Over the Rainbow

Описание: Sometime during the last year or so I found a performance of Over the Rainbow by Keith Jarret. I very much like the beginning and the end of what he did and so wrote down his ideas. Then I played a version of my own which is very close to his, but without his very long wandering improvisation in the middle, which I did not personally like. As an arranger I prefer things that are rather tightly constructed, with a clear structure.

Perhaps that comes from my traditional background, which is how I started learning and playing piano. In other words, because I started off playing Beethoven, Chopin, Rachmaninoff and dozens of other very traditional composers, the architecture and discipline that is in their music is a part of me. So I listened to and wrote down many of Keith Jarret’s ideas. But what I came up with is much more of a pure arrangement and not improvised at all.

However, I feel it would be disingenuous if not downright dishonest if I did not fully credit Keith Jarrett here, because part of what I did is very close to what he played and quite obviously inspired by his ideas. I would say that my arrangement is about 90% Keith Jarret, and only about 10% is based on my ideas.

It took me about 50 times as long to write it out as to play it. The recording was instant, which is the way I work. The moment I am finished writing things down I can generally perform them instantly. But before I finish writing things out I make small changes continually, so in a way everything that I compose or arrange is somewhat improvised during the writing. What I finish writing down is simply my final ideas at that moment, which I then record, but whenever I come back to my music later I make many further changes.