A few weeks prior to our conversation, Keith Jarrett had released an album called Spirits, which featured him playing various percussion instruments and flutes rather than the acoustic piano for which he is so well known. Those who have followed his career remember that even during the ‘60’s, when he performed with Charles Lloyd, he would play wind instruments (such as the melodica) as well as keyboards, so the premise of his new record was not a total surprise. What was surprising, however, was how compelling this “little” percussion record of his was. The album captured something spiritual, as the title implied, and I wanted to discover how the process of making this record compared to his live performances, which often take on the aura of a mass seance, with Keith up on stage appearing to be in an advanced state of possession, literally lifting off the piano bench during the more intense passages, moaning loudly. I met him at the recording studio located near the corner of Broadway and Bleeker streets in Manhattan. As he got off the elevator and walked down the narrow hallway, he was already in mid-sentence. He is somebody who clearly has a lot on his mind.