Keith Jarrett

Paul Wells catches the great pianist on a good night

The December issue of Down Beat magazine has the reader poll, and it inducts Keith Jarrett into the Hall of Fame. The first link gives only a snippet of the profile, by Ted Planken, which is about 20 times as good as most of what you’ll find in Down Beat. Later in the article the pianist recounts his decision, as a prodigiously talented youth, to turn down a chance to study with Nadia Boulanger, the great educator whose students included (to trim an astonishing list down to three) Elliott Carter, Quincy Jones and Astor Piazzolla.