The Köln Concert
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| The Köln Concert | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
|||||
| Live album by Keith Jarrett | |||||
| Released | 1975 | ||||
| Recorded | January 24, 1975 | ||||
| Genre | Jazz | ||||
| Length | 66:05 | ||||
| Label | ECM Records | ||||
| Producer | Manfred Eicher | ||||
| Professional reviews | |||||
| Keith Jarrett chronology | |||||
|
|||||
The Köln Concert is a recording released through ECM by the jazz pianist Keith Jarrett, who performed solo improvisations at the Cologne Opera House in Cologne (German: Köln) in 1975.
Contents |
[edit] The Köln concert
 |
This article is written like an advertisement. Please help rewrite this article from a neutral point of view. For blatant advertising that would require a fundamental rewrite to become encyclopedic, use {{db-spam}} to mark for speedy deletion. (January 2009) |
Preliminaries to the concert were not auspicious. Jarrett arrived at the opera house late and hungry, and needed to eat a hasty meal before going on stage. When he was on, he found that the wrong piano had been delivered.[1] But his performance was enthusiastically received, and the subsequent recording was acclaimed by the critics and an enormous commercial success. With sales of more than 3.5 million, it became the best-selling solo album in jazz history.[2]
The recording is in three parts, lasting 26 minutes, 34 minutes and 7 minutes, respectively. As the concert was originally programmed on LP, the second part was split into parts labeled "IIa" and "IIb". Part IIc actually is a 3rd part, the encore.
A notable aspect of this concert is Jarrett's ability to produce very extensive improvised material over a vamp of one or two chords for prolonged periods of time. For instance, in Part I, he spends almost 12 minutes vamping over the chords Am7 (A minor 7) to G major, sometimes in a slow, rubato feel, and other times in a bluesy, gospel rock feel. And for about the last 6 minutes of Part I, he vamps over an A major theme. Roughly the first 8 minutes of Part II A is a vamp over a D major groove with a repeated bass vamp in the left hand, and in Part II B, Jarrett improvises over an F# minor vamp for approximately the first 6 minutes.
Since the release of The Köln Concert, Jarrett has been asked by pianists, students, musicologists and others, to publish the music.[citation needed] At first, he resisted such requests since, as he said, the music played was improvised "on a certain night and should go as quickly as it comes."[citation needed] However, this improvisation already existed in recording, and the transcription only represents the music, so he finally came around to publish an authorized edition, but recommended that every pianist who intended to play the concert should use the recording itself as having the final word. A transcription has also been published by Manuel Barrueco for classical guitar.
[edit] Track listing
- "Part I" – 26:15
- "Part II a" – 15:00
- "Part II b" – 19:19
- "Part II c" – 6:59
- All compositions by Keith Jarrett
[edit] Notes on the music
One might notice subtle laughter from audience members at the very beginning of Part I in response to Jarrett's quoting the melody of the signal bell in the Köln Opera, which announces the beginning of an opera or concert to patrons.[3]
Years after Jarrett improvised The Köln Concert, Part II C also became known as "Memories of Tomorrow." Although Jarrett's unpremeditated improvisation came first, the song can be found in certain fake books in lead sheet format under that title[citation needed].
[edit] Personnel
Keith Jarrett – piano
[edit] Soundtracks
- The Nicolas Roeg movie Bad Timing has part of The Köln Concert on its soundtrack
- The Nanni Moretti movie Caro diario (Dear Diary) has part of The Köln Concert on its soundtrack
[edit] Notes
- ^ http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122367103134923957.html
- ^ http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122367103134923957.html
- ^ http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122367103134923957.html
