Keith Jarrett on Stanwood

[David Skolnik]

The link to the recorded interview quoted in the Berg letter David refers 
to is incorrect. The correct link 
is:     http://freshair.npr.org/guestFA.cfm   .   Search for "Keith 
Jarrett".  Listening to the interview, I would agree with David's 
interpretation.

David Skolnik
skolnik@attglobal.net



At 09:46 AM 01/24/2001 -0500, you wrote:
>Dear List,
>
>Many of you may have read the article "Future Piano" in the September 2000
>issue Keyboard Magazine in which the installation of Precision TouchDesign
>in Keith Jarrett's piano is mentioned.
>
>You may also have heard the interview on NPR's "Fresh Air" with Jarrett in
>which he mentions special work done on his piano by Stanwood and makes
>comments about the voicing of his hammers which many misconstrued to mean
>as a problem with his action.  (Chris Solliday has since taken care of
>these problems by voicing Jarrett's hammers and adjusting the touch of his
>action to suit his changing needs.)
>
>You may have also read the letter in the December Keyboard Magazine by a
>Mr. Berg in which he gives misleading comments based on the interview.
>
>In defense of my work, which is for the general benefit of all piano
>technicians, I am sharing with all of you the text of the letter by Mr.
>Berg along with my response to the editors of Keyboard Magazine:
>
>Regards,
>
>David C. Stanwood
>
>*******************
>Letters to the Editor
>Keyboard Magazine  December 2000
>
>Re: Piano Mania
>
>In the September issue on page 38 you refer to Keith Jarrett having had
>work done on his Steinway by David Stanwood.  On NPR on Sept 11, Terry
>Gross interveiwed Jarrett, and he said he now thinks this work has to be
>redone. This interview can be retrieved at:
>http://whyy.org/cgi-bin/SAshowretrieve.cgi?2965
>
>John A. Berg
>Seattle WA
>*******************
>Keyboard Magazine
>January 23, 2001
>
>Dear Editors
>
>I read the letter by John A. Berg in the December issue of Keyboard
>Magazine regarding David Stanwood's installation of Precision TouchDesign
>on Keith Jarrett's piano.  Mr. Berg states incorrectly  that Jarrett said
>"he now thinks this work has to be redone."  I listened carefully to the
>portion of the Terry Gross/Fresh Air interview on NPR from which Mr. Berg
>draws his conclusion.  Jarrett talks about recording "The Melody At Night,
>With You".  This is where the confusion comes from:
>
>Jarrett: "So it (his piano) had these two major modifications, (New Hammers
>and Stanwood's work) and it was settling in.  It was very green when I
>recorded that music.  And since that recording, it's gotten worse and
>worse.  In other words, it was meant to happen when it happened.  It.. you
>know, pianos actually change a lot over time and it was at a certain little
>phase of its new-bornness that must have coincided with my newborn
>relationship to the keyboard."  GROSS: "So can you not use it anymore?"
>JARRETT: "Well, I wouldn't. I'd have to have it worked on to.. if I wanted
>to do any more music like that, I'd have to have it.. some attempt made
>at.. I don't know what.  I wouldn't even know how to explain to someone
>what would make the sound right."
>
>Jarrett's comment: "I wouldn't even know how to explain to someone what
>would make the sound right." clearly refers to changes in the tone related
>to the new hammers.  Furthermore when I first heard this interview I
>telephoned Chris Solliday in Deleware Water Gap, PA to check if Jarrett was
>happy with my work.  Solliday is the piano technician who takes care of the
>piano in question, a 1974 Hamburg Steinway C in Jarrett's studio. He
>reports that Jarrett is presently happy with the piano.
>
>David C. Stanwood
>Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts
>
>P.S. - Many listeners were left confused by the radio interview.
>The best way I can respond is to share with your readers that portion of
>the interview in which Jarrett discusses my work:
>
>Excerpt from "Fresh Air" on National Public Radio, September 11, 2000, with
>host Terry Gross Interviewing Keith Jarrett.
>
>JARRETT: Now there's so much to say about each song (on the Album "The
>Melody At Night, With You,"), because of the way the piano.. I had had my
>piano overhauled with a special action.. a major change in the action.  It
>gets technical if I try to describe it, but all the things that happened
>that were a part of that recording, without one of them, it would have
>failed.  I would have, maybe, had something to give to my wife, but I
>wouldn't have listened to it and thought it would translate into everyone's
>home.
>
>GROSS: So what you did was change the action on the piano so that you could
>have a lighter touch and still have the piano resonate?
>
>JARRETT: Well, no.  It's actually more complicated than that.  There's a
>thing called the breakaway, which is like surface tension on water.  Every
>piano.. that's stock from any company that I know of.. has a breakaway.  In
>other words, when you first push the key down, it's harder, and then it's
>not. So if you wanted to play very, very soft, you still would be taking a
>giant risk because you'd have to press hard first, and then you'd have to
>let up before you hit the string.
>
>GROSS: Mm-hmm.
>
>JARRETT: And that's what every pianist is dealing with all the time.  And
>there.. I heard about someone(David Stanwood) who was able to, using little
>springs and a whole barrage of ideas, including taking all the parts out of
>the piano, and weighing them all, and making them exactly the same weight..
>every little piece of wood and metal, I guess.. all the bushings.
>Everything had to be the same exact weight first.  Then he has a way where
>that breakaway doesn't exist, but the action's the same weight.. resistance
>against your finger.  So it's a more liquid action when you press down.  If
>you want to play loud, you can still play loud, but there's not that
>initial snap.  You don't need to snap the key.  So if you listen to "The
>Melody At Night, With You" on a good system, you notice the dynamic range
>is pretty wide for a piano recording that sounds so closely miked.  And I
>think that's a lot to do with that action.