Ignored Obscured Restored
Yesterday marked the 50th anniversary of the performance Keith Jarrett recorded The Köln Concert. Long considered one of the most famous and influential solo jazz records, it almost wasn’t to be.
A concert was booked at Köln Opera House in Cologne, West Germany, by a very young promoter named Vera Brandes, and quickly sold out. Jarrett traveled to the city from Zurich, Switzerland, where he had performed a few days earlier. The trip, by car, was exhausting and Jarrett was fatigued and hungry by the time he reached Germany.
When he arrived at the Opera House he discovered there was a terrible mix up. He had specified that the instrument he would play must be an Imperial Bösendorfer. The venue confirmed that they had one. Instead, he found Bösendorfer baby grand. It was an instrument on hand for rehearsals, was out of tune, and had keys and pedals that stuck or didn’t work at all.
A piano tuner came to the rescue and set to work making the baby grand playable. Jarrett was not initially satisfied and threatened to cancel the gig. But ultimately, he agreed to perform, partly because the concert was scheduled to be recorded and the equipment was already set up and ready to go.
Wikipedia reports that Jarrett “used ostinatos and rolling left-hand rhythmic figures during his performance to give the effect of stronger bass notes, and concentrated his playing in the middle portion of the keyboard.” In 2011, Jarrett told the jazz critic Don Heckman “I was forced to play in what was — at the time — a new way. Somehow I felt I had to bring out whatever qualities this instrument had… my sense was, ‘I have to do this. I’m doing it. I don’t care what the fuck the piano sounds like.’”
Who could have guessed that those horrible circumstances would result in one of the most beloved jazz albums ever, ultimately tallying sales of about 4 million copies, and earning a spot in Robert Dimery’s list of 1001 Albums You Must Hear before You Die.
Enjoy… until next week.