alter his career trajectory and influenced jazz piano for decades to come, against the prevailing musical trends of 1971. Do you remember that? Atom 70.

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Speaker 1
One? I do not, I do.

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Speaker 2
It was a great year for me. I was never.

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Speaker 1
Anything.

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Speaker 2
I was zero and turned one. During that year, Jarrett walked into a small Oslo studio with producer Manfred Fischer.

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Speaker 1
There you go.

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Speaker 2
There you go. With no preparation and no predetermined compositions. He sat down in an acoustic piano,

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Speaker 2
rejecting the electronic keyboards and organ that dominated jazz at the time. In just one afternoon session, he recorded eight original pieces, completely improvised, that revealed a new musical language. What makes this story compelling is that Keith Jarrett approached this recording with remarkable confidence.

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Speaker 2
The resulting album, Facing You, became not just the foundation of his decades long relationship with ECM records that continues to today, but the blueprint for his groundbreaking later works like the Cohen Concert. It marked the moment a young artist found his true voice by swimming against the current of his era. Okay, I added, to realize a little bit on all of this, but and I feel feel free to push back.

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Speaker 1
I have to say that is one beautiful intro. I just have one question about it.

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Speaker 2
Is it done? No, no.

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Speaker 1
Like how many, how many prompts through a large language model did it take to get it that good? I don't know.

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Speaker 2
What you're talking.

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Speaker 1
About. That's you know, that's way too good for you. For him. That's great.

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Speaker 2
This single afternoon's work in Oslo became a turning point, not just for Jarrett, but for jazz piano itself. How an act of artistic intuition by a young musician transformed into an enduring legacy that continues to influence pianists today. Dang.

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Speaker 1
I'm excited to talk about Keith Jarrett. We never get to talk about Keith Jarrett because we've always been kind of afraid of the the big bad, you know, ECM monster. But yeah, I'm stoked to actually go through this. One of our all time favorite pianists. I don't know if you could play piano deeply for any amount of time and not discover his music and be like, what?

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Speaker 1
Yeah, exactly.

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Speaker 2
Go on. And I mean, let's let's go ahead and let's go ahead and call the elephant out. It's in the room. Yeah.

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Speaker 2
And that is maybe a little bit afraid to tackle Keith Jarrett because he can be he is and always has been, a little bit of, I mean, super opinionated, perhaps viewed as prickly. Not by us about that.

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Speaker 1
No, I just assume he would hate it if we if you ever saw us talking about him or his music. So I'm I'm I'm resigned to that for sure.

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Speaker 2
Well, if he's watching this much love and appreciation really for not just this beautiful artistic work.

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Speaker 1
Thank you. And congratulations on the. Yeah. Lifetime of, arts.

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Speaker 2
So Keith Jarrett, 1963, graduated high school in Pennsylvania. We're not gonna go through this whole thing. Just some key points. He went to Berklee College of Music, which I didn't realize very briefly. And then by 64, he was already in New York City. Like, you know, to this day, a lot of musicians end up in New York. They go to school somewhere or whatever.

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Speaker 2
I always think it's interesting going that far back into the 60s. That was already happening.

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Speaker 1
Basically.

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Speaker 2
And then he was playing with Art Blakey by 1964, 1965, which is kind of crazy.

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Speaker 1
This kind of crazy.

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Speaker 2
Yeah. Let's let's check this out. You know, 1966.

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Speaker 1
We sure that's Keith?

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Speaker 2
Yeah. Keith. Kelly. Keith. Wynton. Kelly.

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Speaker 1
Swinging those.

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Speaker 1
That is good.

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Speaker 2
But you already hear.

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Speaker 1
So you hear. You hear him coming out like the pianist he's developing into his starting to emerge.

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Speaker 2
But I think what's interesting about that is you really hear the hard swing that Keith could, could do and did do in the right situations, because when I was coming up, there was a little bit of a backlash against Keith Jarrett, especially playing with his trio that like he people were saying that he couldn't really, really swing. No, I mean important like jazz musicians that I looked up to were saying that.

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Speaker 2
Yeah. Oh, interesting. And I mean, I don't think that was ever the prevailing mood when I first heard him, which certainly wasn't this record. I loved his playing. You know, I think the first stuff I heard was like standard volume two, then standard volume one, and then during that period, pretty much in real time. And I always loved his playing and felt like when he was just tipping that he had an incredible feel.

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Speaker 2
Those live at the end, there's a little bit later the live The Blue Note,

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Speaker 2
not my favorite jazz club, Charlotte Blue Note, but one of my favorite records he did a box set on.

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Speaker 1
It's an amazing record, man.

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Speaker 2
He's swinging his ass off. So I mean, you're starting to hear, like sort of the foundation, the tradition. And then shortly after this, he started playing with,

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Speaker 2
Charles Lloyd in his famous quartet first,

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Speaker 2
you know, really started doing his extensive play with Jack DeJohnette, who to this day, you know, was a compatriot of his and musical partner.

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Speaker 1
Also shout out to Charles Lloyd making amazing music back in the late 60s when Keith is playing. Yeah, I'm making great music today with some young musicians. If you haven't checked out Charles Lloyd's latest stuff, it's a beautiful.

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Speaker 2
Yeah, I just heard him in Palm Springs like six weeks ago, and he's still doing his thing at a super high level, of course, at, Forest Flower Live at Monterey Festival, which is a massive record. I mean, they were one of the most popular acoustic jazz groups of that late 60s period when a lot of the other players were, I mean, like, they were really sort of the biggest thing, especially with sort of the, can we say the hippie crowd?

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Speaker 2
Well, they kind of kind of had a hippie following. Yeah. But what.

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Speaker 1
They did was a little bit of the impossible at that time, which is to make the acoustic jazz set seem.

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Speaker 2
Fresh.

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Speaker 1
Yes. Like what they were doing was fresh and new and energetic, and a lot of that was Keith's energy.

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Speaker 2
Absolutely. And I mean, Charles Lloyd, you know, he really like he would go to venues that were not just the Village Vanguard. He would go to, you know, folk festivals and colleges and stuff like that. So a really important period. And Keith was in the thick of that. And then so I mean, he went Blakey to Charles Lloyd, others and then went right to Miles Davis.

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Speaker 2
Yeah, I mean, obviously a huge talent that everybody was identifying coming right in that lineage of Herbie Hancock. Well, when Kelly regard all the great pianists with Herbie

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Speaker 2
right up to Chick Corea and he played with chick around the same time,

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Speaker 2
with Miles, and then that went right up to this period. He was still playing with them in 71 when he made,

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Speaker 2
this record that, you know, facing you, his first solo piano record, his first record for ECM, and something that he'd done a little bit, but it sounds like he hadn't done a whole lot.

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Speaker 2
Well, let's hear him talking about, like, the genesis of just sitting down and improvising. No tunes. No, I'm going to play standards or whatever.

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Speaker 3
It started out, but maybe as a result of recording Facing you, I can't remember, but it started out, I remember at the Heidelberg Jazz Festival where I was, supposedly, I wasn't very well known, I guess. And I came out this solo thing and it was tunes, but they but I started to connect them somehow.

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Speaker 3
Like, I have these transitional parts that connected everything, and then that somehow just moved slowly into the expanded solo concert, where there are no songs whatsoever and everything is, improvised on the spot. I don't know, I someone once sent me a note from the audience. It's saying, you must be awfully alone. You must and you must feel awfully alone or something like that.

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Speaker 3
And and I realized when I read that that that was true. It is a terribly,

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Speaker 3
It's a it's a lonely thing to do. I mean, you're not you're not you're not even bringing material along for companionship.

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Speaker 2
So that's from an interview with,

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Speaker 2
Terry Gross, Fresh air MPR, I think in the late 2000.

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Speaker 1
And that's a classic interview at this point. Yeah, it's an incredible interview. Terry Gross went deep with Keith, and it was really, really insightful.

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Speaker 2
Yeah. And the whole thing's available on npr.org. You can check it out.

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Speaker 2
And then I think another side of this,

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Speaker 2
well, actually, Keith said this. He said, I met Manford around this time.

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Speaker 2
He had written me about a proposed collaboration with Chick Corea, but I was set on recording solo. I thought it would be a novel idea to not prepare and was totally comfortable with my decision.

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Speaker 2
Despite a tight afternoon schedule while strictly playing electric piano on the tour, he was on tour with Miles Davis in Europe, so he had just this afternoon they went in the studio in Oslo. And so and, you know, there's other places where, Keith talked about had he, had he not met Manfred Eicher and started I sure sorry.

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Speaker 2
Rolling Keith.

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Speaker 1
Let's see how many we can do.

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Speaker 2
This I share Manfred I always.

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Speaker 1
Heard Manfred Eicher growing.

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Speaker 2
Up. Yeah, I think it's I should maybe I should be dropping the comments. I know.

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Speaker 1
We've got some.

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Speaker 2
German lists. Yeah. That's right.

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Speaker 2
So Keith had said in an interview that he wouldn't have

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Speaker 2
ever made a solo piano record like this, and then a lot of the output later on would have never happened had it not been for Manfred. His meeting him at this time, which is like quite a thing to say in terms of like a producer or a record label executive.

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Speaker 2
I think a lot of times that's the case, but a lot of times artists don't just come out and say that. So I had a little bit of, Manfred talking about, this as well.

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Speaker 4
Recording live started was Facing You, which was a solo recording done in Oslo.

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Speaker 4
And.

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Speaker 4
We decided to do that after a long walk in Munich, after a concert of my Davis.

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Speaker 4
Later on the music. It was because kids and I decided to look for places to do solo concerts.

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Speaker 2
Yeah. So they. You know, we're already thinking about, like, what were the content of the already done, the one in Heidelberg, you know, kind of thinking about what would this actually look like, what would this feel like? But there was no kind of like template for this or like huge success that he would see several years later template.

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Speaker 2
This would become the town. Exactly. Yeah, yeah. So let's just take a listen to the first track, which is in front. Yeah. And we can kind of hear about what happened on this day in the studio in Oslo on. Well, I'm going to tell you about the piano. We're going to tell you about the piano because I finally found that out.

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Speaker 2
I'll tell you after this trip by the.

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Speaker 1
Way, this was the track we played in front of this episode. Your beautiful arrangement.

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Speaker 2
You got to compare it to that. No. Your recent was killing. I love that you think it was fun. So here's in front the first track facing you, Keith Jarrett.

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Speaker 2
Melody in the left hand and then jumps to the right.

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Speaker 1
And the.

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Speaker 1
Sprint. Change.

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Speaker 2
Move! This is the first time he's hitting that. The car keys go down.

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Unknown
Yeah. For. Yeah.

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Unknown
Yeah.

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Speaker 2
And then he's kind of sussing here now, as opposed to the matrix up.

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Speaker 1
There in case to that.

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Unknown
Check this out. This line. Oh, that's all we need. Yeah.

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Speaker 1
This is one of those albums I always think of every time I listen to it. First of all, it lights you up because this opening track is such a great track. But,

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Speaker 1
that specific style we now take for granted because it's been just ripped off endlessly and endlessly. Yeah, yeah, I mean, but I like to hear that sort of, you know, that the plagal cadence at the end of the whole thing, that's key.

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Speaker 1
Like hallmark, especially of this era and into the 80s. And I can't get enough of it. Yeah, it has been overdone by other people. But this is the OG here as far as like this combination of like jazz virtuosity, right, of like really steeped as we heard and in bebop and post-bop and wind Kelly and swing and can with Art Blakey and all this stuff.

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Speaker 1
But then through this lens of I mean, the albums leading up to this are pretty remarkable as far as like watching a young musicians journey get to this point. And then I feel like this is like a turning point. You know what I mean? This album, for some reason, I don't know if it was for Keith, but it's certainly looking back with the hindsight of, of,

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Speaker 1
of of time.

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Speaker 1
Yeah. Seeing it seems like he like, found something here, you know what I'm saying?

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Speaker 2
Absolutely. And I think what we can take from like, how did he get from the Wynton Kelly ish sounding kind of bebop line, like, you hear those and there's like a swing and a lilt, even though it's not in strict time. Well, we're going to get to the part where it does get in the strict time where it's much more kind of rootsy, bluesy, gospel, folky, almost pop, country.

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Speaker 1
Sonny, the swinging thing I don't understand. He's always seemed swinging to me. His time is one of his biggest.

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Speaker 2
Oh yeah, and even at this beginning, I just want to play this again because, like, you can't say where the time is, but it's in time, right? And it kind of gradually does get into.

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Speaker 1
There's a pulse. You can write.

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Speaker 2
But it's not like one, two, one, two, but it starting to hint at in such a cool way to get into.

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Unknown
It. Baby boom baby.

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Speaker 2
And the other thing is like that phrase. So he's got baba baba that pedal way up to the sixth daughter. That it. Where did they bo dooby dooby dah. Yeah. That a lot of people kind of like, oh, he wrote this stuff out. I don't think so. And he says and Manfred says it was totally improvised. I think he used that melodic idea.

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Speaker 2
It was swirling around from for him. Listen to it one more time to do we and this is on the left hand side, you baby boom. And then counter melody or secondary melody. They did they do, they do. It's so logical the way it fits in with the harmony. Right. But check this out because there's a bunch of places in later tracks.

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Speaker 2
I just found one because I wanted people that if you like this record, you can go listen to it and you can discover this stuff, but that melody keeps coming back in an interesting way. This is from that Valpolicella.

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Speaker 2
But kind of an interesting way. Said about it. Motivated about that a dude. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like he's playing with this on the entire record. You know.

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Speaker 1
Common thing that would happen later in his other solo improvised concerts where you could hear themes come and go. Yeah, throughout the, throughout the entire performance.

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Speaker 2
Yep yep yep. So in front he's doing all this great stuff. Later on I'm going to skip ahead to the part that you like. Everybody likes I love I love the whole thing.

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Unknown
Like how does he get here. Oh I'm glad he did.

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Unknown
Actually let me take it back.

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Speaker 2
A little bit. So we get the transition. Down. Sorry. Here we go.

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Unknown
Oh, yeah.

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Unknown
Oh, stick right.

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Speaker 2
Kind of swampy a little bit.

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Speaker 1
You could make it big. He made.

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Speaker 2
And there's, like, extra beats put in, but it doesn't interrupt the groove at all. Oh.

00:22:04:13 - 00:22:17:06
Speaker 2
Yeah, he's gonna go up. I'm. Hey,

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Speaker 2
But that freedom man who, This next part here pulls it back. Here we go. Up high here. Oh, medium. Medium. It's marinating.

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Speaker 2
This is vamping.

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Unknown
On one forward. We.

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Speaker 2
Two over the still.

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Unknown
Over the one ostinato to the two.

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Speaker 1
Such a unique way to use this. Oh, sorry. No, that unique way to use that gospel piano sound. You know what I mean? The sound of the black church.

00:23:04:14 - 00:23:04:21
Speaker 2
Yeah.

00:23:04:22 - 00:23:07:13
Speaker 1
Way of weaving it through these different keys.

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Unknown
Like there is baby blues. I'm. Two people come.

00:23:21:02 - 00:23:25:01
Unknown
Back to the one. Is that in your neighborhood and they.

00:23:25:03 - 00:23:26:08
Speaker 2
Got this part. When he goes up.

00:23:26:08 - 00:23:33:20
Unknown
High to the. Oh oh.

00:23:33:22 - 00:23:36:10
Unknown
It's.

00:23:36:12 - 00:23:42:15
Speaker 2
And the freedom, like he can go up. Whenever he wants. It's not like a strict time.

00:23:42:15 - 00:23:51:22
Unknown
Right? It's like, let the music flow. The groove is constantly. Moving.

00:23:52:00 - 00:23:58:23
Speaker 2
Have some notes. Yeah. It's pliable. This is very much. I don't want to read too much into.

00:23:58:23 - 00:24:06:16
Unknown
It, but, honky tonk and blues.

00:24:06:18 - 00:24:07:15
Speaker 2
Gospel.

00:24:07:17 - 00:24:19:04
Unknown
Gospel for sure.

00:24:19:06 - 00:24:23:18
Unknown
That.

00:24:23:20 - 00:24:32:14
Speaker 2
Even when he breaks it down like that. Pulse. Damn.

00:24:32:16 - 00:24:34:19
Speaker 2
Oh, yes. He had a.

00:24:34:19 - 00:24:42:03
Unknown
Confident pulse that.

00:24:42:05 - 00:24:46:18
Unknown
You. Do.

00:24:46:20 - 00:25:10:08
Speaker 2
And, you know, you could say that it gets into a home. Do. Oh, this whole next section is great. So there is some would quibble a bit on this, that it's a little bit self-indulgent. He's playing and I mean, to me, if you're ever going to say it's not on this record, to me there's nothing like, yes, he's like, oh, I'm sitting in this vamp and I'm going to this other thing, but it's a good place.

00:25:10:08 - 00:25:27:17
Speaker 2
You know, it's kind of like the chef is bringing you more of a good thing. It's okay. I'm not sick because it's so good. It's so nourishing. It's so authentic. And like, just, you know, like, you can just wrap your head, I don't know, like, to me, the piano. Sumi, I love the piano. So that's one thing. And he can play the damn thing so well.

00:25:27:17 - 00:25:40:15
Speaker 2
No, you know, but with that groove and stuff. Yeah, you can just kind of vamp around on the one and then go to the two whenever you want. Then go to the four. It's like listening to like a fantastic blues guitarist. It's like, you know, they're going to go there. You don't care when they go there, when they get there, and then they're going to come back.

00:25:40:16 - 00:25:43:13
Speaker 1
You're doing it when it's right for the song, it feels right to them, and.

00:25:43:16 - 00:25:44:13
Speaker 2
That's this freedom.

00:25:44:13 - 00:26:02:07
Speaker 1
That's the advantage that you have when you're playing solo piano. Yeah, there's no real reason why you would stick to a form in this context, especially for an album like this. Yeah. You know, and yeah, he is a master at setting up your expectations and then subverting them in a really, really,

00:26:02:07 - 00:26:05:08
Speaker 1
interesting and entertaining. I would even say way.

00:26:05:08 - 00:26:15:15
Speaker 1
Yeah. And man, this album, I first of all the sound of that piano in that and we can talk about that maybe later, but the sound of that piano, especially when he's like really digging in, yeah, I think is brilliant.

00:26:15:15 - 00:26:23:15
Speaker 2
And he's down there doing all that stuff down in the basement. Okay. So what, they're in Oslo ECM records. Yeah, Manfred, I share. Okay.

00:26:23:15 - 00:26:25:01
Speaker 2
What kind of piano do you think that is?

00:26:25:01 - 00:26:26:18
Speaker 1
Oh, it's got to be like a Hamburg Steinway.

00:26:26:18 - 00:26:28:09
Speaker 2
Yeah, right. What size?

00:26:28:10 - 00:26:30:00
Speaker 1
Oh, it's probably a nine footer.

00:26:30:00 - 00:26:41:23
Speaker 2
Right. Well, you'd be wrong, but lop off four feet from that bad. Well, three feet, two inches. That's a five foot ten Steinway. Which is like what they used to call it. Oh, I think it's close to size. Is an L smaller than that bad boy right there.

00:26:42:00 - 00:26:43:00
Speaker 1
Yeah. We got to be here.

00:26:43:00 - 00:26:44:00
Speaker 2
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:26:44:00 - 00:26:48:20
Speaker 2
So it's smaller than a B. I think it's a little bigger than an m, but it's. Yeah, five ten inches. And,

00:26:48:20 - 00:26:54:09
Speaker 2
you know, I was, I always thought because of the way that this is miked, this,

00:26:54:09 - 00:26:59:11
Speaker 2
this record and we're going to talk about there is there's some distortion on this. I think it's a good distortion.

00:26:59:11 - 00:27:00:14
Speaker 2
I think it's like Jimi Hendrix.

00:27:00:14 - 00:27:11:08
Speaker 1
Let's save it for the categories, because I have some thoughts on the sound, too. Yeah. You know, what's really cool about that actually, is that would never happen. Probably after this, right, where Keith would agree now to record on a piano that.

00:27:11:13 - 00:27:11:21
Speaker 2
No.

00:27:11:22 - 00:27:13:12
Speaker 1
Although and it's a cool sound.

00:27:13:15 - 00:27:27:07
Speaker 2
It's a great sound. Although he became very particular about like Hamburg Stein weighs seven footers. Your your BS like this in the studio. He didn't like being nine nine footers in the studio. He's like those are for concert halls only. I agree with he was very. Yeah.

00:27:27:08 - 00:27:32:00
Speaker 1
I think in a studio, the best experiences I've ever had recording have been with seven footers.

00:27:32:00 - 00:27:36:17
Speaker 2
Yeah, yeah. Now I just want to touch on because I think it's and this is out of love, how it's going to.

00:27:36:17 - 00:27:41:11
Speaker 1
Just caveat that sometimes depending on what the music is, a shorter piano is the better choice.

00:27:41:13 - 00:27:42:04
Speaker 2
Right.

00:27:42:06 - 00:27:52:07
Speaker 1
Right. Like we've used actually Sam here in the booth, we've used like uprights on situations where we had used grands. Yeah. And they sound better. Absolutely. Given the context.

00:27:52:07 - 00:28:11:05
Speaker 2
Yeah. And so, you know, just in terms of like, really just talking about how Keith maybe a little bit fussy. Yeah. Maybe a little bit opinionated over different time. He was famously during this period was very like acoustic panels. It was kind of a backlash to what he was doing with Miles.

00:28:11:05 - 00:28:14:09
Speaker 1
I was going to say, wasn't he just like purely playing roads? And yeah, he's on the road.

00:28:14:09 - 00:28:29:18
Speaker 2
But he said in a bunch of different interviews, it's documented where he was just like, I think the like the electronic instruments. There's I remember him talking about there's electricity in all of us as beings. Why do we need to make it electronic? Because that's what they would call it, like electronic music. Why don't you play electronic? You.

00:28:29:21 - 00:28:43:17
Speaker 2
He did it, I think, out of deference to Miles, because he. He loved Miles, but he didn't like that direction was going. He wanted to do his own thing. He wanted to be based around acoustic piano, famously fussy about that, opinionated, you know, really line in the sand kind of situation.

00:28:43:18 - 00:28:52:21
Speaker 1
Two minutes on that. What do you think of that? And it doesn't seem like that. Aged well. And I hear what he's saying. I love an almost exclusively work in acoustic instruments, but.

00:28:52:23 - 00:28:59:21
Speaker 2
Well, I don't think it aged well because let me tell you something that was recorded just a couple of months before facing you and tell me I know exactly.

00:28:59:21 - 00:29:00:17
Speaker 1
What you're going to play. Go ahead.

00:29:00:18 - 00:29:04:05
Speaker 2
Yeah. Just tell me what you think of this.

00:29:04:07 - 00:29:07:01
Speaker 1
That's awesome.

00:29:07:03 - 00:29:10:23
Speaker 1
Yeah. Well.

00:29:11:01 - 00:29:17:13
Speaker 2
How. That's not a Hamburg Steinway, buddy. I would like to.

00:29:17:13 - 00:29:24:10
Speaker 1
Hear him do a full Vienna solo style concert with this thing. I totally would be amazing.

00:29:24:12 - 00:29:44:02
Speaker 2
What is it? It. I love this record. Jack DeJohnette, Jack DeJohnette duo. This is, what is the name of it? Riot. Rudy and and that. Yeah, I'm saying that once again, the name we track is all we got. What's name on the album? And this is technically his first ECM record.

00:29:44:02 - 00:29:45:04
Speaker 1
So he's not answering.

00:29:45:06 - 00:29:48:15
Speaker 2
But,

00:29:48:17 - 00:29:50:11
Speaker 1
Luda and Aida.

00:29:50:13 - 00:30:04:14
Speaker 2
That's a Rhodes with a wow. Wow, right? Yeah. Yeah, yeah. You know, like, this is when you're really hearing not the beginning. Because they're already doing great trios. Well, he was mostly doing trio with Charlie Haden and Paul Motian, but the quartet stuff like the beginning of the The Journey with Jeanette.

00:30:04:15 - 00:30:17:22
Speaker 1
Yeah, I remember this. I heard this once at a friend's house and then I think, and the same session we might have been having a long session of a lot of things as we were listening and doing other things, but we listened to was it,

00:30:17:22 - 00:30:22:17
Speaker 1
it was the one, Freddie, one with, five, five over five.

00:30:22:19 - 00:30:25:10
Speaker 2
So have who've Now, what.

00:30:25:10 - 00:30:26:15
Speaker 1
Is the name of that tune?

00:30:26:15 - 00:30:42:09
Speaker 1
But it's Herbie on a on a Rhodes with, like, a Morley wah pedal. Okay. And I had just found a Rhodes from, like, some basement in High Ridge for $300. It was in bad, bad shape, but we got it going. Yeah. And I then I found a Morley wah pedal at a guitar store down here in downtown Saint Louis.

00:30:42:09 - 00:30:49:02
Speaker 1
And I was like, I'm going to sound like, like, Keith Jarrett and Herbie Hancock. And I did not.

00:30:49:04 - 00:30:55:17
Speaker 2
Say would be, I got a, I got a, a wah wah know, it was a, phaser little like one of the box.

00:30:55:17 - 00:30:56:15
Speaker 1
With little orange ones.

00:30:56:15 - 00:31:02:08
Speaker 2
Yeah. And, on the rock road, as we call it. Hell, yeah. What is that? McMurry music. Mary. Come on now. Yeah, buddy.

00:31:02:08 - 00:31:16:16
Speaker 2
But. Yeah. So that's all we got from 1971. So this was actually the reason I say was the first, because they recorded this before they then recorded for Manfred. But he, him and Jeannette went into a studio when they were, I believe, with Miles on the West Coast in LA.

00:31:16:19 - 00:31:29:00
Speaker 2
And they were like, let's going to record some stuff. And he offered this to Manfred after he signed and did Facing You. He's like, I got these other things and they released it, and I think it's a cool record. Povo. Yeah. Carry on. Okay. Yeah. Oh, great. Great, great.

00:31:29:00 - 00:31:34:16
Speaker 2
Okay, so that was other things that were happening then in 1971.

00:31:34:18 - 00:31:36:20
Speaker 2
Let's check out a little bit more of the record. Let's check it out.

00:31:36:20 - 00:31:58:15
Speaker 2
Man, this is an embarrassment of riches. No good. Everything's great. We're going to get to let's go to the second track, Pretoria. This this one was very close. Second for my, desert island track, but because it's if I was going to be in a pensive mood to be and stuck on a desert island, not even pensive, just kind of a slow, spiritual, soulful kind of a mood, I guess.

00:31:58:15 - 00:32:07:13
Speaker 2
Already. My surroundings. Do you ever get slow and spiritual and soulful? I think a desert island would slow me down like that. Like if I was sunburned, you know, like in sun,

00:32:07:13 - 00:32:09:17
Speaker 2
sun. Ken Burns in the back here.

00:32:09:17 - 00:32:13:02
Speaker 1
If you were stuck on a desert island within two months, you'd have started two businesses. What are you.

00:32:13:02 - 00:32:47:23
Speaker 2
Talking? Let's see. Here's track two. Vittoria.

00:32:48:01 - 00:32:56:08
Speaker 1
Ooh!

00:32:56:10 - 00:33:04:14
Speaker 1
Sounds like.

00:33:04:16 - 00:33:10:07
Speaker 1
Right. Oh!

00:33:10:09 - 00:33:13:12
Speaker 2
There's so much character. The way they recorded the piano. The way he's playing it.

00:33:13:18 - 00:33:28:03
Speaker 1
Yeah. Oh, it's the way he's playing it. There's. There's certain characteristics. The way he recorded it two. Yeah, I have questions about.

00:33:28:05 - 00:33:35:21
Speaker 2
You getting a lot of hammer and you're getting a lot of. It's almost like overdriven right. Yeah. Well there's a part where.

00:33:35:23 - 00:33:45:14
Speaker 1
I believe Keith too, is, like, interested in the recording process for sure. And I know he has a studio in his place, because in that Terry Gross interview, they talked about it.

00:33:45:16 - 00:33:48:04
Speaker 2
When he's in there in the piano interview.

00:33:48:04 - 00:33:52:03
Speaker 1
Yeah.

00:33:52:05 - 00:34:00:00
Speaker 2
But the way he's playing the left hand, like totally different kind of tone. That simple look.

00:34:00:02 - 00:34:17:04
Speaker 2
Incredible. But I mean. But I mean, some people would be like, oh, that like, it's too, it's like it's almost for some people, not me, but like, it's almost too direct and like a piercing kind of song. Let me, let me.

00:34:17:04 - 00:34:25:01
Speaker 1
Just if there's, like, a limiter or a compressor on there. Andy. Sam, do you guys hear that at all? Like on the piano sound? It feels like there's, like, maybe a heavy limiter on it. Sam shaking his head.

00:34:25:03 - 00:34:42:07
Speaker 2
There's a place here this is getting towards like four minutes where he really breaks it down, and then he comes in.

00:34:42:09 - 00:34:51:22
Unknown
Oh. Oh. Sounds like bells.

00:34:52:00 - 00:34:55:14
Speaker 2
Ariel Castro.

00:34:55:16 - 00:35:01:05
Unknown
Just touches.

00:35:01:07 - 00:35:01:21
Unknown
A couple things.

00:35:01:21 - 00:35:16:07
Speaker 1
So Keith Jarrett, notoriously one of the great touches of all times on the piano. And in fact, in that same interview with Terry Gross that you were playing earlier. Yeah, he talks about how he was trying to develop with, in conjunction with some engineers from Steinway piano that didn't have the,

00:35:16:07 - 00:35:18:22
Speaker 1
the, the brake on it that typically they have.

00:35:18:22 - 00:35:21:10
Speaker 1
I forget the escape. Yeah. Escape or

00:35:21:10 - 00:35:33:17
Speaker 1
so that, you know, as he demonstrates, I think in the interview, you can press a key all the way down to the piano. Right? If you do it soft enough and slow enough, the hammer won't strike and it'll just come back down. And the key is all the way to pressed.

00:35:33:19 - 00:35:39:15
Speaker 1
And that's a drag if you're trying to play softly. Yeah. And that tells me that Keith has this level of control.

00:35:39:15 - 00:35:40:00
Speaker 2
Yeah.

00:35:40:00 - 00:35:48:10
Speaker 1
Where he can play as soft and of course, as loud as he wants. Another characteristic, especially from that track that you realize. And for all of us who are big,

00:35:48:10 - 00:35:58:09
Speaker 1
Keith heads. Yeah. That's the first time anybody's ever said that. But, it seems attainable. Almost like his style of playing. It's sort of like,

00:35:58:09 - 00:35:59:23
Speaker 1
it's it's like Hank Jones.

00:35:59:23 - 00:36:10:11
Speaker 1
Not in the same style, but in the characteristic of, like, when I hear Hank Jones, I want to hear Keith Jarrett, two great pianists, I think, like, oh, that seems doable. Yeah. Right. Like,

00:36:10:11 - 00:36:22:04
Speaker 1
technically. And then when you try to mimic it, you're like, that is impossible, right? Like because there's the details, which aren't flashy details, but it is things like touch and feel.

00:36:22:05 - 00:36:43:05
Speaker 1
Yeah. And little harmonic things and counter melodies that are happening that are controlled so beautifully that it does make the overall product seem, first of all, light and easy and melodic. Which is why I think we we are under the misconception like this is this must be kind of easy to play. Yeah. As someone who has like just monster chops like Kenny Kirkland or something like, you hear that?

00:36:43:05 - 00:36:44:05
Speaker 1
You're like, oh my gosh.

00:36:44:06 - 00:36:44:18
Speaker 2
Yeah, that's.

00:36:44:18 - 00:37:01:08
Speaker 1
Hard to play, right, right, right. But this is like oh so beautiful melodic. And I think I can mimic this. Yeah. And you got to do it. And it's like you're so far away from that end product because yeah, he is not using his immense technique for flashy things. Yes I mean he's got flashes. Yeah. But it's not flashy.

00:37:01:08 - 00:37:14:16
Speaker 1
The what he's really utilize in some like really incredible piano technique for are things that make it sound just more human and beautiful. And those are my favorite piano players.

00:37:14:17 - 00:37:28:00
Speaker 2
Absolutely. And I mean, I think it's that it's that combination with Keith of just extreme control, like really just very high level of piano technique in terms of control. Yeah. Like the dynamic range just off the charts.

00:37:28:00 - 00:37:32:22
Speaker 1
It's everything control. It's actual chops are off the charts. Oh chop goes for it. It's right.

00:37:32:22 - 00:37:36:07
Speaker 2
But it's like but it's like that control that that very

00:37:36:07 - 00:37:57:10
Speaker 2
essence of like bringing out all the things that can be orchestral about the instrument. Combined with his really deep, soulful connection with music, they kind of defies categories. And I think that's why these records are so closely loved and held. And in the case of cone concert a couple of years later, you know, one of the I think it's the biggest selling solo piano record of all time, beautiful record.

00:37:57:10 - 00:38:13:18
Speaker 2
But the reason it has this sort of crossover appeal is because he does touch on country and folk, and it's not a jazz record, but he's a great jazz fan. Yeah, it's not a blues record, but there's like strike bluesy stuff happening throughout it. So it's like that connection with what I humbly say is the greatest onslaught of all time.

00:38:13:18 - 00:38:18:07
Speaker 1
100% you. No, I don't think there's any question. Anybody listening, if you don't think that, you know, and.

00:38:18:07 - 00:38:29:03
Speaker 2
Then but then he's also an incredible musician like composer, of course. So so he's creating. But this is all like spontaneous improvization. So it's easy to think, oh, he's just a great improviser.

00:38:29:03 - 00:38:44:04
Speaker 1
That's what's so exciting about this period, 1971, when this album came out, is he's about to prove to the world with a succession of records in the 70s that he's about to really like crush the 70s with a bunch of different groups and solo recordings and playing the saxophone and.

00:38:44:04 - 00:38:45:13
Speaker 2
Like, you know, speaking of that, playing.

00:38:45:13 - 00:39:03:07
Speaker 1
Percussion. Yeah. And like doing all this crazy stuff. And he's and he's, it's, he's about to take off into an artistic direction that I think is just unprecedented. One more thing about his technique. I saw him live once in Newark when I was living in New York. We took a train. New York. We went up to Newark, new Jersey to see him at a at a theater.

00:39:03:08 - 00:39:15:09
Speaker 1
And it was the only it was like he played. At one point in the concert was a trio concert, but he played a solo intro to something at one point, he played a chord where, speaking of like the unflashy virtuosity that he has, he played a.

00:39:15:09 - 00:39:16:13
Speaker 2
Chord where he brought.

00:39:16:13 - 00:39:29:15
Speaker 1
Out a couple of notes in the chord a little more than others, and the entire Hall gasp at the core, which is something that just doesn't happen very often at a concert where it's like you gasp at like emotional moments where there's a.

00:39:29:16 - 00:39:32:07
Speaker 2
Feel for everybody kind of to have the same right.

00:39:32:07 - 00:39:40:20
Speaker 1
But he plays a chord, and it was just like all of our hearts just melted down our legs, and it was like we were all feeling that. Yeah, it was. It was a special night.

00:39:40:20 - 00:39:56:17
Speaker 2
That's great. That's great. I've heard that. I've heard it twice live. And moments like that happened, I think that was kind of a regular thing. I think he gasped. That is, you can hear it on this record and that throws off a lot of people be like, wow, you full of yourself. He's like, no, he's connected with the this is make me editorializing a little bit.

00:39:56:20 - 00:39:59:00
Speaker 1
Please do. Oh, but that's what the show was like.

00:39:59:00 - 00:40:00:15
Speaker 2
The fact that yeah fact checker on

00:40:00:15 - 00:40:26:00
Speaker 2
but like he's responding to that too. Like he knows like he knows that he's the conduit for those special moments. And then on the macro level of creating this whole thing that makes sense. There's not just an endless supply of of special moments, but that's a cohesive thing. And that's why I say, like, as a composer, there's that whole element that I think comes out of this as opposed to just, like the first thing we heard, you know, this kind of I know how to improvise over rhythm changes.

00:40:26:05 - 00:40:27:08
Speaker 1
And you got to learn that too, though.

00:40:27:08 - 00:40:34:13
Speaker 2
You got to learn. That's where it starts. But check this out. This is also from 1971. So we listen to the DeJohnette duo, the All We Got,

00:40:34:13 - 00:40:39:21
Speaker 2
facing you. These are all within a few months of each other. This is with his American quartet, Dewey Redman and Paul Motian.

00:40:39:21 - 00:40:42:04
Speaker 2
Dave Holland, Charlie Haden. I'm blanking on that.

00:40:42:04 - 00:40:48:12
Speaker 2
Sorry, but this is Toll Road from a great record called the Judgment.

00:40:48:14 - 00:40:51:23
Speaker 2
Day.

00:40:52:00 - 00:41:08:20
Speaker 2
Hey, Peter. Yeah? Where's the piano? Here. Kill it. Keys. Kill it on here. You can't hear him. He's playing soprano saxophone. So that's a whole nother thing. But I just want, you know, we're not even going to get into all that stuff is. You can play the flute. He did all these things. This composition as well give you a little bit of his classical playing.

00:41:08:20 - 00:41:32:01
Speaker 2
This is a few years later from. Well-Tempered Clavier, C-sharp major. You know, obviously a masterful classical musician as well. But it's just to say that not that. But those other two tracks that we played that were so different conceptually. Those happened in 1971 as well. So it wasn't just like facing. You're like, oh, I'm going in this other direction.

00:41:32:01 - 00:41:34:12
Speaker 2
And we haven't even gotten into Paul Motian,

00:41:34:12 - 00:41:41:14
Speaker 2
Charlie Haden Trio from before this and was still happening. And then, of course, later on, Gary Peacock, Jack DeJohnette trio,

00:41:41:14 - 00:41:42:18
Speaker 1
The great trio, the.

00:41:42:18 - 00:41:43:08
Speaker 2
Great trio.

00:41:43:08 - 00:41:44:16
Speaker 1
Of the trio.

00:41:44:16 - 00:41:49:10
Speaker 2
let's get into some desert island track. Oh, heck yeah. And let me just throw this out there, too.

00:41:49:10 - 00:41:58:08
Speaker 2
I know I kind of mentioned the title greatest solo piano ever. These are some other ones. And look, I it's not important to say this is or this isn't, but I put this in a group once that I made a note of.

00:41:58:08 - 00:42:00:21
Speaker 2
And these are just personal loves of mine.

00:42:00:21 - 00:42:06:14
Speaker 2
Thelonious Monk alone in San Francisco or solo month, but equally great in different ways, I think,

00:42:06:14 - 00:42:09:17
Speaker 2
anything that Art Tatum did on record, I mean, piano starts here.

00:42:09:17 - 00:42:15:12
Speaker 2
There's a record I remembered, Earl Hines playing Duke Ellington very late in his career, I believe was even the early 70s.

00:42:15:12 - 00:42:25:05
Speaker 2
It might have been late 60s. That I think is just masterful solo piano playing, super enjoyable. Sullivan Fortner solo games front of the pod in front of the open studio?

00:42:25:05 - 00:42:26:10
Speaker 1
Absolutely.

00:42:26:12 - 00:42:43:09
Speaker 2
And then also Bill Evans alone, which is not I think it's there's there's a track on there, Never Let Me Go. I mean, when I first heard that, I was like, wow, solo piano, just Bill Evans. There's that conversations with myself where he's overdubbing that most people talk about, which is great too. But, I know that never let Me go.

00:42:43:09 - 00:42:52:22
Speaker 2
At least that track is a true solo piano. But that's the kind of stuff I compare this to, not compare, that was in the into the where that was your up next. No, that's just my. Is this the greatest solo jazz?

00:42:52:22 - 00:42:54:10
Speaker 1
Oh is this the greatest solo jazz?

00:42:54:11 - 00:42:56:05
Speaker 2
I'm just throwing that in there. I thought off script, buddy.

00:42:56:06 - 00:43:02:00
Speaker 1
I think this again. I think this has to be in the conversation with a couple others. I think the common concert Vienna concert need to be in that conversation.

00:43:02:00 - 00:43:05:03
Speaker 2
Oh, of Keith. Keith. What about those other ones? Would you argue any of those?

00:43:05:04 - 00:43:08:07
Speaker 1
I would, I'd definitely argue those are the couple of Hank Jones, the,

00:43:08:07 - 00:43:10:02
Speaker 1
Hank Jones, I believe it's,

00:43:10:02 - 00:43:18:07
Speaker 1
Satin Doll tribute to Duke Ellington, which is 1976. So a little bit later in Hank's career and incredible playing.

00:43:18:08 - 00:43:19:18
Speaker 2
Oh, there's some Duke Ellington solo.

00:43:19:18 - 00:43:22:17
Speaker 1
Piano, there's some Duke Ellington solo piano. And yeah.

00:43:22:19 - 00:43:37:13
Speaker 2
It's interesting to think about the lineage and just, you know, because we talk about it's always like trio. What's the greatest trio record, you know, and Oscar Peterson, Oscar Peterson, everything. Everybody. Some of my best, some of my best friends. One of monk and one of yours. Yeah. That's what I said.

00:43:37:13 - 00:43:39:09
Speaker 1
First, buddy. Sorry. You're paying attention. Sorry.

00:43:39:11 - 00:43:42:11
Speaker 2
I said solo monk or alone in Sanford? I say alone in San Francisco.

00:43:42:11 - 00:43:44:11
Speaker 1
I'd say Solo Monk. But I will agree to this.

00:43:44:12 - 00:43:46:07
Speaker 2
But facing you goes right in here for sure.

00:43:46:08 - 00:43:47:13
Speaker 1
I yeah, I think facing is amazing.

00:43:47:14 - 00:43:49:05
Speaker 2
Okay. What do you have for your desert island track?

00:43:49:05 - 00:43:53:04
Speaker 1
I have lately I think lately, yeah. For your desert island track.

00:43:53:04 - 00:43:54:21
Speaker 2
Yeah, I changed it, I changed it.

00:43:54:22 - 00:44:03:01
Speaker 1
Oh, okay. Sorry. Yeah. Then I'll take in front of, you know, I'll, I'll switch to in front. But, I also have lately. Yeah. I think that's good.

00:44:03:01 - 00:44:15:21
Speaker 2
We we can coalesce. I change it because I was like, I was thinking in front, but lately. Let's take a listen to this is the third track. We're not going to get all the way through this record. We're going to get three, three, three, three, three. But this is also my apex moment. Can we listen right up to the apex?

00:44:16:02 - 00:44:26:22
Speaker 2
Because it's pretty early. Yeah.

00:44:53:04 - 00:45:00:16
Speaker 2
Oh, freedom. How he phrases his melodies.

00:45:00:18 - 00:45:08:02
Speaker 2
With grace knows.

00:45:08:04 - 00:45:12:22
Unknown
I love this.

00:45:13:00 - 00:45:14:10
Speaker 2
Is a little bit of a.

00:45:14:10 - 00:45:22:06
Speaker 1
Strip that off so much. That phrase. It is. It's a glockenspiel.

00:45:22:08 - 00:45:32:16
Speaker 2
That can be a clock. Like in speak. Okay, we're coming up to my apex moment. I'm just going to raise up my hands when we get there. Adam. Okay. Like I'm in church. Like it up.

00:45:32:18 - 00:45:39:20
Speaker 1
Lift them up.

00:45:39:21 - 00:45:53:10
Speaker 2
That's nice too. Woo! Pull back! Okay, here we go.

00:45:53:12 - 00:45:58:14
Unknown
Oh come on. Oh.

00:45:58:16 - 00:46:19:09
Speaker 2
When he hits like oh I gotta listen to it again I'm sorry I'm green I'm green when he hits that sauce. But it's got such a like. And that's. You know what. That's from Thelonious Monk I think. I don't know, he'll say he heard. I mean I've heard monk do that exact same voicing. It's interesting. Oh he said oh, he knows it.

00:46:19:11 - 00:46:29:10
Speaker 2
Check it out.

00:46:29:12 - 00:46:33:19
Speaker 1
Yeah. It doesn't get better than that, man. That's great.

00:46:33:19 - 00:46:35:01
Speaker 2
This whole track called.

00:46:35:01 - 00:46:41:20
Speaker 1
Pete, that's a great apex moment. Well, I mean, since we're both going lately, I'll take that as I came back with you.

00:46:41:22 - 00:46:42:11
Speaker 2
What about.

00:46:42:17 - 00:46:44:11
Speaker 1
Bespoke playlist? You've got some good ones here.

00:46:44:11 - 00:46:45:14
Speaker 2
Okay, so I've got,

00:46:45:14 - 00:46:46:19
Speaker 2
fuzzy jazz masters.

00:46:46:20 - 00:46:47:17
Speaker 1
Absolutely not.

00:46:47:17 - 00:46:50:14
Speaker 2
Fuzzy could be fuzzy jazz masters. And I'm thinking.

00:46:50:18 - 00:46:52:09
Speaker 1
Slightly fuzzy at this time.

00:46:52:11 - 00:47:10:00
Speaker 2
Well, just because I don't want to make it like, you know, solo Keith. Classics. Yes. You could put this. You can put a cone concert. You could put the more recent Live in Hungary, some really cool different things. But to me, like, I like I like fuzzy jazz guys. And I'm thinking, I'm looking at you, Wynton Marsalis. I'm looking at you, Miles Davis, highly opinionated.

00:47:10:00 - 00:47:28:01
Speaker 2
Like, this is what's right. This is what's wrong. You know what? I might even be looking at you, Branford Marsalis as well. And like, a little dogmatic, but in in a way that I think is deeply connected with jazz music. Like, there's a tradition of that, you know, Jelly Roll Morton. I'm looking at you. You're talking about I'm the inventor of jazz.

00:47:28:01 - 00:47:44:06
Speaker 2
There you go. But, you know, people that are, first of all, just are incredible artists, but they're a little bit fussy. They're a little opinion. They're not going to just go along with the machine. You know? Keith famously said, like, you know, this music is in for all different. What I create is special. He's like, I'm not going to take this on Johnny Carson.

00:47:44:08 - 00:47:45:00
Speaker 2
Yeah.

00:47:45:01 - 00:47:50:18
Speaker 1
I also like this attitude. It's not it's not the attitude that I'm able to cultivate in my personal you're not a.

00:47:50:23 - 00:47:53:17
Speaker 2
Fuzzy jazz, you're jazz master, not a fussy I'm way.

00:47:53:17 - 00:48:05:03
Speaker 1
Too Midwestern to be that fussy. I really am very much a labradoodle in this situation, you know what I mean? Yeah. However, I really love when an artist like this gets fussy. I think it actually.

00:48:05:05 - 00:48:09:15
Speaker 2
Oh, I'm going to throw it a little personal one too. Sorry, Diane Reeves, she can be a little fussy to start her in there.

00:48:09:15 - 00:48:28:21
Speaker 1
Also in a good way. Like here's what I'm saying. Like we were just kind of talking like is the fussiness part of an ego thing. And I think it's actually part of the death of an ego. I think people like Keith and, and we even around here with our, some of our open studio artists, like, I think about Fred Hersch, they're just not afraid to tell you the truth about things in their in the way they see it.

00:48:28:23 - 00:48:46:16
Speaker 1
And that can come across especially for, for a round faced, potato eating Midwesterners like myself that could come across as a little bit, you know, like harsh in some, in some circumstances. But they kind of know that and they're okay with you thinking they're harsh because they're doing it to their art. And I freaking love it, man.

00:48:46:16 - 00:48:53:09
Speaker 1
I do too, and I wish, I wish we could get like ten more people on this list that, right, are like that because right here.

00:48:53:11 - 00:48:54:13
Speaker 2
We're going to put him on that list.

00:48:54:15 - 00:49:04:11
Speaker 1
No, but and by the way, it is all love a little bit. Yeah. They all have a Keyser is also Midwestern. So he's got this right. He's got two things. But he he will he is very, very honest.

00:49:04:11 - 00:49:05:14
Speaker 2
And I say he's a master. But I think.

00:49:05:14 - 00:49:20:13
Speaker 1
That practice of honesty and the practice of telling you exactly what I'm thinking, and because I know how I feel about it and it's true for me, is the same process you go with in making your art as well, in that you're going to be honest about things. In the more more honesty you can get, the better your art gets.

00:49:20:13 - 00:49:22:21
Speaker 1
So I think it's a big, huge plus. What you.

00:49:22:21 - 00:49:24:03
Speaker 2
Got for bespoke playlist.

00:49:24:09 - 00:49:24:20
Speaker 1
I have

00:49:24:20 - 00:49:29:15
Speaker 1
I have First Baptist Church of ECM, I love it, thank you. I think that would be. Thank you. Claude.

00:49:29:16 - 00:49:30:14
Speaker 2
Yeah.

00:49:30:16 - 00:49:41:23
Speaker 1
I also have some solo piano geniuses, as you were talking about all of those other solo records. I wasn't listening to you. I was thinking on my own. So I put that in there, but. Yeah. And then up next, actually,

00:49:41:23 - 00:49:47:22
Speaker 1
Oh, yeah. Up next. So we have some. Yeah, some other records that we go along with this pair with this nicely.

00:49:47:22 - 00:49:49:16
Speaker 1
I have that Hank Jones record set and all.

00:49:49:17 - 00:49:59:16
Speaker 2
Oh great. That's great. I've got cone concert and obvious. But I do like lists. Well, here let's just check a little bit because this is just three years later. But it was a big.

00:49:59:18 - 00:50:00:06
Speaker 1
Talk about us.

00:50:00:11 - 00:50:01:10
Speaker 2
People love this record.

00:50:01:10 - 00:50:03:08
Speaker 1
I don't sound of the pianos. Exquisite.

00:50:03:08 - 00:50:08:00
Speaker 2
So different though.

00:50:08:02 - 00:50:17:03
Speaker 2
I mean, this was in, you know, big concert hall, not a recording studio, obviously.

00:50:17:05 - 00:50:23:11
Speaker 1
This is the perfect album to put headphones on and close your eyes and just listen to.

00:50:23:13 - 00:50:46:05
Speaker 2
Some banging offs and hopefully or higher on yours and Wilkinson. Welker. Well. Yeah. So I mean that's you know that that flows into that. And that's a very different record than like Desert Island. You know, the both strapped to both strap you offered. You just kind of whenever you're getting there and you're like bye bye. And you've got two CDs called and facing.

00:50:46:09 - 00:50:52:08
Speaker 2
If they're like ripping one from my hands, I would say from my dead barren hands, rip facing you, I'd give them conquer.

00:50:52:08 - 00:50:57:09
Speaker 1
I hate to break this to you, but I think if you're getting onto a desert island, it's a more violent transition. So it's.

00:50:57:13 - 00:51:00:18
Speaker 2
But if it was, as I described it, which one would you keep between those two?

00:51:00:22 - 00:51:04:20
Speaker 1
Facing your comb? Yeah, man, don't make me pick, okay? I don't you'd.

00:51:04:20 - 00:51:05:16
Speaker 2
Be fine either way.

00:51:05:16 - 00:51:08:13
Speaker 1
I you'd be. Yeah, exactly. You're not losing either way.

00:51:08:14 - 00:51:16:23
Speaker 2
Two other ones I'm going to throw in there on the solo. I mean just would just be for me. Brad Mehldau, Tokyo. Yep. Great. Great solo piano record and solo game. Sullivan. For to mention that before.

00:51:16:23 - 00:51:17:21
Speaker 1
Okay. Incredible.

00:51:17:22 - 00:51:22:20
Speaker 2
And that's in my rotation now. But I think I will be shocked if that doesn't stand the test of time. Great record. You got any quibble bits?

00:51:22:20 - 00:51:25:05
Speaker 1
We talked a little bit about the piano sound.

00:51:25:07 - 00:51:30:10
Speaker 2
Yeah. I mean I don't have a quibble bit. I think people do and they've talked about that I love it, I.

00:51:30:10 - 00:51:30:18
Speaker 1
Also.

00:51:30:18 - 00:51:36:18
Speaker 2
Love it. It's not a super accurate sound in a way, but to me it's very accurate for this record. You know, it.

00:51:36:18 - 00:51:37:04
Speaker 1
Sounds.

00:51:37:04 - 00:51:51:07
Speaker 2
Awesome. It sounds awesome. Is it distorted? Is it overdriven? Is it compressed? Probably. You know, is it a short little piano? Is it. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, maybe that's why they did that because they had. But I just think sometimes like out of pressure and stuff, beautiful things are made. Right.

00:51:51:08 - 00:52:15:07
Speaker 1
I kind of I feel the exact same way. I actually wouldn't change a thing. I'm not. I think it probably the length of the piano, you know, without with Keith knowing it or not, probably affected what he was doing. And it gave us this special performance. I really do believe that that kind of the even those minute differences in the way things sound or feel can, especially when you're just doing something that's this, that this,

00:52:15:07 - 00:52:20:03
Speaker 1
micro as far as, like, you know, the attention to things.

00:52:20:05 - 00:52:34:02
Speaker 1
Yeah, I, I really think it's, it's special and I like it. And like I said, one of the cool things about it, I didn't even know it was the short piano. Yeah, but, hearing you say that again, he's not doing this anymore. Like he would never record on a piano like this after this.

00:52:34:02 - 00:52:42:16
Speaker 2
But in a studio he did record on small. I mean, seven foot for 5 or 10 is. Yeah. Not a huge difference. We know it's we look at this big thing I think for most people be like, oh, so great.

00:52:42:16 - 00:52:47:11
Speaker 1
By the time I was born, he was already like, please give me a nine foot Steinway every time I go, and.

00:52:47:11 - 00:52:49:22
Speaker 2
I might slap you in the face. Haven't the right kind of like, that's right.

00:52:49:22 - 00:52:53:13
Speaker 1
Like traveling with his own nine foot Steinway. Yeah. Around Europe, I.

00:52:53:13 - 00:52:54:04
Speaker 2
Think to,

00:52:54:04 - 00:52:56:01
Speaker 2
other quibble bits I have,

00:52:56:01 - 00:53:01:01
Speaker 2
his vamps are keep going and they're perfect and they're two great. His vamps are wonderful.

00:53:01:01 - 00:53:01:11
Speaker 1
It sounds like.

00:53:01:11 - 00:53:02:13
Speaker 2
A is that equivalent of, like.

00:53:02:13 - 00:53:04:04
Speaker 1
A compliment. Okay.

00:53:04:06 - 00:53:15:22
Speaker 2
Is that a compliment sandwich a combo combo bit. Okay. That's a compliment sandwich of things. I think he gets to know he's too good. He gets too bluesy on this record. Are you serious? I think his lines are too clear. No, I'm kidding.

00:53:16:00 - 00:53:17:15
Speaker 1
It's a no quibble. This this is a rare.

00:53:17:15 - 00:53:26:07
Speaker 2
I don't have a quibble, but I can understand how people would. Do you have any? No, I don't want to say that. It's the perfect because I never I mean, it's not like, well, okay, so.

00:53:26:09 - 00:53:26:18
Speaker 1
But here's the.

00:53:26:18 - 00:53:29:03
Speaker 2
Thing. But there's nothing that like, oh, I wish they'd done this.

00:53:29:03 - 00:53:38:17
Speaker 1
Is this the perfect here's, here's a great qualification you can think about. Is it the perfect record? That's impossible to say. Did they perfectly capture what they set out to capture with this?

00:53:38:17 - 00:53:39:13
Speaker 2
I have no idea.

00:53:39:18 - 00:53:42:04
Speaker 1
I think they dare. I think they nailed it for you.

00:53:42:04 - 00:53:43:17
Speaker 2
Oh, I think they nailed it.

00:53:43:19 - 00:53:45:02
Speaker 1
He played and he nailed it.

00:53:45:05 - 00:53:55:18
Speaker 2
But how do you know that? That's what they set out to do. I think this might have been different than what they thought it was. It? I think because of the improbable. If the if it really was totally improvised, then I think they had no idea what it was going to be.

00:53:55:19 - 00:54:11:23
Speaker 1
I don't know, I think well, but I feel like if the if their idea was to capture if Keith's idea was like, I want to capture the spontaneity that's been happening in these concerts where I'm playing these tunes and I'm, you know, the in-between bits capture the spontaneity. They did that. They nailed that shit. Yeah. This is that happened.

00:54:12:01 - 00:54:14:12
Speaker 1
Yeah. And it's delightful for everybody who listens.

00:54:14:14 - 00:54:17:18
Speaker 2
And this is the rare record actually some of those other ones, like,

00:54:17:18 - 00:54:19:19
Speaker 2
monk alone in San Francisco.

00:54:19:19 - 00:54:27:21
Speaker 2
That might be the only one out of those, I would say. I mean, piano starts here. Our team, although that's a different kind of record. But both those records, like this one I.

00:54:27:21 - 00:54:28:20
Speaker 1
Love piano starts here.

00:54:28:22 - 00:54:42:02
Speaker 2
That's Sumi Sumi. It's a perfect record. But no, all three of those records and not exclusively those certainly kind of blue. We can talk about the Clash, but like to me, you listen to them from beginning to end and there's no lull. I mean, yes, there's emotional ups and downs.

00:54:42:02 - 00:54:43:14
Speaker 1
There's a there should be there's a story.

00:54:43:14 - 00:54:51:03
Speaker 2
Yeah. But there's no like, oh this track was you know, okay. And so to me from that thing, how can you have a quibble with it. You know.

00:54:51:05 - 00:54:56:21
Speaker 1
We're coming with our own category here. So what about accouterments. What about I mean, the covers. I give it a nine, I give.

00:54:56:21 - 00:55:06:04
Speaker 2
It a eight. I mean, it's great. I probably should give it a ten because there's nothing wrong with it. But it's beautiful. It's not like if you were to name it, if you want to be to name the greatest jazz, record covers all time, it wouldn't come to mind. But it's great.

00:55:06:05 - 00:55:14:04
Speaker 1
I think it's a great image. It's a great composition. Keith looks amazing. He looks cool. He looks like how the record sounds a little bit. Yeah. Quite cool.

00:55:14:04 - 00:55:15:03
Speaker 1
Snap. Ometer.

00:55:15:04 - 00:55:21:16
Speaker 2
I will say it's very different than the what? ECM became like such an iconic thing. You know, it's not an easy type of record.

00:55:21:18 - 00:55:23:20
Speaker 1
It's the monitor. Peter, how snobby is this album?

00:55:23:20 - 00:55:28:11
Speaker 2
I mean, it's either a nine, a 10 or 1. I can't tell which. I think.

00:55:28:13 - 00:55:28:19
Speaker 1
It's.

00:55:28:19 - 00:55:32:19
Speaker 2
You've got ten, I got nine. Okay, okay. But is.

00:55:32:19 - 00:55:36:16
Speaker 1
It. Yes. Without question is what are you talking concerts?

00:55:36:21 - 00:55:41:12
Speaker 2
Yes. That's not snobby that how could it be a hobby? There are the greatest selling solo piano record of all time.

00:55:41:13 - 00:55:41:22
Speaker 1
Oh.

00:55:42:00 - 00:55:44:09
Speaker 2
How hot! Linda has a copy. I always see one.

00:55:44:14 - 00:55:51:13
Speaker 1
Hundred percent does that. But is it the greatest that we can quibble about that? But I don't know, I don't know, I think we're close.

00:55:51:13 - 00:56:08:02
Speaker 2
I'm at nine. You're at ten. I mean, the thing is, like, this is a record cold concert for sure. But I think this one too, that like a lot of classical piano aficionados have and they might not have, like flown as well. They might have monk, but they're not going to have like and they all they might have Bill Evans do not.

00:56:08:02 - 00:56:12:19
Speaker 2
But now what I'm saying, this is one that a lot of non jazz fans are like oh that's jazz. Oh I do like you.

00:56:12:20 - 00:56:27:09
Speaker 1
I think the Cole concert and this is no knock on Keith or the album itself. It's one of my favorite albums of all time. It's one of my favorite moments ever captured in music, but I think it did catch this wave of popularity. Yeah, almost like a not, I want to say Reader's Digest or something, but like when they intellectuals.

00:56:27:14 - 00:56:42:17
Speaker 1
When intellectuals. Yeah. Intellectuals are like, that's a great album. And so then it's just like, oh, that's the jazz album we should listen to this year kind of thing, you know what I mean? Not that it's not doesn't deserve it. It's as big of audiences as possible, but I don't think it's not snobby. Oh, wouldn't.

00:56:42:17 - 00:56:52:02
Speaker 2
The duo record with Ruta, Ruta and Aida from the same year that wouldn't that be ten on The Snob? Because everyone's like, then this would that would make this much lower that everybody knows it? Well, I don't know.

00:56:52:02 - 00:56:56:17
Speaker 1
Keith even said himself, he's not going for Johnny Carson here. Going for Manford.

00:56:56:17 - 00:57:19:03
Speaker 2
I better I sure, better than Kobe. No. Okay. I'm going to say okay. I want to give a new definition for this. Can we is this is there time to do this? I want to say no. I want to define better when we say better than this. Isn't this the same as. Is this our personal number one desert island album?

00:57:19:05 - 00:57:23:11
Speaker 2
Isn't that what we mean by that? No. Well, what do you mean? What does that mean better than is it?

00:57:23:11 - 00:57:25:10
Speaker 1
Do you think it's better than kind of blue?

00:57:25:12 - 00:57:31:23
Speaker 2
Okay, so let's just let me give you another clue. Doesn't have to be the kind of blue and facing you. Which would you rather have on a desert island?

00:57:32:01 - 00:57:32:12
Speaker 1
Kind of blue.

00:57:32:18 - 00:57:38:04
Speaker 2
Okay, so you think this is not as good because it's not a number one desert island, so I am correct. Thank you.

00:57:38:04 - 00:57:51:04
Speaker 1
Kind of blue might not be my number one. Does not like fun. Part about this category Peter, is that we're taking an arbitrary great album, no doubt, but saying we chose Kind of Blue because everybody kind of knows kind of blue, I know. So it doesn't even have to be your desert island.

00:57:51:04 - 00:58:04:04
Speaker 2
It's I'm going to say even. And the reason is, is because if they were sitting there with both of those records, I had to grab one. As I'm being dropped off on the desert island, I would be fine with either one literally equally. But the Kong concert and facing you, I'd rather I'm facing you.

00:58:04:05 - 00:58:06:13
Speaker 1
How many evens do you have? I'm better than Kobe, I have.

00:58:06:13 - 00:58:07:02
Speaker 2
I had a lot.

00:58:07:03 - 00:58:11:00
Speaker 1
Yeah. If everything is even with Kobe, nothing is, you know.

00:58:11:00 - 00:58:14:16
Speaker 2
But I mean, well, there you go. Drop in the comments if you think that's valid.

00:58:14:16 - 00:58:21:13
Speaker 1
Speaking of comments, Peter, we've got some great comments here. Oh goodness. Leave us a comment on YouTube. Leave us a rating and review wherever you get your podcast, by the way.

00:58:21:13 - 00:58:35:11
Speaker 2
And if you want to get super frisky, leave the review on Apple Podcasts. Yeah yeah yeah, you can always go comment on YouTube if you want to. Like if you want us to really get excited. But if you want to go next level, go to Apple. It's a little bit, you know, fussy. But give us a rating and a review.

00:58:35:15 - 00:58:36:13
Speaker 2
This is a read them.

00:58:36:13 - 00:58:55:19
Speaker 1
This is a comment. We do read them. This is a comment from our last episode on Roberta Flack. Why do jazz pianist love Roberta Flack on YouTube? Josh Morales 4.999 wrote as someone with very little exposure to this side of music, but absolutely love listening to it, now y'all are really expanding my knowledge with this series. Please keep it going.

00:58:55:19 - 00:58:58:18
Speaker 1
Thank you Josh, and we definitely, definitely will.

00:58:58:20 - 00:59:15:19
Speaker 2
And we'll remind you about the Nerd nook. I think what we're going to do in the nerd nook, I'm going to break down, kind of what we're actually about to do on lately. And I'll kind of show what my thought process on that, maybe that are in front. The first one that we did, just a little bit of an arrangement of this, these tunes, which are actually improvizations, what else we got?

00:59:15:22 - 00:59:18:17
Speaker 1
I think that's it. Let's go out with a little Aileen with Bob and Caleb.

00:59:18:18 - 00:59:19:02
Speaker 2
Let's do.

00:59:19:02 - 00:59:20:23
Speaker 1
It. So next time you'll hear it.

00:59:20:23 - 01:02:59:05