Keith Jarrett Essentials: Classical

Keith Jarrett has been playing piano in major jazz ensembles since the ‘60s—and has been putting on killer solo shows for about as long—but his formal training started at age three, and his classical chops are impressive. Jarrett has an innate sense for colourful balance (Handel's Keyboard Suite in G Minor) and masterful phrasing (Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 20 in D Minor). It's not hard to see shades of his renowned improvisatory skills as a jazz pianist in his readings of Bach's labyrinthine French Suite No. 1 and Shostakovich's resilient 24 Preludes and Fugues.