At the start of his busy career Keith Jarrett spent seven years carrying out all manner of crazy experiments with his American Quartet. Between the years of 1971 and 1976, the pianist, alongside Charlie Haden, Paul Motian and Dewey Redman ran a kind of mad laboratory, in which the genres of hard bop, free-jazz, world and avant-garde would all come together; a spontaneous and interesting period worth rediscovering.

Keith Jarrett did actually have a life before his abundant solo projects and brilliant trio with Jack DeJohnette and Gary Peacock, Charles Lloyd and Miles Davis, to name but a few. During this period of his life, he was deeply immersed in electric keyboards and influenced by a diverse array of musical styles. Despite such musical richness, these years are largely overshadowed by the attention given to his solo and trio albums over the years. At the heart of this first life were works produced with his American Quartet. The time spent with the group between 1971 and 1976 was a turning point in the Allentown pianist’s career. Jarrett’s quartet was among the most original and influential of the ‘70s jazz scene.

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