"I cannot say what I think is right about music. I only know the rightness of it"
About this Quote
Jarrett dodges the critic's favorite trap: turning music into a courtroom argument where you’re expected to present reasons, precedents, and a tidy conclusion. “I cannot say what I think is right about music” reads like humility, but it’s also a quiet refusal of the modern demand that every intense experience be translated into an explanation. He’s not claiming music is beyond language in some mystical, incense-y way; he’s pointing out that the most decisive part of it happens before language shows up.
The pivot is “I only know the rightness of it.” Not “the beauty,” not “the meaning,” not even “the truth” - “rightness,” a word from craft and ethics. It suggests an internal alignment: a chord voicing that clicks, a tempo that suddenly breathes, a phrase that lands with inevitability. Jarrett’s career (especially the improvised marathons like The Koln Concert) makes that distinction feel earned. Improvisation lives on choices made too fast for argument; the musician can’t litigate each decision in real time. You don’t justify the note, you commit to it.
Subtext: Jarrett is protecting a kind of authority that’s often dismissed as “just vibes.” He’s saying the “why” is not the point; the point is the felt precision of the thing when it’s true to itself. In a culture obsessed with takes, this is a defense of knowing-by-doing - and an implicit jab at anyone who mistakes analysis for intimacy.
The pivot is “I only know the rightness of it.” Not “the beauty,” not “the meaning,” not even “the truth” - “rightness,” a word from craft and ethics. It suggests an internal alignment: a chord voicing that clicks, a tempo that suddenly breathes, a phrase that lands with inevitability. Jarrett’s career (especially the improvised marathons like The Koln Concert) makes that distinction feel earned. Improvisation lives on choices made too fast for argument; the musician can’t litigate each decision in real time. You don’t justify the note, you commit to it.
Subtext: Jarrett is protecting a kind of authority that’s often dismissed as “just vibes.” He’s saying the “why” is not the point; the point is the felt precision of the thing when it’s true to itself. In a culture obsessed with takes, this is a defense of knowing-by-doing - and an implicit jab at anyone who mistakes analysis for intimacy.
Quote Details
| Topic | Music |
|---|
More Quotes by Keith
Add to List
