Featured Album – The Köln Concert – Keith Jarrett

Written by Jim S.

Many people who aren’t necessarily jazz lovers per se are Keith Jarrett lovers. Or if not lovers of his entire oeuvre, then certainly own this album. I’ll quote here from Wikipedia:

“The double-vinyl album was released in the autumn of 1975 by the ECM Records label to critical acclaim and went on to become the best-selling solo album in jazz history, and the all-time best-selling piano album, with sales of more than 3.5 million.”

How does a solo piano album rack up so many sales? Great jazz albums come and go and are lucky to see a third of those sales. I think you must to some extent consider the era. Musically, nineteen-seventy-five was more or less an extension of the ’60’s.

Sure there was punk and disco was on its way. But the oldest of the baby boomers were by now pushing thirty and so were not necessarily into balls-out rock and roll concerts, at least not exclusively. And Miles Davis, Chick Corea, Herbie Hancock and others had paved the way for the fusion of rock and jazz.

And so back then, jazz was still very much a popular sound that you could hear on the radio. Steely Dan‘s stuff was very jazz-based and they used to play Aja on the radio all the time. Jazz is obviously very much still around but I would argue that the ’70’s were the last big flourish of anything close to widespread popularity.

None of which explains why this particular album became so popular. It is very much NOT fusion. But it at least explains the “anything goes” nature of what was being listened to. A twenty-six minute piano solo? Why not?

Jarrett has actually done other solo piano albums and he would probably be the first to say that this is neither the greatest nor least of his works. In fact, any jazz artist will tell you that the best music they made was probably last night at the club.

So why do I feature this particular one? I guess because not only is it one of my favorite albums but also because it was my first real introduction to long-form solo piano. It’s also significant in that the house in Köln, Germany where Jarrett played, gave him a shitty, out-of-tune baby grand piano that limited his capabilities.

He somehow managed to overcome its limitations, playing mostly in the mid-register to avoid the shrillness of the higher keys. (Jarrett is known for demanding absolute quiet. We saw him around this time at Symphony Hall Boston. If there is any noise from the audience, he stops and puts his hands on his lap till it quells.)

AllMusic says that “With all the tedium surrounding jazz-rock fusion, the complete absence on these shores of neo-trad anything, and the hopelessly angry gyrations of the avant-garde, Jarrett brought quiet and lyricism to revolutionary improvisation.” Unfortunately, he goes on to say that a lot of guys bought it because “the chicks dig it.” Speak for yourself, pal. I bought it because it’s great, end of story. So did a lot of people I personally know.

Anyway, I’ll shut up here and let the music speak for itself. If the idea of listening to solo piano sounds boring or daunting, put this on while you’re working on something. (I find jazz and classical great for writing.) Let it sort of wash over you and set the mood. I’m not a piano player so I have almost no appreciation of what it would take to play like this. But I do play guitar and I doubt that – minus setting my guitar or hair on fire – I could hold your attention for that long:

Some jazz aficionados think that that this is more pop than jazz, perhaps due to its not being as harmonically challenging as jazz typically is or even as much as Jarrett’s other works. Well, maybe. But that also, to me, sounds like, “How can it be jazz if it’s popular? We are the elite jazz listeners and so the masses can’t possibly appreciate it.” Well, too bad for them if they don’t listen to it. Because regardless of how you label it, it’s a great piece of work.

 

17 thoughts on “Featured Album – The Köln Concert – Keith Jarrett”

    1. Have you listened to it, yet? You would love this fucking thing, Anthony. Sit in a darkened room with a glass of wine and enjoy. It’ll uplift your mood for sure. 🙂

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        1. That is so awesome. A Bruce “live concert virgin.” 🙂 There’s no way it won’t be mind-blowingly great. Enjoy. I look forward to the report on what will doubtless be the second-greatest Springsteen concert of all time. After the Boston one, of course. 🙂

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        3. BTW, the Jarrett piece is so beloved by pianists he ultimately had to transcribe it. And to there are pianists that can, and do, play it. But it was totally, or at least mostly, improvised.

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  3. Thoroughly enjoyed this concert. All 1 hour 7 minutes of it. Annoyingly it’s on the Spotify servers but not available for streaming (at least not here in the UK) so I can’t play it on my hi-fi speakers in the living room.

    Thanks for introducing me to Keith Jarrett. I’ll have to delve deeper into his recordings.

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    1. Given what I know of what you enjoy listening to, I kinda thought you might dig it. It’s an album that it’s hard to really get tired of. I think I’ve listened to it three times just since that post. I posted this over on Reddit in their jazz section and got a ton of responses from people who love this album.

      I recently picked up a 4-CD set of his called “A Multitude of Angels,” all solo. Bear in mind that a significant amount of his catalog is traditional small combo jazz, not just solo piano.

      As to it’s not being on Spotify, well, you may have to go “old school” and just buy the damn thing. 🙂

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  4. I love this album. When George Winston was a big deal I would remind people that this was even better. Pat Metheny turned me on to ECM and this might have been my second ECM album after Metheny’s Group album. It is hard to define. It is jazz in that it is improvisational, but it is pop because it is such easy listening. As Duke famously said: “There are two kinds of music. Good music, and the other kind.” This is good music.

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    1. Yeah, as good as George Winston is, I don’t see him as being in the same category as Jarrett. Ive also got a Metheny write-up from a while earlier. If you’re curious, use the search bar or look under Jazz category. Thanks.

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  5. I listened to anything my buddy George recommended. After, Herbie Hancock, Weather Report, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Miles, Return To Forever came Jarrett. I have no idea where he was finding this stuff back in the day but man am I glad he shared it with CB. Listening to the above cut as I comment. Does that ever sound good! I guess I’ll be spinning some Keith Jarrett in the next while. Thanks for the nudge.

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    1. Yup. I was just digging listening to the cut. It has been a while. George took me to see him back when (different crowd and vibe than CB was used to). Jarrett was a change of pace after seeing some of those others I mentioned. I guess it might have been my next step into the jazz thing for me. More traditional if there is such a thing.

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