The Ventriloquism of Keith Jarrett

I can’t take Keith’s or a lot of other people’s vocalizations. I listened to his music long ago until I made the mistake of getting a video of a performance. He was moaning and looked like he was in great pain. I couldn't see how he was playing the music I was hearing.  His fingers were curled, mouth open and he was rocking his head up and down.  I can’t get that image out of my head when I hear him now, so no more Keith for me.

The beauty and amazingness of our individual emotional connections... or breaks.  I had likely heard Keith Jarrett prior, yet my awareness and connection to him and his music coalesced nearly 25 years ago, in Girona Spain...when I walked into a small cafe for lunch. 

Keith's vocalizing is more annoying than pleasant.

The true master of that is Tigran Hamassiyan. He took a lot from Keith's skill and other talented jazz musicians and created prog-jazz band. His skill is the next level from Keith by all means.

kj’s vocalizing, typically on the more uptempo tunes, can be really distracting... but the artist needs to do he needs to do to perform, find the inspiration... and he is truly among the greats, it is too bad he can no longer perform

@jjss49 You took the exact words out of my mouth.

I'll tell you who's worse that Jarrett, and that's the pianist Masabumi Kikuchi, RIP. What a wonderful player, but my god, he mouth was at odds with what his fingers were doing on the piano. Check out Helen Merrill's You and the Night and the Music to witness the tragedy.

+1 for @tomcy6 ’s and the OP's use of ’I’... a critical and important distinction.

The first one that turned me off with vocalizations was Glenn Gould.- it ruined one of his recordings of the Goldberg Variations for me.

@wspohn 

I can understand your feelings but for me errr...no.

If I didn't hear them I'd know for sure that something was terribly wrong my version of reality.

In any case you've always got the '55 where it's less obtrusive or even the wonderful Zenph re-recording.

The 55 version is fine - much less intrusive vocalization.  And I would rather listen to either artist with vocalizations than not listen to them at all!

IIRC, Oscar Peterson also did this a bit.