Keith Jarrett

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American jazz and classical music pianist and composer who started his career with Art Blakey, moving on to play with Charles Lloyd and Miles Davis. Since the early 1970s he has enjoyed a great deal of success as a group leader and a solo performer in jazz, jazz fusion, and classical music. His improvisations draw from the traditions of jazz and other genres, especially Western classical music, gospel, blues, and ethnic folk music. In 2003, Jarrett received the Polar Music Prize, the first recipient of both the contemporary and classical musician prizes, and in 2004 he received the Léonie Sonning Music Prize. His album The Köln Concert (1975) became the best-selling piano recording in history. Jarrett was born to a mother of Hungarian descent and a father of either French or Scots-Irish descent. Jarrett possesses absolute pitch, and he displayed prodigious musical talents as a young child. He began piano lessons before his third birthday, and at age five he appeared on a TV talent program. He gave his first formal piano recital at the age of seven, playing works by composers such as Mozart, Bach, Beethoven, and Saint-Saëns, and ending with two of his own compositions. Jarrett was a follower of the teachings of George Gurdjieff (1866–1949) for many years, and in 1980 recorded an album of Gurdjieff's compositions, called Sacred Hymns, for ECM. In the late 1990s, Jarrett was diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome and was unable to leave his home for long periods of time. By 2000, Jarrett had returned to touring, both solo and with the Standards Trio. The trio disbanded in 2014 after playing together for more than 30 years. Link to Wikipedia biography