Towards the end of last year and without much notice Keith Jarrett announced that he would perform two solo concerts in Paris and London. They were very special appearances charged with heightened emotion and both were recorded and have now been released less than a year on, in a special three-CD package. What audiences in France and England had no means of knowing at the time was that Jarrett was going through a personal crisis in his life and these concerts took place amid considerable turmoil for the great pianist following the break-up of his marriage. They also came less than 18 months after the huge controversy that surrounded his outburst at a concert at the Umbria Jazz Festival in Italy which caused considerable offence at the time. In a remarkable interview Jarrett bares his soul to Stuart Nicholson.

At 64 years of age, Keith Jarrett has embarked on journey of self discovery. But he didn’t exactly plan it that way. After a series of solo concerts in Japan in 2008 which, in his own words, “Seemed to hit a technical high-note in the history of my solo events,” he admits he wasn’t sure what might happen next. He didn’t have to wait long to find out. His wife of 30 years, Rose Anne, left him for, “the third time in four years.” Divorce proceedings are currently underway.

It had a profound effect on Jarrett. “A lot of people thought I would fold into a little ball,” he says. “There was such a team thing going on with Rose Anne and me and it was pretty hard to imagine not being with each other, so that was a crisis, it still is.” By his own admission he “scrambled to stay alive.” His manager, Steve Cloud managed to book two solo concerts, one on 26 November 2008 in Paris and another on 1 December in London at short notice.

 
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