A child prodigy, Jarrett began studying the piano at age three and performed his first solo recital at seven. He worked as a professional musician while in elementary school, also learning to play drums, vibraphone, and soprano saxophone. He toured as piano soloist with Fred Waring's Pennsylvanians while in his teens and played with Art Blakey (Blakey, Art)'s Jazz Messengers beginning in 1965. He joined saxophonist Charles Lloyd's quartet in 1966 and stayed with Lloyd for three years. Jarrett made his first solo albums about this time, including such well-regarded efforts as Life Between the Exit Signs (1967) and Restoration Ruin (1968), on which he sang and played several instruments.

Jarrett came to prominence in 1969, when he joined Miles Davis (Davis, Miles) for several concerts and albums. Although Jarrett disliked electronic instruments, he was willing to compromise for the chance to work with Davis, whose band also featured other important keyboard players of the jazz fusion movement, such as Chick Corea (Corea, Chick) and Herbie Hancock (Hancock, Herbie).

Jarrett led his own group during the 1970s, performing with saxophonist Dewey Redman, bassist Charlie Haden, and drummer Paul Motian; and he toured and recorded with the Norwegian saxophonist Jan Garbarek. During this period he experimented with a vast array of tonal and structural devices that previously had been associated more with world music than jazz. At the same time, he revealed his virtuoso command of the keyboard on several albums of unaccompanied piano improvisations. He also composed pieces for brass, string orchestra, and other non-jazz instrumentations. By the 1980s his public performance had turned to classical recitals, featuring the works of such various composers as Johann Sebastian Bach, Domenico Scarlatti, Ludwig van Beethoven, George Frideric Handel, and Dmitry Shostakovich. In 1983 he formed a highly acclaimed trio with bassist Gary Peacock and drummer Jack DeJohnette; with them, Jarrett released several outstanding albums, including Whisper Not (2000) and Inside Out (2001).