Keith Jarrett

Keith Jarrett,
(b Allentown, PA, 8 May 1945). American jazz pianist and composer. He began learning the piano at the age of three, and by the time he was seven had presented a full recital and was composing and improvising.

He played professionally throughout his elementary school years, and during his teens toured for one season as piano soloist with Fred Waring’s Pennsylvanians. In 1962 he moved to Boston, where he spent a year, on a scholarship, studying at Berklee College of Music. He then began working in the Boston area with his own trio and also with such visiting artists as Tony Scott and Roland Kirk. He moved to New York in 1965 but, having decided to avoid commercial work, was scarcely noticed until Art Blakey heard him during a jam session at the Village Vanguard. He joined Blakey’s Jazz Messengers in December of that year and stayed with them for four months, gaining critical notice and making his first recording with an established group, Buttercorn Lady (1966, Lml).