Saturday, October 25, 2008

THE SAME BOAT CROSSING THE SAME RIVER


On Saturday Oct 18th the Keith Jarrett trio played @ Carnegie hall. I went to see this legendary concert because when I first listened to jazz music I was into great pianists souch as Jarrett but the truth is my taste has changed and my perception of the trio was a shock to me.
The three musicians, Jarrett (piano), Jack DeJohnette (drums) and Gary Peacock (bass) are masters of their instruments and eventhough I'm sorry to admit it, I went to a very boaring concert. This was one of the concerts on my list of great music to see live, but after 5 songs and Keith's comments I had enough.
Beyond their skill on their instruments, which is close to perfection, and the fact that their dinamic range is infinite, the polifonic statemets, as well as their communication (which we should take for granted because they've been playing together for 25 years), there was nothing left for me in terms of expression and sensibility.
Sometimes perfect music doesn't touch you and that's exactly what happened to me last Saturday.
There was nothing new in terms of musical statements, I really felt as if I was watching a video taped 20 years ago. The only thing that made me feel something were the comments that Jarret did to the audience, and it wasn't a good feeling because this man believes that because he plays the piano in a perfect way he's a superior person...But Mr. Jarrett, let me tell you that life and music are not about that.
I'lljust quote his words so you can understand what I'm talking about:
"I just want to say I'm not going to say anything tonight" was his opening statement. As if we where there to hear him speak...And it would've been better if he had kept his mouth shut.
Later on he burped this: "don't listen to anybody tell you what energy source we need"
???? What???????
but then he ended his statements with this: "I'm sorry to be the one to say it but this is the world's best trio"
I'm surprised that there was space in the Carnegie Hall to fit Keith Jarrett's EGO and a bunch of people who admire his music mastery in terms of polifony, dinamics, technique, etc...but the truth is I had enough of this narcissistic pianist.

No comments: