Keith Jarrett’s thoughts on Improvisation

[Mark Kleinhaut]

I call this piece of music "I Don't Know" in tribute to one of the most profound musical figures of our times, Keith Jarrett. The following quote from him has been in my mind:


"Once Miles Davis asked me, “How do you play from nothing?” And I said, “You know, you just do it.” And that actually is the answer. I wish there were a way to make “I don’t know” a positive thing, which it isn’t in our society. We feel that we need to “know” certain things, and we substitute that quest for the actual experience of things in all its complexity. When I play pure improvisation, any kind of intellectual handles are inappropriate because they get in the way of letting the river move where it’s supposed to move."
-Keith Jarrett

[StevenA]

I call this piece of music "I Don't Know" in tribute to one of the most profound musical figures of our times, Keith Jarrett. The following quote from him has been in my mind:


"Once Miles Davis asked me, “How do you play from nothing?” And I said, “You know, you just do it.” And that actually is the answer. I wish there were a way to make “I don’t know” a positive thing, which it isn’t in our society. We feel that we need to “know” certain things, and we substitute that quest for the actual experience of things in all its complexity. When I play pure improvisation, any kind of intellectual handles are inappropriate because they get in the way of letting the river move where it’s supposed to move."
-Keith Jarrett

Here is an exercise which may better support what Jarrett is saying:
Take a couple of minutes to create a unique spontaneous doodle with pen and paper without any thought.
Then try copying that doodle and compare them. I think you will always find you prefer the original.

[Mark Kleinhaut]

Here is an exercise which may better support what Jarrett is saying:
Take a couple of minutes to create a unique spontaneous doodle with pen and paper without any thought.
Then try copying that doodle and compare them. I think you will always find you prefer the original.

In life, there are no second takes.

[Sam Sherry]

Take a couple of minutes to create a unique spontaneous doodle with pen and paper . . .

In life, there are no second takes.

Our old pal Dr. Rick Nelson would say, "Create a spontaneous doodle . . . that's your sheet music now. Go!"

[Mark Kleinhaut]

Our old pal Dr. Rick Nelson would say, "Create a spontaneous doodle . . . that's your sheet music now. Go!"

Ah, yeah, he’s one smart guy. That must be at least part of why they call him doctor! Glad to see he’s out and about doing what he loves to do.

[Cunamara]

Wow. This is one of the things that makes me keep coming back to this forum. I keep getting pointed towards music and musicians that I'd probably never find on my own.

I had never heard of Dr. Rick Nelson before this mention. I have listened to a little bit of "Dissolve" and haven't heard anything quite like it. I will listen to the rest of it tomorrow (it's midnight now). It's a little atonal like Schoenberg, for example, but groovier.

I make that comparison because I have just been listening to Schoenberg's "Serenade Op. 24" recorded in 1949 with Johnny Smith on guitar. I had heard about that piece of music but didn't know it had been recorded until yesterday.

I seem to be chronically slow on the uptake!

[Sam Sherry]

Wow. This is one of the things that makes me keep coming back to this forum. I keep getting pointed towards music and musicians that I'd probably never find on my own.

I had never heard of Dr. Rick Nelson before this mention. I have listened to a little bit of "Dissolve" and haven't heard anything quite like it. I will listen to the rest of it tomorrow (it's midnight now). It's a little atonal like Schoenberg, for example, but groovier.

Rick is a gracious and exceptionally deep cat. He's carved his own path.
He's both highly intentional and wide open to what works. His writing has included standard musical notation, graphic content and textual direction. (I played double bass on "SpaceTime Foam" and at one point the chart says, "Play foamy!")
And he swings. And he spent a bunch of time as a pedal gearhead!

I seem to be chronically slow on the uptake!

Don't beat yourself up. Rick teaches/taught at UMaine Augusta, which is a fine institution but not a place that draws one's attention. A bunch of his discs were on Invisible Music Records, which in its day was a tremendous mostly Maine-focused jazz label run by two very nice people who no longer reside in Maine.

Really good jazz is everywhere, and often everywhere the spotlight is not!

[Mark Kleinhaut]

Rick is a gracious and exceptionally deep cat. He's carved his own path.
He's both highly intentional and wide open to what works. His writing has included standard musical notation, graphic content and textual direction. (I played double bass on "SpaceTime Foam" and at one point the chart says, "Play foamy!")
And he swings. And he spent a bunch of time as a pedal gearhead!


Don't beat yourself up. Rick teaches/taught at UMaine Augusta, which is a fine institution but not a place that draws one's attention. A bunch of his discs were on Invisible Music Records, which in its day was a tremendous mostly Maine-focused jazz label run by two very nice people who no longer reside in Maine.

Really good jazz is everywhere, and often everywhere the spotlight is not!

jaaha- those “nice people” now split their time between New York and New Jersey)