Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #43164 in DVD
• Released on: 2005-05-17
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.77:1
• Formats: Color, DVD, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: German, Italian, English, French, Spanish
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 84 minutes

Customer Reviews

A Marvelous Documentary about Keith Jarrett & Improvisation
"There's never been a time when improvisation was given the respect it deserves. By virtue of the holistic quality of it, it takes everything to do it. It takes real time, no editing possible. It takes your nervous system to be on alert for every possible thing in a way that cannot be said for any other kind of music." -- Keith Jarrett

This wonderful documentary is all about improvisation, and particularly the kind of improvisation the superb jazz pianist Keith Jarrett does. It was made with the full cooperation of Jarrett and there are many minutes of conversation with him as well as with such collaborators as Manfred Eicher, Jack de Johnette, Gary Peacock, his brother Scott, his wife Roseanne, Chick Corea, Gary Burton and many more. Interspersed are many performance clips going back to the very beginning of his career (and including some scenes from his childhood) right up to the present. His ordeal with chronic fatigue syndrome in the mid-1990s is touched upon (but, not surprisingly, given Jarrett's reticence about personal matters, not dwelt upon). There is a ten-minute uninterrupted clip from a concert by his Standards Trio (Jarrett, de Johnette, Peacock). There are also clips of the Köln Concert, concerts with Jan Garbarek (particularly gorgeous), with Miles Davis, and many others. Jarrett comes across as a hugely intelligent and deeply thoughtful man who is nonetheless humble in the face of his talent.

Sound PCM Stereo; Running time 84 minutes, plus 42 minutes of extras. Subtitles in English, German, French, Italian, Spanish.

Strongly recommended to all fans of this amazing artist.

Scott Morrison

Correction(s) ? - No Koln concert footage here
I agree with essentially all of the currently-posted reviews here, but I feel compelled to correct that review which states that this video contains Koln concert footage. It does not. It does contain short little clips of KJ from around that same time period, and maybe that's just fine (?). So...nobody who is intensely captivated by the Koln concert should rush to buy this to see footage from that magical performance...but they should rush to buy this just because KJ is many things: megalomaniac, eccentric genius, intolerant prima donna, and, oh by the way, gifted, brilliant figure of real substance in the
somewhat barren landscape of current jazz.

A&E Bio
This DVD is a nice Biography of Keith Jarrett's musical life with good interviews from his contemporaries and collaborators, and some valuable footage of his performances.
The only drawback is in it's title: "Art of Improvisation." This led me to believe that the DVD would talk about how he improvises what he does to prepare, etc. I wasn't expecting a "how-to" video, or a clinic video, but I was a little disappointed that it was just a bio that I could have seen on A&E (I would have rented it if I knew that).
I've read & listened to interviews where he talks more about his playing and improvisation. This DVD should have been titled: "A Life of Improv."