Keith Jarrett is an American pianist and composer who performs both jazz and classical music. Jarrett started his career with Art Blakey, moving on to play with Charles Lloyd and Miles Davis. Since the early 1970s he has enjoyed a great deal of success as a group leader and a solo performer in jazz, jazz fusion, and classical music. His improvisations draw from the traditions of jazz and other genres, especially Western classical music, gospel, blues, and ethnic folk music. In 2003, Jarrett received the Polar Music Prize, the first recipient not to share the prize with a co-recipient, and in 2004 he received the L�onie Sonning Music Prize. In 2008, he was inducted into the Down Beat Hall of Fame in the magazine's 73rd Annual Readers' Poll. 

May 8th, 1945 in Allentown (Age 79)