Quotes by Keith Jarrett

About Keith Jarrett:

Keith Jarrett is an American pianist and composer who performs both jazz and classical music.
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

We accept so many things that come through the media; we get used to them, however vigilant we are. But for any creative art, you have to remain 110% conscious, and in a world that's losing consciousness, that's getting harder.

Keith Jarrett

Jazz is there and gone. It happens. You have to be present for it. That simple.

Keith Jarrett

We really never know what we're gonna play when we get on stage.

Keith Jarrett

Once we're inside a tune, we can do anything with it.

Keith Jarrett

When you're up against an electric band like that, it's like you're on two separate planets.

Keith Jarrett

I don't like recording studios - except my own, which is just a little room above the garage.

Keith Jarrett

I grew up with the piano. I learned its language as I learned to speak.

Keith Jarrett

I can't even tolerate my own playing on electric keyboards. It's not about the musical ideas - the sound itself is toxic. It's like eating plastic broccoli.

Keith Jarrett

One thing you learn: if you want to reveal yourself, you also have to know where to stop.

Keith Jarrett

I'm my own most merciless critic onstage.

Keith Jarrett

You know, when people look at a tree, they look at the leaves; they don't look at the spaces between the leaves. They're focused on the tree. I think there's an awareness of spaces or it wouldn't look like a tree to them.

Keith Jarrett

If a person plays dissonance long enough, it will sound like consonance. It's a language that was alien and then it's less and less alien as it continues to live.

Keith Jarrett

Musicians are always gigging and never have a chance to stop for a minute.

Keith Jarrett

I realized that improvisers should probably always have time off. But musicians are always gigging and never have a chance to stop for a minute - unless something drastic occurs.

Keith Jarrett

When you're on stage you have a very strange knowledge of what the audience is. It isn't exactly a sound - it's a hum, like the streets.

Keith Jarrett

If I'm not a jazz player all the time, I've at least been cued in to what I do by jazz.

Keith Jarrett

I am a romantic, I admit it.

Keith Jarrett

I cannot say what I think is right about music. I only know the rightness of it.

Keith Jarrett

If you already have a piece of music ingrained in your body, why would you not play it?

Keith Jarrett

Your own music comes out of your head and emotions, but it's not etched in your system.

Keith Jarrett

Author Bio

  • NameKeith Jarrett
  • DescriptionAmerican musician
  • BornMay 8, 1945
  • CountryUnited States Of America
  • ProfessionPianist; Composer; Jazz Musician
  • AwardsGuggenheim Fellowship; Léonie Sonning Music Prize