Restoration Ruin

GIFTED AMERICAN PIANIST KEITH JARRETT IS ONE OF THE JAZZ WORLD’S GREATEST MUSICIANS. BORN IN SUBURBAN ALLENTOWN, PENNSYLVANIA IN 1948 WITH A MIXED EUROPEAN CULTURAL HERITAGE, JARRETT WAS A CHILD PRODIGY THAT PLAYED PIANO AT THE AGE OF TWO, APPEARED ON TELEVISION, AGED FIVE, AND GAVE HIS FIRST CLASSICAL RECITAL, AGED SEVEN. AFTER STUDYING AT THE PRESTIGIOUS BERKLEE COLLEGE OF MUSIC, HE MOVED TO NEW YORK IN 1964 TO PERFORM AT THE VILLAGE VANGUARD AND THEN JOINED ART BLAKEY’S JAZZ MESSENGERS. DRUMMER JACK DEJOHNETTE SUBSEQUENTLY BROUGHT HIM INTO THE CHARLES LLOYD QUARTET, RESULTING IN EUROPEAN TOURS, AND WHEN THAT GROUP DISBANDED IN 1968, JARRETT BEGAN FRONTING HIS OWN TRIO WITH BASSIST CHARLIE HAYDEN AND DRUMMER PAUL MOTIAN, WHO ARE FEATURED ON HIS VORTEX DEBUT, LIFE BETWEEN THE EXIT SIGNS, BUT FOR THE ASTONISHING FOLLOW-UP, RESTORATION RUIN (ALSO ISSUED BY VORTEXT THAT YEAR), JARRETT PLAYS EVERY INSTRUMENT ALONE, INCLUDING DRUMS, GUITAR, SAXOPHONE, HARMONICA AND TAMBOURINE, AS WELL AS PIANO AND ORGAN.