Keith Jarrett - Don't Ever Leave Me (Transcription)

The second part of the nineties was very difficult for Keith Jarrett as he suffered from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. He was forced to cancel concerts and all activity including his private piano practice. He practically did nothing for a couple of years, just resting and hoping that one day he could return to playing.

One day he felt that he could sit up and walk to his piano in his private home studio. He played and recorded a set of small pieces and dedicated the album (The Melody At Night With You) to his wife. All pieces are sensitively played in their simplest form yet they exhibit a rare sense of musicality.

"Don't Ever Leave Me" (an Oscar Hammerstein / Jerome Kern standard) is one of my favourites.

Enjoy the music.

Kern-Jarrett - Don't ever leave me ( 02:37 )

 

I am at a loss how to name and catalogue this. Written by Kern/Hammerstein, played (improvised?) by Jarrett, then transcribed from that by Assimakopoulos. Why do you have to make life so difficult ?

 

Oh, boy. I really am sorry if I have complicated things, Chris. But you got it right. It's exactly the way you described it.
It's the last Jarrett transcription for now, I promise. I just wanted to post this before I leave for summer because when I get back I will probably have to start with it all over again.

 

Yes I know... but it leaves me none the wiser guy (hehehe) about how to name this file. The naming standard is composer-opusortitle-pianist.mp3 , and now we have a composer (two in fact), an improviser, a transcriber, and a pianist. Go figure :x And that is not even considering where to put this on the site.

Very nicely played. The ruminative piece itself does not do much for me, probably because I don't know the original song.

 

To ease things up, the composer is J. Kern (Hammerstein was the lyricist), the improviser is Jarrett, transcriber - pianist is ... me. So I guess Monica's naming scheme in my previous transcription (arlen-jarrett-overtherainbow-assimakopoulos.mp3) works well.
And thanks for listening, Chris.

 

Again one of the Jarrett I've put an eye on. Either you read my mind or we have very similar tastes. Of the two recordings available I prefer by far the one at the Blue Note with Peacock and deJohnette, pure magic, do you know it? If you keep on recording this stuff I'll feel compelled to study seriously some Jarrett elaborations!

 

Ha, great minds think alike.
Yes, I know the Blue Note recording you are talking about. Marvellous indeed.
Currently working on "Blame it on my youth" from the same album and "True Blues" from his Carnegie Hall concert. I can't say when these will be ready, they'll take some time. So if you feel like it, it would be nice to have someone else here recording Jarrett 'elaborations'.

Andreas, I'm glad you liked it. The words you used fit exactly to what I was after. Thanks for that.

 

This is up !

 

Blame It is one of my favorite pieces too, from that album. For someone who almost doesn't know music other than classical, like me, playing Jarrett's music (that is, his improvisations) I am afraid would be a bit reaching too far. His takes on beautiful standards such as those on TMANWY are less demanding and less 'personal'. It's strange how I feel that improvisations are actually much more 'personal' than compositions.

 

Chris, thanks for putting this up.

Alf, a written score is considered classical in the broad sense. If you were only given a lead sheet (thinned down melody with chords) and were asked to improvise on it, then yes, this would require special abilities. But, judging by your other recordings, I would say that it would be fairly easy for you to tackle a little Jarrett especially things you really like.