How to play like Keith Jarrett (Somewhere over the Rainbow)

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How to play like Keith Jarrett (Somewhere over the Rainbow)

Рет қаралды 2,867

2 жыл бұрын

In this tutorial we take a look at the beautiful rendition of Somewhere over the rainbow by Keith Jarrett. We take a look at the transcription and talk about his touch, the choice of notes and voicings and more.
Here's a link to where I found a transcription of this recording.
idoc.pub/docum...
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Пікірлер: 13

@ernestmathewson828 Ай бұрын

my attempt some years ago...will try again...and THANKS FOR THE JAZZ LESSON...VERY HELPFUL!

@GlennSeddonJazzPianoLessons Ай бұрын

great to hear! Have fun with it - G

@jennifer86010 2 жыл бұрын

Thank you for tackling Keith's rendition of Somewhere Over The Rainbow. I've been studying Keith's performance of this tune for several years, and I've been studying him and his playing for decades. 'Been to many of his solo and trio concerts, met him various times and discussed music with him. But it has been his recordings which have taught me the most. His keyboard technique is unique and phenomenal. Unlike most piano players, he doesn't try to show off all the 88 notes on the piano. He doesn't ornament his playing with fills, grace notes, or arpeggios. He does the opposite. His playing is very sparse, very simple, and very Spartan when compared to Oscar Peterson, Bill Evans, Herbie Hancock or Chick Corea. Keith mostly uses a very small portion of the keyboard, ranging from two octaves below middle C up to two octaves above middle C. And, even then, he mostly stays within an octave above and below middle C. The reason he does this is because this section of the piano keyboard is harmonically the richest part of the piano....the "filet mignon" portion of the piano sound. He very carefully uses volume and attack dynamics in a very subtle but effective way in his successful attempt to make the piano sound like a wind instrument. This is the greatest challenge of any pianist, which is to make the piano as expressive as a violin, flute, clarinet or trumpet. He does this by playing notes in a legato way, and by quickly changing the attack in his right hand from note to note. It takes years to perfect this technique. Almost all pianists play in a staccato way, because the instrument's construction creates that sound. Keith has perfected a way to "milk" notes out of the piano, not punch them out. His use of instant dynamics and finger technique creates his warm, elegant, rich and beautifully polished tone....one of his finest qualities any pianist can produce "Tone". What you hear, while listening to Somewhere Over The Rainbow as played by Keith, is not only his choice of melodic phrasing and his left hand chording, but this incredible tone that he produces. A couple of elements involved in his ability to produce this tone is the fact that: 1. The piano (Concert Grand Steinway Model "D" ) is always in perfect fresh tune. 2. The microphones used to record his playing are large diaphragm condenser mics, positioned to pick up the true stereo sound of the piano. 3. Keith uses little-to-no sustain pedal. Unlike so many pianists who destroy their possible tone or sound by over using the sustain pedal, Keith purposely abstains from using any pedal, and instead holds down individual keys to sustain their sound. This is very very difficult to do, and it requires a great deal of finger dexterity and finger strength, however it will matrix each note, eliminating the unwanted mixing of all the overtones created by multiple notes vibrating at the same time. Try playing a tune with no sustain pedal, and you will instantly realize this. Consequently, Keith's keyboard technique creates a very clean sound, and it allows his voicings to harmonize in a pure and beautiful way, while his melody notes stand out and sustain far beyond what conventional piano playing can do. Steinway has perfected its ability to sustain notes, more than many other brands of pianos. This is partially due to its design, diaphragmatic sound board, its hammers, and the quality of its strings. Not all Steinway models will automatically do this, which is why Keith, and many of the top professional pianists will play several pianos before choosing the one on which to perform. Once he finds the right model D which has that "singing" sustain quality in its treble section, he then applies his finger sustain to the melodies he plays on it, and this, along with a fresh tuning, and little-to-no sustain pedal creates Keith's rich, beautiful melodic tone. It took me 40 years of study and experimenting to figure this out, but finally, I can create the same sound. Studying videos of Keith's playing also help unlock some of his secrets, as you can see his hands, body and feet. However, because of his physical gyrations, his humming, his singing, and caterwauling while he plays, he creates a great distraction for those who want to study his actual playing. I don't hold this against him, there has been volumes written about his behavior when he plays, and for those of us who truly study, learn from and love Keith's playing, we simply ignore it, because the beauty and depth of his playing is worth putting up with it. He's always acted out this way, and it reflects that fact that he is totally uninhibited when he plays. In summary, my greatest observation, other than his playing techniques, is the fact that compared to most pianists, both Jazz and Classical, Keith's approach to playing piano is the exact opposite of most pianists. The instrument cries out with its 88 notes "Play Me !!" Both the composers and the pianists have tried to make the piano into a complete orchestra, which is why the piano repertoire is very much overwritten, and the pianists try to overplay the instrument in an attempt to wow the audiences, and themselves. This often results in a cacophony of sound, and an avalanche of notes that overwhelm the ears, the mind and the soul of the listener. Keith has reduced the piano to a very simple instrument, using only a small section of the keyboard, which delivers rich harmony and expressive melody, wrapped in a delicious rich tone of polished elegance. Whether he is playing ballads, or up-tempo tunes with complex improvisations, his approach to playing only the important notes remains one of the most original and beautifully expressive offerings that any pianist has ever produced. Post Script: As a suggestion to help listeners, you might want to tune your piano before recording any music onto KZbin, because microphones and recording devices have a way of being very unforgiving when pianos are out of tune. This is why so many piano tutorials are played on electric pianos for KZbin.

@GlennSeddonJazzPianoLessons 2 жыл бұрын

thank you for you comment (well really a well thought out reply with so much great content in it - 40 years worth)! Keith is my favourite player for all those reasons you have mentioned. His sound is the best! His choice of notes are beautiful and voicings are just lovely. I'm jealous, I have never been able to see/hear Keith play live. I'd love to hear a recording of you playing too, especially as you have so closely studied his playing for such a long time. Chat soon, Glenn

@jennifer86010 2 жыл бұрын

@@GlennSeddonJazzPianoLessons Thank you for the thoughtful comments. Your jealousy has been shared by thousands of Jazz pianists who love Keith's playing, but since so much of his playing revolves around his harmony, it is relatively easy to steal from Keith, since all you have to do is to voice your left-hand chords as he does. Trying to steal his right hand improvised lines is far more difficult, and it requires reading a note-for-note transcription of his solos, then sight-reading them slowly, and practicing them. In the end, if one does this, they may be able to play those notes, but they will still not sound like Keith, but it is a great step in the right direction. I've never been a fan of copycats. Not because they are thieves, but because they are always wattered-down poor imitations of the originals. I knew a Jazz pianist who copied every single thing Bill Evans did. He copied as many recordings and transcriptions as he could of Bill's playing, but when listening to him, his playing lacked the sound, and the soul and expression of Bill Evans. I asked him, "Why waste your musical energy and time copying Bill Evans, since we already have the REAL Bill Evans to listen to?" He had no reply. I've listened to many KZbin videos, supposedly of Keith Jarrett playing a solo piano tune, but in reality it was a copy-cat wanabee player, playing a pathetic imitation of Keith. Within less than four measures, I could immediately tell that the recording was not Keith Jarrett, but someone else, wanting to be Keith Jarrett. This is typical of the fraud which exists in social media, KZbin and other online devices. My point about this is not to become a copy-cat, but instead to be heavily influenced by your favorite players and then create your own original sound and style. One of my piano teachers (who is actually a Jazz pianist, not a teacher) told me that even though I have used many of the trademark harmonies of Keith Jarrett and Bill Evans, my playing is distinctively original and I do have my own sound and style. I thought that I had perhaps missed the mark in learning from these two great pianists, however I later realized that this was a huge compliment, since I was not copying them but instead learning from them to help build my own sound and style. Keith was heavily influenced by Bill's harmonies, but Keith developed many of Bill's harmonies into different sounds, and he made those voicings his own. I equate harmonies to emotions. Perhaps even more than melodies, harmony creates emotion in the listener, and it is immediate as soon as it is heard. Elementary piano learning starts with teaching major and minor chords. Majors are happy, confident and positive. Minors are sad, scary, evil and negative. I'm simplifying, but basically this is the difference between happy and unhappy music. Many commercial advertisers will not allow background music or musical jingles to be played during their radio or TV commercials which contain minor chords. They only want happy, positive, simple sounds. In Jazz harmony, the world opens up from the simple happy and sad sounds of pop and classical music, to a gigantic harmonic landscape of emotions, not heard in pop music and rarely heard in all but the more recent periods of classical music. When you hear Bill Evans play, much of the emotional response to his left hand chords is that of melancholy, sadness..but with hope, sincere heartbreak, blue joy, and many other types of very intimate and sweetly touching emotions. In Keith's playing, his harmony takes you to places of foreboding, mystery, sentimental tears, rich joy, empty beauty, beautiful sweetness, and so many other adjectives too numerous to mention. So much of his harmony may consist of only three or even two notes, yet when played against a note or two in the right hand, it creates a mood which is difficult to describe, but certainly far beyond the major "happy" or minor "sad" of elementary harmony. To liken this harmony to color is perhaps more relatable, since instead of the primary colors, red, green, yellow, blue, black, white, both Bill's and Keith's harmonies are an entire paint store's color sample desk of pastels, textures, shades, and mixtures. This harmony is why so many people are attracted to Bill's and Keith's playing, since their playing allows the listener to feel emotions in music which they have never experienced by listening to pop, classical and other styles of ordinary music. This ability to feel and respond to these harmonies does not come for free. The human ear has to be trained and developed in order to first hear these harmonies, and then associate emotions with them. You don't learn to enjoy the subtle flavors of fine wines when all you have had to drink is beer over the years. This, and many listener's inability to hear, understand and relate to jazz improvisation are the two main reasons why most people do not like Jazz. They can't feel the harmonies, and they can't understand or relate to the improvised solos. The art form is far to advanced and evolved for their untrained minds and hearts to recognize or accept. Yet, for some, the harmony still touches them. I don't know when you first started being attracted to the sound of Jazz, but I can remember as a small child, being attracted to the harmonies of Jazz. When I would hear those harmonies, I immediately recognized and felt something inside of me, which I did not feel when listening to any ordinary music built on major and minor chords. It was innate, however I started at age three learning classical piano, so I already had a foundation in listening. But the harmonies of Jazz took me to different places, emotionally speaking. Not to dwell too much on jazz harmony, but it is perhaps one of the most important musical foundations of the art form, and since Bill Evans and Keith Jarrett are two of the great masters and developers of jazz harmony, I must emphasize it. The good thing about it is the fact that any pianist can play these harmonies, so these beautiful secrets are available to anyone who seeks to discover them. To your next point about seeing Keith perform live, the experience is different for everyone who attended his performances. At most of Keith's concerts, I would always run into other jazz pianists, and often groups of jazz pianists and jazz students. There were always discussions about Keith's playing and his mannerisms and his personality after the performance. I attended his performances in an attempt to learn, perhaps what I couldn't not learn from his recordings and his videos. Usually, what I discovered at Keith's live performances were things not related too much to learning to play piano, but more about Keith as a personality and about the people attending the performance. As you probably know, in addition to being known as a virtuoso genius pianist, Keith developed a worldwide reputation for also being a primadonna, a spoiled brat, and a volatile, temperamental, entitled, narcissistic jerk. Many of his concerts ended up becoming a mixture of music and punishment, as he often scolded and berated his adoring, paying audiences for committing little more than the crimes of simply being human. Keith was permanently banned from playing music in Perugia, Italy after he spent a quarter hour calling the audience curse words, telling them they were unworthy of listening to him and his trio, then threatening to walk of stage and never return. The people of Perugia obliged him and banned him from ever playing in that city again. This is one of the many examples of Keith's lack of emotional control, and his elitist disrespect for anybody who is not Keith. The reason Keith would curse and scold the audience would usually be because someone would cough or sneeze in the auditorium, and this irritated Keith, who would often stop in the middle of playing the music, and tell the person who was coughing to leave. This pattern became so prevalent, that it developed into audiences, (containing musicians and fans who hated Keith) who would purposely start coughing and sneezing just to piss him off, and disrupt or ruin the concert. It became a kind of "badge of honor" to say that you had been to one of Keith's concerts where he lost control and cussed at you or scolded you. NOTICE: I WILL CONTINUE THIS KZbin COMMENT IN MY NEXT REPLY COMMENT POSTING, SINCE THE KZbin COMMENT SECTION CAN NOT ACCOMMODATE OVERLY LENGTHY COMMENTS. SEE MY NEXT REPLY COMMENT....

@jennifer86010 2 жыл бұрын

@@GlennSeddonJazzPianoLessons THIS IS A CONTINUATION PART 2 FROM MY FIRST REPLY TO YOUR LAST REPLY TO MY COMMENT ABOUT THIS VIDEO. So, to continue about Keith's volatile relationship with his audiences, I finally did have the pleasure of being scolded by Keith at one of his concerts in San Francisco, California, circa 2007. He played a solo piano concert, of what ever he wanted to play, with no prepared repertoire. The Herbst Theater was packed, standing room only, of about 2,000 people. The written instructions in the "program" and over the house public address system told all audience members, as if we were small school children, that we must be in our seats promptly before 8:00 p.m. Anyone who is not in his seat, will be banished to the basement of the building to listen to the concert on a loudspeaker until intermission time. We were told that under no circumstances could we have any cameras, cell phones or other electronic devices visible, and that all devices must be turned off. We were told that anyone who has a cold or is prone to coughing or sneezing or making any sounds what so ever, must either be seated in the rear of the auditorium or stay in the lobby or basement. (with the naughty children) Per our instructions, we were all obediently in our seats before 8:00 p.m. and quiet as church mice. However, His Majesty, Sir Keith, decided not to reward our obedience by starting at 8:00 p.m., and so he took his time strolling onto the stage around 8:15 p.m. Even so, people cheered and applauded as he strutted out to this "fantasy solo piano concert that every pianist dreams about......a beautiful theater, packed with 2,000 adoring fans, and a beautiful "Steinway Concert Grand Piano Model "D" on a fresh tuning, just waiting to be caressed by your fingers".....the gig that most of us mortal piano players will never get to experience, but which was a common ordinary everyday workplace gig for Keith. He sat down and began to play, some of his free improvisation, mostly looping left-hand blues-type boogie bass lines, against his right hand solos. It was familiar yet not anything written, but pleasant to listen to. After playing this and several other free improvisations, Keith got up and walked over to a microphone which he requested to be mounted in a floor stand on the side of stage, as the crowd held their breath in great anticipation...... Keith said.... "I wasn't planning on talking during this concert, but I think I will make a comment......which is "I think we should do away with government !!!" "Just, do away with it !!".....and then he walked back to the piano and began to play again. He played more of his free improvisations, nothing too familiar or exciting or particularly moving, and no standard tunes. Finally, after over an hour of this, he took a bow, and walked off stage. The audience immediately thought the concert was over, which it kind of was, and thinking so, the audience also thought that all the "rules" were now lifted, as many of them started to break out their cell phones and cameras, while applauding, in hopes of Keith possibly coming back to do an encore. After a few minutes of this, Keith in fact, did walk back on stage, only to his horror of discovering that the once obedience audience had morphed into his greatest irritation. Before he could even approach the piano, he grabbed the microphone again, and yelled, "bring up the house lights, get this damn place lit up, I want to see these bastards !" The house lights came up, and at least a third of the audience was holding up their cell phones and cameras, taking videos, photos and flashes of Keith, standing at the microphone, calling them names and cursing them out. We were now finally getting our "money's worth" !! Keith railed on....... "I specifically said there will be no cameras and no cell phones allowed, and here you bring them all out and turn this concert into a disgusting side show !!" "Iv'e spent my entire life trying to elevate Jazz into a respectable and decent art form, and here you are, you tourists, you souvenir hunters, you low- lifes, making this concert into a side show.....to hell with you !!" ....and Keith stormed off the stage !!!! Well, a portion of the audience felt ashamed, as many little kids will do, and others got mad and started hollering. But, most were still applauding, hoping that His Majesty would return with a couple of crumbs to feed his hungry subjects. After a good five minutes of continuous applause, Keith did, in fact, walk back on stage, calmly, not looking at the audience or saying a thing. He immediately walked over to the piano, sat down, as the audience immediately hushed into a dead silence.....and he began to play the Rogers and Hammerstein ballad "It Might As Well Be Spring" and I started crying. Most of the audience was crying, not because of the preceding madness, but because Keith was playing this beautiful ballad as sweetly and as beautifully as anyone could ever play it. For the first time, his playing, either in live performance or by recording, brought tears to my eyes. Keith finished playing this gorgeous tune, and the audience went wild with applause. All cameras and phones were put away, as he walked off again. The applause continued for another few minutes, and sure enough, Keith walked back on stage without saying a thing, and he sat down and began playing a jazz standard. He finished and walked off again, to continuing applause, and again he walked back on and played another heartbreaking ballad....this on-again-off-again cycle continued five times, until finally he didn't walk back on stage. The concert was bizarre. The first part of the actual concert was rather emotionally uninvolved, from a listener's point of view. Good, and impressive, but not emotional in content or expression. It wasn't until he got angry, and then decided to attempt to apologize through playing a beautiful ballad that the connection between the music, the playing, the performer and the audience began to gel into an emotional and memorable musical experience. Its one I will never forget. I attempted to talk to him after the smoke cleared, but I could see that he was in a foul mood, and not the least bit approachable, so I didn't waste his or my time. About a year later, as Keith's popularity continued to grow and he became an even bigger Jazz star, through his genius and through his reputation as a brat, Keith played Davies Symphony Hall in San Francisco to a packed audience of nearly 5,000 people. I missed this concert, but it was written and talked about everywhere. True to form, Keith took the stage, sat down at the piano, and began playing great solo piano. Not long into the concert, some coughing and sneezing began to develop....unknown if it was legitimate coughing and sneezing or it was from those who came to provoke Keith, but it happened. Keith stopped playing, walked over to the microphone (which had been placed on stage if he decided to "communicate with the audience" ) and he said "I'm hearing coughing and sneezing.....Is there something wrong with San Francisco?".....and with that, a loud voice from the audience shouted out....."The only thing wrong with San Francisco is you, so why don't you shut up and play the damn piano !!" Before Keith could even make a reply, another voice in the audience shouted out to the first voice..."You leave Keith alone and shut up yourself, we came to hear him play not to listen to you holler at him!" And with that, several others in the audience began to shout at the first two, and the entire thing started to erupt into a huge shouting match, at which point Keith walked off of the stage. After the audience finally calmed down, all 5,000 of them, Keith finally walked back on stage, but before he sat down, at the piano, someone else yelled out, "Hey, Keith, how about you play my favorite song?" Keith looked at the audience which was starting to become upset at itself again, and he grabbed the microphone and said "O.K. folks, how about you tell me exactly what you want me to play, and we will make this into "requests night"....O.K.? Someone shouted out a tune title, and Keith sat down and played it. Then another person yelled out a title, and Keith played it. Then someone got creative and hollered out a request to play some obscure heavy metal rock tune, and Keith played it !! He even started pointing to people in the audience who he noticed and said "you, yes you in the blue jacket...what would you lie to hear?....and if the person requested a tune, Keith would play it. Apparently, Keith knew lots of pop tunes, even though he never played them. The entire concert degenerated into a gigantic piano bar, with requests flying in every direction, and Keith playing them. Not the least bit any form of a normal jazz concert, or any concert at all for that matter. But it did remind me that Keith did talk about the days in his youth when he did play piano bars and give the audience what it wanted. I WILL CONTINUE MY COMMENTS ON MY NEXT REPLY......

@jennifer86010 2 жыл бұрын

THIS IS A CONTINUATION PART 3 FROM MY LAST REPLY OF PART 2. I've written enough about Keith's eccentricities, and his musical genius. The times I did talk with him, usually his ex wife Rose Ann was with him. She was a very pretty, natural petite woman, and she and Keith both made a perfect-looking couple, since Keith is also very small in stature, not just short but small overall. Usually, back stage after concerts, there are VIP people and music business people all wanting to get a piece of or be next to the star performer. But, at times, after some of his concerts, Keith did like to get into musical discussions about the music, the sound and the acoustics of the concert, which we liked to talk about. As you may know, Keith had a serious health problem several years ago, suffering from a kind of tiredness syndrome, a kind of "chronic fatigue syndrome" which he called by another name. He had no energy, and couldn't play or barely move. He had this condition for some time, and it looked as if his career was over. His brother, also a pianist/musician, told Keith that even if he never played again, his contribution to the world of music and to piano is overwhelming, and he has more than brought the art form along to even greater heights. Keith recovered and continued to play trio concerts with Gary and Jack, and solo performances, as well as make more recordings. Unfortunately, as of 2018, Keith's career appears to have ended after he suffered two devastating strokes in his mid seventies. His right hand can play, but his left hand is not functional. He has written that he can barely even hold a cup in his left hand, and when he tried to play anything on piano, it just wouldn't work. He could, however play single right hand music, so he was playing some Bach for right hand only, and some other things, but the career of performing as a renowned jazz pianist at such a high level appears to be over. I remember when the great jazz pianist Oscar Peterson also had a couple of strokes, yet he continued to play concerts in a somewhat debilitated condition. I went to several of those concerts, and it was a pleasure to talk with him, and get him to autograph my very first Jazz album "The Trio" featuring Oscar Peterson, piano Ray Brown, bass, and Ed Thigpen on drums. I'm still discovering musical gems from that scratchy old recording that I've owned for decades. I feel badly for Keith. Despite the feathers he ruffled along the way by being a volatile brat at times, his contribution to the world of music, and to the emotional experiences of his listeners, has been so overwhelming generous, that most of us can overlook his temperamental eccentricities as we enjoy the beautiful music he created. Certainly, the words of his brother which tried to console him during his previous health difficulties, ring true even more today. His contributions have been great and generous in deed, and unlike Bill Evans, who died in his fifties, Keith has been contributing well into his mid seventies. A lifetime of great music, and a lifetime of great memories, and recordings for everyone. I recommend buying a video of Keith's life, produced in 2005 by a biographer. "The Art of Improvisaton" -Keith Jarrett It is not a piano tutorial, but rather an extensive interview with and about Keith. It offers numerous insights into his life and into Jazz and especially playing jazz piano and being a jazz musician.