Is Keith Jarrett The Greatest Solo Pianist Ever?
You'll Hear It: Full Album Deep Dives with Jazz Musicians
Peter Martin
4.9 • 770 Ratings
🗓️ 21 April 2025
⏱️ 63 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
One afternoon in Oslo changed the course of jazz piano history! In this episode, Adam and Peter dive into Facing You, the hit 1971 ECM release where a 26-year-old Keith Jarrett – torn between Miles Davis’ electric band and his own acoustic instincts – walked alone into a studio and recorded eight completely improvised masterpieces. From the gospel-tinged “In Front” to the apex moment in “Lalene,” we explore his remarkable touch, bluesy intuition, and the distinctive distorted Steinway that producer Manfred Eicher perfectly captured. We place this album among solo piano giants (Monk, Tatum, Evans), lovingly examine Jarrett’s “fussy” reputation, and show how this afternoon session laid the blueprint for his legendary Köln Concert. Five decades later, we jazz pianists are still chasing the magic Keith created that day.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Then after all that, after all the friction with you, after Sheila gives them the look, Ron actually quits, moves to Cape Toronto. Well, he does have family down there, so still. Hey, I have a question for you. Yeah. Who do you think is the acoustic pianist that won the 1970s? Acoustic piano won the 70s. I got it. Three to one, at the same time. Ready? Three, two, one. Keith Jarrett. Okay. Ooh. What's your favorite, Keith Jared? |
| 0:02.0 | Three, two, one. Keith Jarrett. |
| 0:21.2 | Okay. What's your favorite, Keith Jarrett? Three, two, one. Facing you. Okay, good. Expectations. No. Okay, so we should do Facing You, but we can't actually play the music for the intro, because that would be sacred ground. We can't. That's Keith's domain. Yeah. |
| 0:17.4 | But actually, I wrote this little thing. |
| 0:19.0 | It's more like an homage to Keith. |
| 0:20.7 | I thought we could do it in front. intro because that would be sacred ground. You can't. That's Keith's domain. Yeah. But actually, I wrote this little thing. |
| 0:38.9 | It's more like an homage to Keith. |
| 0:40.6 | I thought we could do it in front of the podcast episode. |
| 0:43.3 | Okay. |
| 0:43.5 | And just to be clear, this has nothing to do with Facebook. |
| 0:45.3 | No, no, no. |
| 0:45.7 | This is just what we're going to do in front of the actual episode. |
| 0:49.1 | All right, I trust. |
| 0:49.6 | Okay. |
| 0:49.8 | Okay. it. The |
| 1:13.6 | The I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm The |
| 1:47.0 | The The |
| 2:03.6 | The The |
| 2:20.3 | The I'm I'm I'm |
| 2:35.0 | I'm |
| 2:36.0 | the |
| 2:37.0 | I'm |
... |
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