Keith Jarrett

The Koln Concert

Keith Jarrett, is, I gather, some kind of a biggie in the jazz world...and has released many albums during the last forty years. Frankly, I, like many people only know him from one, The Koln Concert, improvised and recorded in 1975 and now one of the best-selling jazz records of all time.

Some jazz purists apparently find The Koln Concert to be more akin to New Age music than "jazz" and...I gather that's a criticism. While breezing through Amazon, the classical trained seem to say things like:

"...Jarrett's harmonic language is essentially Debussy's..."

...though I can't really comment, because I don't have the education to make those pronouncements.

What I can tell you is that The Koln Concert somehow crossed over from snotty improvisational jazz world into the post-hippy mid-70s university generation, ...much like er...Frampton Comes Alive transformed Peter Frampton from a plodding stadium act into a superstar overnight for American teens, at around the same time:

• both were LIVE double albums
• both created meteoric fame (relatively) which quickly receded
• both albums continued selling for decades

Look, maybe The Koln Concert was New Age-y...but if it was, it was the first of its kind and reaaly, it's a bit like a SOLO piano version of Pink Floyd's Dark Side Of the Moon, plus Jarrett's grunts and groans.

There is a dreamy, innocent quality to this work...and I still find it both calming...and aesthetically pleasing. I've spent many, many hours with it over the years...and have no hesitation in recommending The Koln Concert wholeheartedly. It must have been a wonderful night in Koln, indeed!

see also:

• wikipedia The Koln Concert
• Keith Jarrett, Sacred Hymns, about 80% of the way down the page at Gurdjieff