“The best-selling piano recording in history…” is nothing less than the famous 1975 Köln Concert by American jazz pianist Keith Jarrett. Jarrett was a child prodigy who possessed perfect pitch and began playing the piano before the age of three. In the early 1970s, Jarrett played with Miles Davis and Chick Corea, and later with saxophonist Jan Gabarek who would go on to combine jazz saxophone with world music and Gregorian chant.

Keith Jarrett’s greatest fame, however, stems from his totally improvised solo piano concerts that seemed to be created “from nothing” into a cascade of notes of exquisite beauty and entrancing perfection. The Köln Concert is one of the best examples.

The concert organizer was Vera Brandes, then only 18 years old, known to the Solari Report team and a well-known researcher on audio therapy and the healing effects of music in Germany and Austria. It is worthwhile to read up on the story of the substitute Bösendorfer piano that Jarrett had to play on (see Wikipedia and related press reports) and how he still made the late-night event one of the most memorable concerts in music history.

All parts of the Köln Concert were recently found on YouTube. Listen in amazement!

Related:

Keith Jarrett on Wikipedia

The Köln Concert on Wikipedia

Audio: Keith Jarrett in Cologne (BBC Witness History, 2011)

Audio: Keith Jarrett: The Cologne Concert (BBC review by Paul Gambaccini, 2011)

50 great moments in jazz: Keith Jarrett’s The Köln Concert (The Guardian, 2011)

Keith Jarrett ist 70 (Interview with Vera Brandes on Deutsche Welle. In German.)

Wie Keith Jarretts Welterfolg fast ausfiel (Interview with Vera Brandes on WDR. In German.)