RUFFIN: NOW, A JAZZ MOMENT WITH PIANIST AND 2014 NEA JAZZ MASTER KEITH JARRETT

Keith Jarrett: What happens when the solo piece is in motion?  I have no idea.  It's a total mystery to me.  If I remain the listener and not think I'm the player, if I remain the listener and not control the thing, something happens. 

RUFFIN: JARRETT’S 2011 SOLO CONCERT AND ALBUM, RIO, HIGHLIGHTS THE MYSTERIOUS NATURE BEHIND HIS IMPROVISATION.

Rio up and hot

Keith Jarrett: I can't explain why I did what I did anywhere in that concert but some of the time I'm walking out on stage and I'm playing a definitive A minor chord or an F major chord.  When I played that chord, which was the first chord of the second set I think, I had no concept of what was coming next. Now if I go oh, gee, I don't know what to do, that's the wrong thing that's going on.  But my hands and my listening found that there was something in this chord that led to the next note.

THIS JAZZ MOMENT WITH 2014 KEITH JARRETT WAS PRODUCED BY THE NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS

Excerpt of "Part XV" and "Part VII" from the album, Rio, composed and performed by Keith Jarrett, used courtesy of ECM Records. Used by permission of Cavelight Music (BMI).