Anatomy of Groove: Pulse, Pattern, and Process in Keith Jarrett’s Sun Bear Concerts

Abstract

ABSTRACT Keith Jarrett’s Sun Bear Concerts, performed in Japan in 1976, consists of five concerts of improvised music, each concert boasting two Parts that traverse multiple distinct styles, from blues to ballad, romantic lyricism to frenetic atonality, and minimalism to lilting groove, the latter being the style most often associated with Jarrett. But that style has also been criticized for its apparent uneventful repetitiveness. This paper attempts to demonstrate that, while the groove sections may be categorized under the broad umbrella of “groove” style, each of Jarrett’s grooves is unique, musically nuanced, and creatively structured. After summarizing the concept of groove as defined in the recent literature, the paper introduces the four-phase “anatomy” of groove—the musical techniques by which Jarrett gets to the groove, gets in the groove, plays in the groove, and then gets out of the groove. Each phase of the groove process is exemplified with reference to the five concerts; the final part of the paper consists of more detailed analyses of the entire four-phase groove processes in Part (movement) I of the Kyoto concert, the first of the Sun Bear Concerts.