Keith Jarrett's moaning is annoying. (IMHO)

I'm listening to Standards, V.1 on ECM and I like the music very much, but I can not get passed Jarrett's grunts and moaning. Are all his recordings like this?

Don't get me wrong, I don't mind hearing musicians humming or vocalizing along with their soloing, but this is just dang ridiculous. It's on the verge of perversion. As Joe Perry once said, "Let the MUSIC do the talkin'".

Am I missing something?

 

Some recordings have more of it than others. I haven't heard the two "standards" albums.

 

All the great pianist do it - Monk, Glenn Gould, Bud Powell. Jarrett does get into a trance and his moaning could be loud at times. You gotta ask if the music would be as good without the moaning? - seems to help keep these guys going. I don't mind it, seems worth the tradeoff for great playing/music.

 

Shelly Manne, too? I have an early 50s RCA 10" Shorty Rogers record ("Cool and Crazy") with a Shelly Manne drum solo, and there's an audible "buzzing" that actually turns out to be him loudly humming along while he takes the solo.

Never got into Jarrett...at least not yet.

 

It most certainly is!
Bob.

 

Have you heard Oscar Peterson's Exclusively For My Friends SACD's? Grunt-o-rama! But he's so awesome!

 

Like I said, I don't mind musicians "gettin' into it", but Jarrett's noises seem gratuitous, like they put a contact mic on him as part of the recording.

The other noise-making musicians mentioned above do not distract me.

 

Have not heard this, but I've recently become a big OP fan. I'll have to check them out.

 

I don't own one Keith Jarrett disc because his whine drive me nuts! Calling it a "moan" invokes Oscar Peterson, Monk, Bobby Timmons and many others. Grunts makes me think of Erroll Gardner. Jarrett's "EEeee Eeee Eeee" sounds like a whine to me. It affects me like fingernails on chalkboard. It's like there's a mosquito buzzing around my head while I'm trying to listen to a piano.

 

Add to the list the unique sound of classical painist Claudio Arrau, who seemingly had his nostrils attache to his right foot---every time he used the sustain pedal (it seems), he has a sharp, audible and annoying inhalation. Kinda hard to beat Jarrett in the annoyance department though. Reminds me of the Bonzo Dog Band routine where the sax player holds up a sign reading "God! I'm expressing myself" while blowing an "outside jazz" parody.

 

I'm a fan of Keith Jarrett but sometimes his moaning is distracting to me.
His latest CD "The Out of Towners" with Gary Peacock and Jack DeJohnette
has gotten many positive reviews. I might pick it up.

 

To me Glenn Gould's vocalizing is more of a stain on Bach's music than Jarrett's is on his improvised music.

 

Jarret's sounds used to bother me until I saw him perform. It seems to me that his movements and vocalese are coming from the same place that his playing is emitting from, his heart and soul. I can understand why people don't like it, but it doesn't seem contrived to me. He's in another world when he's playing.

 

It's never bothered me. Just part of the sound he makes. I suppose I wouldn't like it if it didn't seem a part of what he's about, but I think it is. It's expressive of his presence, engagement, effort, and responsiveness to his own inventions as they emerge. Fine with me!

L.

 

Keith Jarrett does it also on "The Koln Concert" as well. It drove me up the walls.

Listening to Monica Seles moan works on me a whole different way.

 

It's never bothered me, though I know many who find it annoying. I just think of it as part of his style and/or personality coming though in his playing. It wouldn't be the same without it.

 

If Jarrett was just another great piano player, I don't know if I'd care, but his style is so unique, I think of him like Bill Evans of a later generations. So no, the whining doesn't bother me at all.

 

I just saw him in concert at UCLA 2 days ago. I was in the 5th row and could hear
his moaning quite clearly. I've seen Jarrett numerous times over the last 30 plus years.
When he starts moaning it's usually a sign that things are getting good. When you
combine the moaning with his dancing that's the best !

 

I too had the standads Vol1....had to get it out of my house. His insane babbling ruins it for me. Ya would figure DeJohnette would tell him to cool it. At least when he played with Miles, it was soo loud you couldn't hear this maniac.

 

Since I live in the town where Keith was raised I should chime in for this local boy made good. Actually,I'd vote on the positive side anyway. He continues to amaze me.My only time to see him in concert was a charity event he did here some 20+ years ago in a fairly nice sounding hall,(dreadfully uncomfortable with no air conditioning),but a marvelous evening of Keith giving his energy,soul and heart. The grunts are indeed a sign that the good stuff is getting through and are just part of the package. I'm not here to defend him-there is no way to convince a listener about this if they can't get beyond it. Listening to Errol Garner in my forative years prpared me to sounds like this. Mac

 

Standards Volume 1 is the same one I bought maybe 10 years ago. I thought the music was very good, so I was really pissed off that he ruined it with that godawful vocalizing. It was so distracting and annoying.

 

Gee, for a board full of vinylphiles and CD hounds in search of tape hiss, we seem awfully intolerant of extraneous noise when it comes to Keith Jarrett's music.

I think you hear through it after awhile, much like tape hiss and surface noise. And to deprive yourself of his music for it is really throwing the baby out with the bath water.

 

I'll tell you, I really tried to ignore the vocalizing. There was one song on there, I think it was God Bless The Child, it was like 10 minutes long and rhythmic and funky and I really liked it. I listened to it a bunch of times over a period of time and I would try to ignore the voice but it just kept getting louder and louder in my head! It's too bad, I would probably be a big fan of the guy.

I'm going to take one of my McCoy Tyner cd's and add a vocal track on top of me moaning and grunting and making noises. Anyone who would like a copy can PM me.