On the Edge: An Improvisation on My Life, a book by Keith Jarrett, will be published by Allen Lane on March 25, 2027 (hardback, 304 pages; a Kindle edition will also be available). According to the publisher, the book is “the first and only time that Jarrett will tell the story of his life in music”, covering his approach to composition, improvisation, practice, technique, collaboration, and creativity.

The description also mentions Jarrett’s early years: he began playing drums with celery sticks on the kitchen table at the age of two, his perfect pitch was discovered at three, and he gave his first public recital at seven, including a piece of his own invention.

More details on the Penguin website.

Thanks to Lennart for the link.

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A new book in French about Keith Jarrett will be published on November 9, 2023 by Éditions du Layeur. Written by musicologist Ludovic Florin, “Keith Jarrett” is a 260-page disco/biography.

La discographie exhaustive de Keith Jarrett, surement le pianiste le plus célèbre que le jazz ait porté. Un ouvrage exceptionnel et rare. Keith Jarrett est et restera l’un des grands génies musicaux des XXe et XXIe siècles. Pour la première fois, un ouvrage s’arrête sur l’intégralité des enregistrements réalisés par le musicien, qu’il soit leader ou sideman. Avec ce parcours en 127 textes, on découvrira non seulement les productions du jazzman auteur de l’album de piano solo le plus vendu de l’histoire, le Köln Concert, mais aussi celle de l’interprète classique de Bach, Mozart ou Chostakovitch. Organisé selon plusieurs thématiques (expériences fondatrices, la pratique en solo, Standards Trio, etc.), ce livre peut aussi se lire de manière chronologique à la façon d’une disco-biographie. Après Chick Corea, avant Herbie Hancock, ce livre constitue le deuxième volet dédié par les Éditions du Layeur au triumvirat des pianistes passés chez Miles Davis dans les années 1960-1970.

Thanks to Michel for the information.

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Yet another book release I missed. I thought it was only available as a limited edition, but it has actually been available as a regular edition since February 5, 2021. Thanks to Allen for letting me know.

The book is available from ECM, among other places.

“In this series of photographs that I observe with a retrospective gaze, I play with the concept of presence, that one of the body and the one of the instrument, which appear and disappear in the image. The photos are the result of my intimate and objective attention to an artist who I have followed and admired for a long time, but these pictures represent also his response that is conscious acceptance, and above all, participation. His sound, the only one, is made of peculiar music that this series of photographs aims to evoke and make resound.” -Roberto Masotti

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Chris Jarrett’s translation of Wolfgang Sandner’s book has been published in November 2020 by Equinox Publishing.

Few writers have come as close to Keith Jarrett as Wolfgang Sandner, who has not only closely followed Jarrett’s remarkable career from the 1960s, but has also had the opportunity to visit him in his home in the United States. For this biography, which is full of detailed musical analysis and cross-references to other artistic genres, Sandner has collected new information about Jarrett’s family background, much of which is thanks to the translator, Keith Jarrett’s youngest brother Chris. The book explores Jarrett’s work with other musicians, in particular the members of his American and European Quartets and his Standards Trio, it charts the development of his solo concerts, and it also investigates his work in the classical sphere, as well as the highly original music he has created in his own home studio. It also covers his associations with his various record labels and producers, notably his unparalleled relationship with ECM and its founder Manfred Eicher. This English edition is a significantly extended and updated version of the German original.

Thanks to Chris Jarrett for letting me know. I somehow totally missed it!

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Friedrich Grossnick’s transcriptions of The Melody At Night, With You are now available from Schott Music. The transcriptions are authorized by Keith Jarrett, just like the Köln Concert transcription, which was released in 1991.

Tender is the night on what is, perhaps, Keith Jarrett’s most intimate album. It is comprised of solo piano renderings of jazz ballads and folk songs, played with unmistakable affection. Jarrett dispenses with the jazz soloist’s conventional emphasis on dexterity, the ‘clever’ phrase, the virtuosic sleight-of-hand. Instead he strips these songs to their melodic essence and, gently, lays bare their emotional core.
This transcription, which has Keith Jarrett’s personal approval, was worked out at the keyboard and aims, above all, for maximum playability within the greatest tonal range. Friedrich Grossnick, as an experienced pedagogue, has produced an outstanding score with particular sensitivity to Jarrett’s interpretation thus enabling its faithful recreation on the piano.  

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