Keith Jarrett says we're mad - discuss

edited July 2011 in Musicians

“One of the problems with being a musician is you don’t have time to be a proper audiophile. To be proper, you have to be insane all the time and obsessed all the time. You need a psychotherapist after a while. And I would also say this about improvising alone on stage: it is also a kind of craziness, a certain insanity. You need a certain type of craziness to be a musician, and also to get into this audio thing appropriately. So I’ve learned that if I’m only an audiophile part-time, it works really well.

“Luckily, it’s not a process that is continuing for me anymore—what I’ve been using for quite a while is a high-end tube preamp with very good transistor monoblocks, both from American companies.”




http://www.soundsgoodtome.us/2011/01/05/keith-jarrett-on-high-performance-audio-and-its-influence-on-his-recorded-output/

Comments

  • Mad? Moi?

    Well, Another cream puff for the espadrille pees on the ghastly piroshki. Some
    unseemly boneless chicken patty, a midwife, and a nonchalant trombone are what got Kafka
    into trouble. A rancid squid salad defined by a dismembered circus freak felt a nagging remorse,
    and a bonbon from another toothpick starts reminiscing about
    lost glory; however, a dilettante related to an alchemist sells a
    friendly espadrille to a completely slovenly mastadon.

  • That's possibly even more interesting than Ben's alcohol-fuelled ramblings  ;;)
  • He has a point regarding obsession IMO.
    I think many audiophiles do spend far too much time on trivially small system changes.
    For example I often see people obsessing over things which are barely audible (sometimes not audible IMO) while listening in sonically dreadful rooms, or ignoring fundamental set-up issues.

    The old cliché of not seeing the wood for the trees can often apply.
  • A fine one to talk - he bought American pre and power amps. Mad I 'd say.

    Anyway must get back to my VTA adjustment !!!

  • In my amateur musician persona I am less concerned with sound quality than I am when listening to my Hifi.
    This is probably largely because in my hands it matters less what the instrument sounds like, in fact wayward harmonics and loose rattles probably obscure the odd wrong note or poor timing!
    But I sense there's something else going on too that goes someway to explains my differing mind sets. I'll have a think what it is...

  • Well I might be mad I've just paid 20 sheets to download the Koln concert in 24/96.
  • Join the club! (There are others around here, too)
  • I got it - Love it! I don't have an original disc to compare it too though, but the performance, particularly the first movement, is stunning.
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