Keith Jarrett, Rio Part XV, Transcription

Full transcription of Part XV from the album Rio, by Keith Jarrett.
This is the closing improvisation from the Rio concert, recorded on April 9, 2011, and what a way to finish out this concert! This is Keith at his most rapturous and in a concert already full of beautiful moments, he somehow still has this final masterpiece inside him. As the audience member shouts at the end, “Bravo!” indeed.
This was a challenging piece to transcribe with the melody sometimes switching between hands and of course all the constantly shifting arpeggios (so, so many notes!). Initially I thought about simplifying a lot of it with tremolos (which I do a little towards the end), but I think it reads better with it written out in full.
I am very far from being a virtuosic pianist, but I was surprised at how enjoyable and comfortable most of this is to play. Hope you enjoy seeing this on the page as much as I do!
PDFs are available for all my transcriptions. All are $5, except the very long ones (like Hourglass Part 2). If you'd like a copy, please send me an email at [e-mail]. Right now I'm just taking payment by Paypal.

[@Jwal55]

This is another UNBELIEVABLE transcription of another Jarrett masterpiece. Bravo, Andy! RIO is one of my top five Jarrett recordings. Thank you for sharing your amazing work with us.

[@andysnyder888]

Thanks so much, and you're welcome! Yes, Rio is a top tier performance. From all the recordings in the 2000s, this might be in my top two (with Radiance).

[@keithtomlinson1280]

Fantastic work transcribing some of the best music of this genius. Keith Jarrett has long been one finest musicians in history and it is so wonderful to see his brilliant music so skilfully transcribed and presented. Seeing the score means we can all appreciate more deeply how this music is constructed and I hope at some point that you will transcribe some of the Sun Bear concerts. Maybe Kyoto

[@andysnyder888]

@@keithtomlinson1280 I really appreciate your comment and glad you like the transcription! One reason I started doing this is that I've gained so much insight from seeing the same sorts of transcriptions videos on other channels. I'd love to try excerpts of Sun Bear at some point, and both Kyoto Part 1 and 2 have so many amazing moments. In the meantime, you can find a brilliant transcription of Sapporo Part 1 on Michael Lucke's channel and Uwe Karcher has wonderful excerpts from the Kyoto, Nagoya, and Tokyo concerts.

[@keithtomlinson1280]

@@andysnyder888 Thank you so much for the leads. Keith Jarrett is a remarkable, brilliant musician, and seeing high quality transcriptions like those you create helps everyone better understand the work of this musical genius. Thank you again. I will keep watching, and eagerly await the next video.

[@rogerjamesmusic]

Who else can improvise so well in three and four part counterpoint?

[@GiovanniBattistaGaetano]

Brad?

[@nicholasfox966]

Many people, and many can do it better and more interestingly.

[@rogerjamesmusic]

@@nicholasfox966 you don’t know what you’re talking about

[@nicholasfox966]

@@rogerjamesmusic This is a trite, clichéd simulacrum of four-part classical music. The voice leading and harmonic movement are most decidedly not original or beautiful or more interesting than what one might hear in a mediocre film score, but because it’s executed with the surface trappings of spirituality and transcendence, it tricks people into thinking that Jarrett has something profound to say. He doesn’t.

[@rogerjamesmusic]

@@nicholasfox966 comparing a complete improviser to through composed music is absurd. They are opposite disciplines, and no one did the former like Jarrett, if at all.

[@vocalchords3609]

This is stunning work - really wonderful tenacity on show Andy!! Thank you very very much!

[@andysnyder888]

Glad you enjoy the transcription! Yes, this one required a lot of patience :)

[@christianboyadjiev1738]

Hats off! Thanks!

[@ThierryPianoSolo]

Wow! I want this one. Huge work and one of the most beautiful pieces on this album in my opinion. Well done! Rio is truly one of my favorite albums.

[@ThierryPianoSolo]

By the way, it reminds me Part VIII of London 2008 (Testament) I played, same pattern with a very simple melody and some sort of tremolos in the right hand.

[@andysnyder888]

@@ThierryPianoSolo Thanks! Yes, it reminds me of that one from Testament a lot. He pulls out the arpeggio and tremelo technique in some other pieces too, like Budapest Concert, Part VIII (another beautiful one!). It's such a great device to have in the musical toolbox.

[@ThierryPianoSolo]

@@andysnyder888 Exactly for Budapest Pt. VIII yes! I just did a quick scan of your score in front of my piano and played some bars. It's really very readable, a great job you've done. It's strange but it almost seems quite simple to me to play it after training hard on Testament Part VIII because the piano skills required are similar. I think this kind of piece is a great base for technical exercises (finger independence) as well, less boring than Hanon... 🤓

[@andysnyder888]

@@ThierryPianoSolo Yes, I'll take this kind of practice over Hanon every day of the week :) Very glad to hear that it seems pretty readable so far

[@epserps5055]

Thanks!

[@MarcelloGuarini]

Obrigado por esta maravilha❤

[@andysnyder888]

My pleasure! Thanks so much for watching

[@mikedelferro]

Great work!

[@andysnyder888]

Thanks!

[@giovannidallaglio226]

with this outstanding job you become by right one of the best KJ transcribers! thank you! where can I buy the sheets?

[@andysnyder888]

Wow, I appreciate your comment so much, but I have miles to go before being as good as some of the other KJ transcribers out there. But thank you! If you check the video description, you'll see information about how to buy the PDF. Thanks for your interest!

[@Poetrywithinme.]

Hello. Your work is remarkably rewarding. You are providing piano students with a repertoire of jewels crafted by who is perhaps the greatest American pianist of the Twentieth century. One question: could you please transcribe this fragment (19:42 - 21:25) of The Paris Concert 1988?? In my view, that is Jarrett's most beautiful passage ever. Thanks.

[@andysnyder888]

Thanks for your kind comments! It's wonderful to know that these transcriptions might be helping piano students. I wish that there'd been more sheet music of Keith's music when I was taking lessons long ago. I just listened to that excerpt from the Paris concert - wow, it is truly beautiful. I'm a huge John Williams fan and it reminds me of the Lincoln soundtrack. I'll put it on my list! I'd probably want to do more than just that excerpt - it's always interesting to see how Keith moves in and out of different themes. In the meantime, there's a good transcription of the first 8 minutes or so floating around on the Internet. Also, Tim Wood (look for his KZbin channel) has an excellent transcription of the first 10 minutes plus.

[@Poetrywithinme.]

@@andysnyder888 Thanks for your kind answer. I'll look forward to seeing that passage transcribed. Keith Jarrett's pianism and artistry have had a profound influence on my musicianship and life.

[@sigil5772]

Keith, improvise a French chanson in the style of Rachmaninoff! - Sure, no problem. Did you score the melody and left hand first, then go back to break down all the arpeggios? Amazing work.

[@andysnyder888]

Thanks! Haha, I was thinking Rachmaninoff the whole time during the transcription (and wishing that I'd kept up with my studies of him in classical lessons so that I could play this thing!). Yeah, I usually first did a few bars of melody/left hand accompaniment to get the timing and form down. With all of the rubato though, sometimes I had to use the arpeggios to help determine the pulse and get everything to line up. Tricky, but fun work.

[@user-cj3qt5vc6h]

Интересно, ДЖАРРЕТ думал о Рахманинове когда создавал этот шедевр..???

[@user-cj3qt5vc6h]

Впечатление что это стилистически ге характерная для Ктейта Джаррета стилистика.. возможно это стилизация?

[@andysnyder888]

There are a few pieces on the albums released in the past couple of decades that have a somewhat similar style to this one. The one that come to mind first is from the album Testament: Part VIII from the London concert. Also check out Budapest VII and Radiance Part 17. But it definitely seems like this style was less common on Keith's older albums.

[@ziqizhu7364]

Jarrett knows how to make a 3 note vamp sounds good.