A Spirit Story

8/10/2019 A Spirit Story

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A Spirit Story

It was in the year 1999 that Keith Jarrett sat down at the piano to play I Loves

You Porgy for his solo album The Melody at Night, With You.

What he played that day wasnt coming out of nowhere, neither was any part of it

left to coincidence. Creativity isnt a product of a persons intellect, it means

opening up your mind, connecting to a spiritual level of consciousness. Or

unconsciousness?

Therefore, this recording wasnt just a translation of music into digital signals. It

was the adherence of the spirit that went with the playing of Keith Jarrett. A songs

spirit cant be put on any CD but it comes to you when you really listen to the

music. Thats when you start tofeel the music.

The album was released on October 19 of the same year. Mr. Silverstein was the

first one to buy the record. Hed been looking forward to it for quite some time

since hes always admired Keith Jarretts music, being a pianist himself. When he

got home he put the CD into his massive old stereo, took the big beige armchair

from the corner and put it in the middle of the room, pressed play and relaxed

himself while sinking into the pliant cushions.

With the first note of the first tune, I Loves You Porgy, the warm and peaceful

spirit of that song started to pour into the room. Mr. Silverstein listened to it with a

deep blitheness and he didnt turn a hair until the last note had faded. Then he

pressed pause and went to his piano on the other side of the room, still feeling the

spirit in the air around him.


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Christoph Huber 10/05/2009 LCOR-111-026 Dr. Reich

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On that day he wrote a wonderful ballad, which, if you listen closely, has a touch

of Keith Jarrett in it.

Yes, it was a good day for the spirit! A lot of people listened to I Loves You

Porgy with an open mind and the joy and peace of the spirit went under their skin,

filling the listener with its positive energy. But it was not always that pleasing.

Just a few minutes after Mr. Silverstein listened to the song Mr. Stone, a music

critic of the New York Times, pressed play. He never really liked Keith Jarrett,

especially because of his grunting while playing. So he approached the record

with a reserved mind, trying to mathematically analyze it. If you could have seen

his aura, it would have looked like a strongbox or a freezer. There was no way the

spirit could enter his feelings. Consequently, the review in the New York Times

was rather cold, claiming that the album was exaggeratedly mushy.

But such things, such human narrow-mindedness, dont bother the spirit. It keeps

on floating throughout a world beyond human pettiness.

Part of it was floating into a small caf in Madrid where the barkeeper had just

found the Keith Jarrett recording under a staple of all kinds of CDs. But everybody

kept on talking when the melody of I Loves You Porgy trickled out of the small

speakers in the ceiling. The spirit couldnt find anybody in the room to share its

joy. But even worse, there was lots of anger in the peoples minds because the

national soccer team of Spain had just recently lost an important game. When the

stuffy air of the tiny caf got more and more contaminated with aggression and

hate the songs spirit disappeared all of a sudden. Left was only the sound coming

out of the small speakers - cold, mechanical, without its soul.


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A bit further to the east, in Sicily, lived Giuseppe Verdi. He was a great cellist and

a very intuitive musician who could play by ear like not many others.

When the sounds of I Loves You Porgy came to his ears, he let himself go with

it like no one did before. He got into it so deep, he almost levitated from the

ground. In this state of meditation he grabbed his cello and started playing to the

music of Keith Jarrett. He played so beautifully that it seemed as if they were both

in this room playing together. As if they were sharing a spirit. But not only could

Giuseppe get into the spirit of that song so well, he contributed his own part to it.

The spirit became richer and stronger than ever before and in a firework of feelings

the sounds seemed to fly out of the room and become one with the universe.

A few villages away from Giuseppe were two young people, Roberto and Paola,

sitting on the veranda above the beautiful beach. With two small candles on the

table they were watching the moon rising from behind the ocean. Both were

thinking about grabbing the others hand, but neither of them had the courage to do

so fearing the other might not feel the same way. It was just then that the sounds of

I Loves You Porgy found its way out of the house through the open veranda

door. The now so intensive spirit came upon them like a breeze of warm air and all

of a sudden they fell into each others arms, kissing and embracing until the moon

sank behind the ocean again.

For a little time the warm breeze of joy and love could be felt all over the world,

blowing all bad spirits out of the way. It was a peaceful moment. But the minds of

so many people on this planet banned the spirituality just when it started to spread

inside of them and their minds locked down again into their usual state of


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partitioning, using the beautiful gift of thoughts for nothing more than simple

mechanical actions.

I know that if there was more spirituality in this world, it would be a better place.

Some time ago humans were much more spiritual, but they seem to have lost it

along the years. Some have even forced it to go away. How do I know those things

youre asking? Havent I introduced myself?

Im Fred, a very close friend of Keith Jarrett and a very grateful listener of his

music. I passed away in 1997 and since then Im floating with the spirits of his art.

To this day I dont know of many more things that touch so many souls in an

attempt to bring the good spirits back into this world.

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A Spirit Story