GAUME JAZZ FESTIVAL 2026 : Keith Jarrett, une voix, dix doigts

KEITH JARRETT, ONE VOICE, TEN FINGERS [FR]

[FRIDAY, AUGUST 7, 2026]

A captivating read and performance brimming with intense vitality

Alex Dutilh, voice and text / Airelle Besson, trumpet / Jean-Philippe Viret, double bass

It all began with a commission from Virgile Legrand Publishing for Alex Dutilh to write an original text dedicated to Keith Jarrett. An art book, printed in an edition of 8 copies, with a hand-painted cover, presented in a case shaped like a grand piano lid, crafted by a cabinetmaker and enriched with photos by Jean-Pierre Leloir. A text improvised in a single sitting, like the pianist’s solos. The final period emerged after several hours of writing, as if in a trance. Lyrical, inevitably. Drawing on his numerous “at home” interviews with Jarrett, conducted every five years—six in thirty years.

The story might have ended there, for a select audience, had Alex Dutilh not expressed a desire to turn it into a public reading. And especially if chance hadn’t seated him next to Airelle Besson during a TGV trip. The trumpeter confided that Keith Jarrett is one of her absolute heroes and that she’d love to accompany him musically during his reading. And the idea quickly arose that Jean-Philippe Viret’s double bass would be the icing on the cake. As luck would have it, he, too, is a fan of the composer—who is also a brilliant improviser. The trumpet to evoke Jarrett? 

 He never brought to fruition his plan for a new quartet in which he envisioned Tom Harrell on trumpet. As for the double bass, it was a natural choice following his recent duets with Charlie Haden…

The launch took place in the spring of 2025 at Artcurial, at the Champs-Élysées roundabout in Paris, where the book was on display, in front of some forty guests. Three of Jarrett’s compositions—Memories of Tomorrow, My Song, and Prism—as well as a standard he has recorded on several occasions, Never Let Me Go. An intense emotion, and an immediate desire to share the experience with wider audiences who love to escape when a story is told.

One or two compositions will be added, and we’ll also hear Jarrett’s voice as he shares his thoughts. The same voice that often flows from his fingers during his improvisations. An invitation to an inner journey.