Does anyone know if last month's (November) concert in Newark, New Jersey, was reviewed and, if so, where I might find them?

Thanks.

Kurt

That's certainly one way to look at it: that Keith is impeccable and that the thousands of people in San Francisco who love his music are insensitive "assholes."  And there's another way to look at it -- that Jarrett is a genius, but that his belief that a light flurry of involuntary coughing (and that's all it was, in a huge and acoustically very "live" hall) is a sign of disrespect and lack of concentration is a delusion that causes both Keith and his audience a tremendous amount of unnecessary suffering.

I've been loving Keith's music and seeing his concerts faithfully since 1977.  I've seen him dozens of times at least, in settings from clubs to symphony halls.  I've heard him play utterly transcendent music, over and over again.  But I've never seen a performer act as rudely to his audience as I saw last night.  And believe me, I've seen him explode before -- many, many, many times.  I always laughed it off as the price of the privilege of being able to hear an eccentric genius.

But while I agree that last night was sad, it wasn't the audience creating that sadness.  It was Keith, creating a Hell for both himself and the people who love his music.  Oh, I heard the noises too.  When you're playing an unamplified piano in a huge, packed concert hall in the winter, there are going to be people coughing.  Keith's insults and egomania made everyone in the room tense, which will only increase the problem of people's throats going dry.  He's not encouraging immersion in the music.  He's encouraging suffering and some kind of slavish devotion that is inappropriate, even for a genius.

He should consider last night as a warning to himself that he has gone too far in his insistence on "purity" in the performance situation. (That's what he said last night: "When I'm in my home studio, there are no impurities in the system.")

Keith has built a magnificent career by standing on the shoulders of giants like Bill Evans, who had to play bad pianos in clubs full of people laughing and coughing while they smoked and drank.  Yes, he has taken the music farther.  He has also raised the stature of jazz pianism to the level where he can fill a hall like Davies (and charge $70 a seat).  He deserves the musical acclaim, all of it.  But his ego is out of control.  It has been for years;  his fans who cluster around him to tell him how right he is, and how the people in his audience are just a bunch of "assholes" -- as they did last night backstage, I was there -- are only increasing his suffering and delusion.  Is that what you really want -- to make the man whose music you love suffer more?  That's what's happening now.

If you think a whole city is at fault -- as Keith seemed to last night, both onstage and backstage -- it's time to take a deep, honest, and compassionate look into your own soul and the suffering of everyone around you.

The Universe is not perfect.  It never will be.  There will always be "impurities in the system."

It's fine to mount a cosmic complaint against that.  I enjoyed Keith's somewhat self-aware jokes before the meltdown last night about how he will always "complain" -- how his music itself is a complaint about the state of the world.  I dig that.  Whatever it takes to make his magnificent art.

But blaming his audiences like this is a form of dishonesty.

Maybe if his fans wanted him to suffer less, they'd start telling him the truth instead of puffing up his ego even more.

San Francisco thoughts...

Everyone's thoughtful comments here shed some truth on last night's bizarre events.  It was certainly a but surreal.  I certainly commend Jarrett for (eventually) allowing, even encouraging some audience participation, including song suggestions for what was a much less scripted 2nd set.  I called out "What is this thing called love" from behind the stage, he played it, and then thanked me (us) for the suggestion graciously.  Did the same for "Summertime" which was a beauty.  But clearly he was in a not-so-great mood to begin with, and it only got worse the more he tried to explain/justify (?)  his discontent.  Interesting how many of you say you've seen this kind of exchange before.

The amazing thing to me is how far apart his ability to connect with a room of 2-3 THOUSAND (!) people is with his hands vs his voice.  He hits a single note and it resonates with everyone there, but he speaks into a microphone for 60 seconds and he's lost the room.  I said that to my mother this morning and she instantly replied, "That's why Dylan never says anything during his concerts."  Whether that's true or not, I don't know.  But I suspect many a great artists are not great orators, so the point is well taken.

I'll still be waiting w/bated breath for his next pass through the bay area though...