Keith Jarrett wins the 2004 Sonning Music Prize

[Lois Gilbert]

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) - American pianist and composer Keith Jarrett won
the 2004 Sonning Music Prize, organizers of the award said Wednesday.

Jarrett, who will receive the $80,645 award July 7 during the annual
Copenhagen Jazz Festival, was cited for ``having created his own
unmistakable language through his exquisite fantasy and intelligence.''

The 58-year-old artist, who is the second jazz musician to receive the
prize, ``has experimented and modernized (music) without rejecting
tradition (and) is uncorrupted of the times and music's trends and
caprices,'' according to the committee's citation.

The last jazz musician to receive the award, named after Leonie Sonning,
was Miles Davis in 1984.

The Sonning Music Prize has been awarded annually since 1959 to an
internationally renowned composer, musician, conductor or singer.

Previous winners include Igor Stravinsy, Leonard Bernstein and Anne-Sophie
Mutter, among others.

Born in Allentown, Pennsylvania, in 1945, Jarrett toured the world as a
pianist with the Charles Lloyd Quartet in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
He also toured with Miles Davis' electric fusion group. His recordings
include ``Facing You,'' ``La Scala'' and ``Koln Concert.''