The Köln Concert

Beautiful, lush, gentle. After a while, the solo piano begins to sound repetitive, and I long for the rest of the rhythm section to balance everything out. Still, gorgeous in its immediate and improvisational quality.

I consider this Robert Dimery's apology. For making me sit through countless mediocre Britpop albums. For making me explore the entire discographies of artists that I don't care for. For recommending some extremely tone deaf choices for genres he is woefully ignorant about. Thank you for turning me on to this masterpiece. Apology accepted. All is forgiven Bobby. All is forgiven.

jazz but classic sounding piano at an opera house in Germany , interesting story of Jarrett arrivjng, tired, and travel weary with a lesser piano, but had to work with it for the recording and crushed

grueling

I mean it is what it is

Beautiful and impressive, might not revisit but I enjoyed it! 4

Enjoyed this cos I was able to plough through about 200 pages of Stephen kings IT with it on in the background and concentrate on both

Absolutely brilliant. He is always a joy to listen to and watch play.

Really impressive improve that manages to be very engaging despite being a solo piano piece.

Fantastic, great jazz piano performance

I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this. Normally I find classical music to be a bit sleepy, but I found this to be really engaging. I listened to this with headphones, and every now and then there would be like talking or murmuring sounds on the track that I kept thinking were happening outside, which I didn’t love. But overall really good and enjoyable.

Essential for lovers of the piano

When this album came up on the list, I decided that I would put on my headphone, block out the world for an hour and simply listen. I think that's the reason why I liked it so much.

Kinda boring

This was magic.

To simplify…a musician with a bad back who was hungry, slightly grumpy and playing a piano that wasn’t even the one he asked for and was substandard at that, improvised this piano solo. I’m blown away by it and the talent of the musician. I wouldn’t term this as Jazz, just an absolutely beautiful piece of music.

Standalone, this is a great performance. Really nice music to listen to. Alongside the story, this is a super cool piece of music history. Very glad to have been introduced to it through this list.

Extraordinary. I'll be coming back to this one

I wasn't very impressed by this album until I learned that it was all improvisation. Very cool.

Considering this was performed on a broken piano, with a busted back in a brace, on an empty stomach, at 11pm is incredible. Jarrett wasn't even planning on playing the show but the recording engineers were set up so he just said 'fuck it, call it a rehearsal tape'. The resulting is a beautiful capturing of the skilled pianist not thinking, but listening and reacting, completely in the moment. He's using the broken piano for what it is, stomping the broken foot pedals percussively, embracing the dulled keys when they suit the mood of what he's playing. And he plays with such energy and dynamics as well, offering plenty of uptempo alongside the slower modes. You can hear the mics pick up him vocally emoting throughout the recordings, which is touching and delightful. It seems, aside from your average rollicking barroom ragtime, solo piano is often associated with pure sophistication and prestige. Jazz pianist Keith Jarrett doesn't forget one truth, however, and that's that playing piano is super fun. Given the constraints of the unmaintained equipment he was forced to break on, it seems he enjoyed approaching it in a whole new way.

So, the legend of this album is that in 1975 an 18 year old student called Vera Brandes somehow persuaded noted jazz pianist Keith Jarrett to play a late night gig at the prestigious Köln Opera house. Due to a mix up, an old, out of tune rehearsal piano was set up on stage with no time to get a replacement. Jarrett turned up late at the gig, suffering from back pain and with no time to eat, but still agreed to go ahead despite everything. In this recording, you can hear Jarrett work with the limitations of the piano - avoiding the out of tune high notes and using different techniques to get better bass notes. He improvised for over an hour, including an encore, with the result being one of the biggest selling jazz albums of all time. There’s an excellent Cautionary Tales podcast episode that goes into more detail about the background to this unique performance: https://timharford.com/2019/12/cautionary-tales-ep-7-bowie-jazz-and-the-unplayable-piano/

Another great jazz album discovered thanks to 1001albums. The story is amazing, the result even more so; this is truly a mindblowing example of chaos turned into art. I love how the circumstances turned something that would have been a (probably) great concert to an absolutely unique work of art. I've never heard of this album, least heard it. I'm glad I've done it now, and I know I'll come back to it.

Honestly magnificent. 24 hours wasn't enough to appreciate this album. Time to lock in.

I liked this. Chill and interesting piano for an hour. There were some random moans or something that was a little weird, but overall rather enjoyable. 3.5/5

Best selling piano album of all time. Couldn't get through the first song

When this popped up my initial though was "oh god not another live album". I'm not sure what I was expecting, but it wasn't a guy noodling on the piano for an hour. It's really well done but the weird sounds he makes through out are off putting. I was going to give this a 2, but after reading the story behind it I'm bumping it up to a 3.

Lovely background stuff

Unbelievable that this was all improvised. I wish I had a better trained ear to fully appreciate everything that's happening here but even so, wildly impressive and I look forward to listening again to pick up on things I may not have noticed the first time around.

Not normally my sort of thing but I suppose that is what the book is all about opening up new music to listen too. Anyway some beautiful piano on this album and if you read the story behind the album it makes everything more impressive, not sure how often I would listen to this maybe never again but I'm glad I heard it.

The first part was a very emotional listen. I don't know why but gave me feels. The rest unfortunately gave me more of annoyance. Good album tho.

Undoubtedly interesting. The story of it is well worth reading. And it’s a great recording of an absolute master at work. But it’s still an hour of piano twiddling. Good twiddling, but it is pretty formless music. Which is very jazz … but it’s almost too pleasant for that. I love that music like this exists but I find it difficult to enjoy.

pleasent

I respect it but it's not for me.

Don't really need to listen to this, but if you insist!

An extraordinary pianist. Such gorgeous music. So very beautiful.

Certainly one of the classics in music history, even when taking all music directions into account. Great and always worth hearing.

Ekstremt nærme 5

Jazz is always a daunting genre for me, as I find myself either bored, hating it, or very rarely, in love. However, I feel like I've not gotten to encounter a lot of piano-focused jazz, let alone solely piano. I know how to play piano, or at least I like to think I do, so listening to this album, I was just in awe the entire time by the moments packed here. Many, MANY fantastic little ambient interpolations among chord progressions and passages of pure euphoria among Keith Jarrett's playing, and you can tell he is certainly into it as well, with his moaning and the such, which reminds me a little of Robert Wyatt. The first track, despite its length, has a ton of stuff to love, and is worth the price of admission, so the next three tracks are just cool bonuses. They capture the concert hall feeling perfectly, where you are solely focused on the playing, and very little else, and it can be entrancing. It is pretty long, and because of that parts of songs can feel unnecessary, but whenever a moment pops up I truly adore it all feels worthwhile. This may be a bit different of a jazz record, but it is pretty far up my alley, and I'm glad to have enjoyed it.

Nice background music. Very pretty.

Beautiful but I’m not sure I’d be able to stay awake, even at the live recording. It gets a little too John Tesh vesty at times too.

YES I knew I had encountered this album before! A fucking monster of a solo piano record. With all the vamping that occurs, this feels very close to a funk record, basically stripped right down to the studs.

Let’s leave out all the back story about the faulty piano and so on. Not needed. A masterpiece of improvisational piano-playing.

Very pleasant music to work to.

Too much Piano :-)

Inaspettato, carina la storia che c’è dietro al concerto

Beautifulll

A very nice change. Lovely

C’est bon, c’est irréfutable, mais ça devient très de la musique d’ambiance

it's good but it often failed to capture my attention

as a pianist, i enjoyed and appreciated it, as a casual music listener, it's good background music, but not one i'd actively listen to

Extremely listenable and moving.

Relaxing

Beautiful!

That was a lot of piano, and it just kept going... My rating just kept dropping as it went on

Good to work to

This record was interesting and I enjoyed it.

Interesting story, so-so album.

Curious, exploratory, intense, serene. This album run a range of emotions. Beautifully done and playfully captured with audience sounds included. I really enjoyed this adventure

cute 7,5/10

This is both the best-selling solo jazz record and best-selling piano record of all time for a reason. For nearly an hour it’s just Keith Jarrett and his instrument, leading the listener on a musical odyssey, and its spectacular.

A relaxing listen!

Just really good background music, which isn't at all a bad thing

This was a great find. As someone new to piano music, I find the genre to be a whole new world, and I'm not sure where to begin. 'The Köln Concert' is a perfect starting point, offering me a wonderful introduction to Keith Jarrett's talent and paving the way for me to explore more in this musical realm.

So I really enjoyed the Koln Concert album by Keith Jarrett – though I do tend to enjoy piano compositions by excellent musicians… I have enjoyed some of the longer piano pieces by Keith Emerson (ELP), Rick Wakeman (Yes), and the solo artist George Winston among others, and this one was right up there with them… Perhaps what contributed to my enjoyment, was the story surrounding it, as it’s just amazing… - Long drive earlier in the day from Switzerland to Germany for the performance, so late arrival… - Not much time for dinner, and then off to the venue… - Had not slept well for several nights, and was wearing a brace for back pain… - Had to play on a relatively crappy piano due to miscommunication of what he really needed… - Was a live performance, and the substandard piano had pedals and key sections were barely functional, so limiting what he could actually play… And then on top of all of this, Jarrett basically improvised all of the pieces he played that evening… It’s stunning to me that he could play that well given all of the issues that he was dealing with, and to create those compositions on the spot – as I find that truly amazing… Was awesome that the concert was recorded, and stands as a triumph of make the best of a challenging situation for sure… Enjoyed every bit of this, and never would have found it without the 1,001… This is stellar top-to-bottom, and gets a solid 4 form me – and would probably give it a 4.25 if I could…

A subtle album, relaxing but dynamic. Could do without the fanboy cries of one member of the audience, though

Good piano music

Tough one for me. I'm definitely not qualified to comment on the skill on display here. I definitely didn't hate it, but listening to someone noodle around on the piano for an hour is not my idea of good music. The record has an interesting story but I'll never go back to this. For me it's a 2, but I'm sure the level of playing on here is much higher.

Correcto.

It’s honestly crazy to me that this is all improv

I was never a fan of Jazz, and after an hour of this album that has not changed

Well this is just delightful, one of the best piano performances I've heard. Elegant but playful and expressive. Completely enjoyable to hear. The story behind this makes it all the more impressive. Fave Songs: Part I, Part II a

It was beautiful and a really interesting concept. It is amazing how his mind is able to think of such beautiful melodies on the spot. My only criticism is I wish there were more breaks. I didn't really always see how the melodies moved into each other or found that weren't cohesive. Parts were beautiful but could have been stand alone songs not just a chain. I wonder if in person he shares anything about the songs, in terms of what he is thinking or feelings as he is playing the movements, are they manifesting from feelings in side of him that he is trying to convey or just random melodies he is stringing together.

Beautiful piano playing, but also kind of a snooze fest. Listening to straight piano just isn’t my jam. Appreciate the quality though.

I listened to a podcast (Cautionary Tales) about this album and how circumstances almost conspired to prevent it from happening. But despite somewhat dire conditions, Keith Jarrett overcame these to give an astounding performance, and the recording went on to become one of the best-selling Jazz records of all time, so I think this definitely deserves at least the 3-star, makes sense on this list rating. I think this gets elevated though considering the circumstances, which make this a singular, fascinating document of a performance. While I mostly don't like live albums, there really wouldn't have been any other way that this could have gone, since the performance was improvised, and the artist was reacting in real time to the specific conditions of the night. This is one important album that really shines once you have the additional context.

The back story is interesting, the fact that it's all improvised it mighty impressive, but it's still an hour of piano playing.

This was enjoyable... I guess. An hour of piano solo will always be background music to me. It was good background music but I can't really give it more than a 2

Not my style, but good for what it is. Easy to put on in the background.

apparently the entire performance was pretty much improvised on a sub-par piano that forced him to adapt his playing style to get certain sounds out of it. I love this concept and the story itself makes the album that much greater.

Jarrett's magnetic use of all possible improvisational techniques is kind of a show off more than it is a free-flowing unified work. There are definite earworm highlights, but there are also entire swaths that serve only to show his skill over the instrument.

I'm always impressed by these live recordings. Jarrett is clearly wildly talented, and a quick search shows he has been involved in a ton of projects. He gets really into the music, and even seems to holler a few times as he plays. As an album, this would not be my first choice for listening, but it was cool to experience, and as always I'm sure it would be unreal to hear live.

Very pleasant listen. Although I thought musically it was quite repetitive it kind of grows on you. The music builds up to a crescendo. I would have put it more in a light classical genre to that of jazz but I guess the overall tone of the piano was somewhat akin to jazz. It was hypnotic listening and very relaxing. 👍

Learnt from the wiki page the piano used was small and suboptimal (lacking in bass). Does not show however in the album, beautiful piano, upbeat and intense improv runs. Liked the change in tempo and styles throughout the tracks and album/

Wow.. just wow

Reminds me of the build music from The Sims.

Interesting Story about this one

4 songs. Part I. Part IIA. Part IIB. Part IIC. Frankly, I don't see. 66 minutes of piano music. Some of the riffs are decent. But it's a live album.

Though i was once again afraid of "jazz", this is the most easily approachable jazz. It isn't dependent upon instruments clashing with each other, but is a single instrument that is pretty creative and easy to follow. Because it feels like an hour of piano noodling, i don't know that i'll go back to it, but it is good for its vibe and probably great background music at a yuppie dinner party.

Breathtaking. The musicality is really enjoyable. The sincerity of a single piano player in a live environment, capturing the little sounds from the player and the audience is just magical. Favorite track: Pt. II A

cool story behind this one. a girl booked the concert. Keith wanted a specific piano but the one she had was out of tune and had keys that would not work. He performed anyway but told her to record it so other venues would know why he wants a good piano for concerts.

Good enough

A melodious piano spectacle, a grandiose work in the right listening mood.

Awesome

Not going to lie, all the songs sounded the same.

Que cosa más bonita de disco, tío.

No doubt the man can tickle the ivories with the best of them, but this is never gonna be my kinda thing.

First ever jazz piano album! Very soothing

Keith's style kind of reminds me of Vince Guaraldi. Perfect for cozy winter days. Piano playing is great throughout, very flowy and technical. I enjoyed it. Fave tracks: best enjoyed front to back.

Very interesting and enjoyable Piano concert. Really felt a lot of different musical elements and themes coming through on this one. Very interesting to read about the backstory and hear that it's all improvised on a terrible piano.

5/5. A beautiful and impressive album, with only one instrument guiding each song it still feels more powerful and fulfilling than most other albums. With my ADHD brain, it can be hard to stay focused but that is only an issue on my part. There is intent with each stroke of the keys and there is no doubting the mastery of the piano. This is just a necessary listen for anybody willing to experience beauty. Best Song: Part I, Part II B

Quintessential.The very record to show an artist channelling momentous inspiration. A sole person and his instrument in parley. Listened to it potentially a hundred times and will do again and again. Not an easy listening, despite some moments of beauty and bliss. How exhausted he must have been after these concerts.

This was sick for a run

I love a melancholy piano

Nice straight piano concert by a jazz legend.

nice driving music

4/18/24. Masterful piano playing here, you get lost in all the notes. Just perfection.

very impressive and deserves its spot on the list, but i personally am not a fan of hour long solo piano recordings, regardless of proficiency or significance

immense skill Can't be more than background music at the end of the day

Very good background music. Not earth shattering. Not sure why it’s on the list. And what was up with the grunting?

I like piano music. But not when it’s like this.

Classic album with a classic story behind it. Exquisite music to put on any time.

This was a good listen. I'll listen some more.

Beautiful, inventive piano music

💖 january 24, 1975, pt. II (A) 🗣️ 8️⃣

Familiar with album from way back but apparently wasn't aware of the history - sounds like he made the most of how the piano sounded and it was magical even before I knew the story - so many little gems within the work as a whole. You can't analyze it from a conventional song structure perspective. It's remarkable hearing the struggle and then finding the sweet spot - totally understandable he would exclaim in delight! Like someone else said it's a testament to the power of being in the moment.

Digged the first piece. but improvisational piano gets boring quick when there's no sudden change in tone

I love instrumental piano solo music and ambient music and piano in general but this album made me feel absolutely nothing, it was a chore and I am disappointed in myself and the world. Holy fuck I just realized I'm not even through the first song yet.

The raw skill on display here is fantastic. Despite the daunting length of the songs, the musicianship here is fascinating to hear. If I ever need to have some good instrumental, interesting background music to listen to while I do an engaging hobby, this would not be a bad choice at all.

Great easy listening for background music. Gatherings. Winter fires. 10/10. Not too intense. Not too serious. Very enjoyable

piano piece boring 🥱

Thanks to Reddit, I found this album about half a year ago. The album by itself is quite good. Beautiful music. But the story behind the album is incredible! It will give you a new level of appreciation for the man and for the album.

An hour of stellar jazz piano. The Wiki goes into excellent detail on the style of his improvisation and riffing as well as some of the difficulties in getting the concert to run

Wonderful. All piano. When I'm down for hearing some piano music, I'll dial up Mr. Jarrett.

Very beautiful but unexciting. I imagine this is something that needed to be viewed on video.

Really cool story and interesting improv. I'm not usual a huge listener of solo piano but I could see myself coming back to this.

оверхайп

The Talent you can hear on this one is amazing and out of this world! Listening wise are the moaning not the benefits of the backpain but he earned respect tho

Pretty soothing piano. Im sure there's a lot there but I couldnt find it.

This was a guy noodling around playing chords and arpeggios and thinking it's high art.

Sounds like a '90s movie soundtrack. I guess piano jazz is better than the other kinds of jazz.

A nice piece of Jazz production. It sounds great and is great. It has all things you want instrumentally and does enough interesting stuff with the composition that it doesn’t get too repetitive. Overall enjoyable even if this type of Jazz isn’t my favorite thing.

I was listening to this record a ton last spring, about a year ago, so it's funny that this came up. Really beautiful stuff. The story behind the record is really interesting too.

Cool but not my thing

Incredibly talented musician.

Well, this is a pleasant album to listen to, though it doesn't grab my attention and noodles away quite soothingly in the background. The back story to the recording (in the wikipedia article) is interesting.

this is ok, & that's all I've got for it.

I don’t have much of a reference point for like, contemporary piano composition. But I liked listening to this a lot, it kept my attention despite being way out of my wheelhouse. Will probably read about it to learn the significance, if not listen to a ton more.

Not sure how to pick a favourite from 4 improvised songs but certainly the latter half seems to capture my attention more. Relaxing, enjoyable, intriguing.

Dang! Listened to this with no knowledge for the first time, and thought it was perfectly pleasant piano cool jazz, but not particularly remarkable, and wondered why this album was picked out of all the candidates from this subgenre... ...then read the wiki page before the second listen! Pretty crazy he could come up with this on the fly! Definite props! Fave track - it's not really a track kinda album, but there was a chunk of Part IIa (I think) that sounded a little like the Charlie Brown Christmas soundtrack (in a good way) so let's say that!

Soothing Piano Jazz that makes me want to ride an elevator

cool...need to re listen after reading the wikipedia page

Very impressive record and really interesting story behind it. Kölle Alaaf!

3 stars for being a good pianist

# Playlist track - Köln, January 24, 1975, Pt. II C - Live # Notes - Interesting concert with some really really great moments. - I'm not a huge fan of improvisations and still managed to enjoy it.

Wonderful piano playing but not exactly my cup of tea, or maybe I really need to be in the right mood. Still it’s good atmospheric focus music by a virtuoso. At points Keith sounds like he is playing 3 pianos together harmoniouslyz

beautiful and fun (love hearing him make those little oohs and aahhs) but i don't really understand what makes this so special. i liked it but doubt i'll ever come back to it/

Easy instrumental music to relax to. I don't need vocals to enjoy music.

I'm sure it felt important if you were there, watching it live. But rather boring in a recorded version. I wouldn't even want to hear Joe Pass playing solo for that long.

Wonderful playing and an interesting backstory, but I also feel like this type of solo live recording is skirting the limits of what should be covered by a project like 1001 Albums.

Listened to this immediately after Joanna Newsom’s Ys. Beauty overload. Keith Jarrett’s spontaneity and ability to improvise even under difficult circumstances puts in a spot where few other pianists come close.

Beautiful! I'm puzzled, though, by the sotto voce exclamations in the background.

I listened to every note.

This is difficult to review. It’s completely improvised, which means the creative process involved here is not calculated and planned out with the same kind of thought and care a rehearsed album might have. There is still thought and care, clearly. But it’s so different because of its improvisational nature that to review it, as someone who does not play the piano, is difficult. So suffice it to say that it’s a remarkable work. There are moments where it’s easy to forget it’s improvised. When Jarrett stumbles onto a hook or a melody and quickly develops it into something more full, with more moving parts on the fly, it’s nothing short of genius. But it can be hard to follow. You really have to bear with him as he finds the ideas worth developing. I cannot hum you a melody he played here. Not because they’re forgettable, but because they’re buried under so much else. This was a great experience and I am happy to have been along for the ride. But in terms of relistenability? It’s tough because of its length and the intimidating nature of the concept of the album as a whole. However, it’s impossible to deny the genius present here, and so 4 stars must be its score. Standout tracks (tough to tell them apart but…): Pt. 2 - A, Pt. 2 - C

Another jazz album I'm glad this project introduced me to. Solid front to back. Gonna add this to my playlist for when I'm reading.

I knew this one before and it is my favorite album so far. I also share some special emotions with it. I like everything about his passionate piano playing.

Lots of piano, it was alright

Haven't listened to an album that made me want to cry in a long time. Absolutely beautiful performance

Very good. I started out thinking he reminded me a lot of Julian Lage and just then he started the Lage-ian move of grunting along semimusically. Can be distracting from both of them, but the performance is so good can't blame them. Like Lage this is jazz I can wrap my head around, feel frisson with etc. Not sure what it is - structural elements- simplicity? Surely Miles Davis and some others have the thematic build to great moments and tension and release that I hear here but I'm just too dumb to recognize it?

Incredible

Beautiful piano mastery

If I knew music theory or studied piano I'm sure I'd appreciate this more.

Not really a big fan of piano music. This is insanely impressive just not for me :(

Blind album and artist. Did not expect to hear something like this on the project but yet here it is. No words aside from its elegant like the interior of a all white wall spa with glass shelves and a running gentle waterfall. And that is something I would not go to in my free time.

Nice.

Sorry, but this is just too boring for me, never mind I realise this is all technically excellent playing.

1.5 - Man, if this were shorter, I could probably give this a higher score, but as it is, I wasn't a fan. It was very long. I mean, the first song was almost half an hour long. That's pretty crazy and I don't remember it changing very much over that duration, but maybe I just wasn't paying very much attention. Sometimes he'd make weird noises during the tracks too, which I didn't really enjoy hearing. The moaning felt weird. That seems to just be a thing he's known to do, upon further research. I won't hold it against him too much. Anyway, I ended up a bit annoyed by the end of this, thus the rating. Not really for me.

this dude is jerking off on the piano

Good inspiration

I'm sorry to say that I didn't even now Keith Jarrett's name and I wasn't expecting to really enjoy this album, but I did. It's really quite wonderful and remarkable. It's very good music for me to code by. It's floats between inspiring creativeness and pushing work forward. I will definitely listen to others of his, but I think The Köln Concert will always be a favorite as the album that got me interested in Keith Jarrett.

No. Every roommate I've had that thought they were better than everyone else had this on vinyl. It's terrible.

Four songs, one hour. Interesting. My cat hates this. Sounded pretty good to me, but only got through 17 minutes, before I was told to shut it off.

modern classic

i like piano, has some catchy tunes

More than 1,000 trains daily pass over the Hohenzollern Bridge which connects the Köln Hauptbahnhof with the other side of the Rhine. But Jarrett arrived by automobile, tired and sore, like an imbecile. The opera people provided him a tired and sore piano too, but nevertheless he served up this improv masterpiece. Can you even imagine if he did go by train instead?

I sense this will make its way into regular rotation. Big fan of the enthusiastic cheering/moaning/shouting heard throughout - even more impressive reading the backstory about the shitty piano, late showtime, and unrested state post-travel.

I found some really interesting and beautiful chord changes at times. I wanted to hear those evolve like free form jazz but they never did. Just a glimpse and back to something more mundane. And the songs were just too damn long. I fast forwarded one a few times and where I landed it sounded exactly like where I had come from. Ironically a John Coltrane song came on on Spotify right after this song ended. The contrast was profound. Keith Jarrett is no master. Still, interesting background story on this one and not saying he can’t play.

Never listened to Keith before — Very Nice! Great drummer he he.

Blows my mind that this is all improvised. Also love how you can hear him grunting.

This is very impressive for managing to stay engaging for an entire hour, but what holds it back from being a 5 is that this album just sort of feels devoid of any emotions which elevate it from just being background music.

I love the story behind this album, and when I tune into it some of the music is beautiful. On the other hand, an hour of improvided music on a naff piano can only get you so far. Superb at what it does, nonetheless.

I knew nothing of the artist or album going in but after looking him up, I know I've heard him play on the Miles Davis live albums. This is not an album I would seek out to play regularly but I would throw it on as background music now an then.

Ага, типа классика типа фортэпианэ. Нет, я люблю клавиши, не спорю. Но тут нужен другой майндсет. Слушаю утром, думал будет какой-то врыв. А тут наоборот Нет, я не могу прочувствовать. То есть я вижу, что чел креативный, звучит всё хорошо, но музыка то туда то сюда, я даже мотив установить не могу для себя ни в одном сегменте. Просто... просто красиво и всё. А чего красиво, что? С тем же успехом можно гаммы играть и будет тоже красиво. Ну два?

Lullabies to paralyze

I think he just played the same 30 seconds on loop for an hour.

Excellent pianist just not my style.

Great solo piano concert

This was terribly boring and uncreative. No, thank you.

This is interesting! “Jazz” album from 1975 that seems to be a recorded concert focused around piano? It’s nice chilled vibes right away.

Quite nice, but an hour of piano improv is more than enough for me

I enjoyed listening to this. Reading the story of the circumstances leading up to the concert made it even more entrancing. Great for background music OR active listening! There’s not a lot of albums that fall in both areas. 4/5

The fact that this album was completely improvised on the spot is bonkers. As someone with zero music ability, the idea that someone can make something up that not only sounds good but also feels cohesive over that length of time is incredible to me. So, from that perspective, I'm glad I listened to this album in my lifetime. However, as impressive as it is and as nice as it sounds, an hour-long piano concerto isn't really something I'd seek out to listen to on my own. It inevitably becomes background music after a while. The things that make live music exciting to me are the energy and the interplay between the different musicians and instruments, especially in jazz. As someone who's been lucky enough to see Jon Batiste live, so much of the experience is watching the band interact with each other and feed off each other's energy. I've never been a huge fan of solo musicians, at least in an audio-only context. And while you can hear Jarrett's enthusiasm while he's playing, it still feels like it's missing something. I'll give it a 4 because it is nice sounding and it's incredibly impressive. But I'd probably only listen to it again as background music as I was doing something else. Addendum: Since I can't correct typos in my entries, I just wanted to make a note that in my review of Talking Heads' Remain in Light yesterday, I got the name of the singer from Benin wrong. It's Angelique Kidjo, not Jacqueline. That's what I get for trying to multitask.

This is the result of someone who's just IN IT. You can hear Jarrett's mind entirely lost in the music throughout this record. I mean, who improvs like this? These are fully realized compositions that just so happen to be created as soon as the fingers touch the keys. Remember the Pixar movie Soul from a few years ago? In that movie, the main character, a jazz pianist, gets transported to a literal different plane of existence when he gets lost in the music. That's what I imagine happening here. It's a strange thing to create something for the world that can never be replicated note for note. This recording represents the importance and power of a "moment" in time. And because of that, it's timeless. But here's the real hot take...is it entirely enjoyable to the listener for over an hour? Meeeehh.... 10/10 background noise, will passively listen again.

The brain boggles at the sheer scale of spontaneous creation resulting from Jarrett’s immaculate improvisation; as his fingers wander, so too will your mind.

Always a pleasure. I love improvising at home, but this is a whole other level. On a wholly different planet.

idk its good

Um acho magnífico. Já estou escutando outros discos dele.

From neutral to happy to vicious to sad to melancholy, I dig! Last song was the best.

Hey ich finds uh nice? Aber halt iwie recht lang zum aktiv nume das lose über d chopfhörer. Aber es isch überhaupt ned schlecht oder so.. ich glaub ich wür en mega mega gern gseh die lieder perfome. Glaub denn chentis einiges meh appreciate Es slapped ebe scho…

haha bi 18:20 vom part 1 spielter the lick

okok mal luege, bin wieder chli vo mim jazzhass abecho bis jz findis sehrsehr schön, bzw. es git immer wieder teil, wo mich ufhorche lönd, denn wieder paar minute abschweife, denn wieder "oah mega schön" die chline zwüscherüef (vom publikum gahni devo uus) sind megamega cute hahahah ja mega viel chani nöd dezue sege wnl zum schribe ischs aber sehrsehr geil oder für es candlelight dinner (with Inamorta höhö) I guess?? ja scho sehr cute und agnehm gsi aber das isches denn halt au

Пока ехал в троллейбусе, слушал концерт. И в принципе ок, возможно даже обстановка была самая лучшая. Но я не так часто там езжу, поэтому ставлю троечку (

I used to like this a lot more.

Amazing, wonderful, beautiful. None of these words really do justice

Not bad, but not my thing either. Classical music with assorted grunts and vocalizations from Jarrett (who I assume is getting freaky with the piano)

Nice

Jarret always makes me happy. This one might ask much of some but I enjoyed it.

its ok, nice for background noise to study 👍

kinda good

Not for me - lost interest. 1/5

What an incredible story and incredible piano work. Am I likely to listen to this regularly? No. But am I glad it exists and was recorded? Absolutely!

A masterclass in improvisation.

Passabler Klavier Jazz.

All piano. Definitely not my cup of tea

Smdh so good

Loved it. Great classical album, enjoyed the complexity and journey of the album

Very meditative - lots of long repetitions of pretty simple vamps to establish a harmonic center and rhythm and then free ranging exploration of the melodic possibilities that affords. Some cool emergent stuff where ideas from one hand feed into the other and impromptu phrases turn into repeated figures and themes. Like a lot of long-form improvisation you can focus in on the details or passively let it absorb you to set a mood. Perfectly suited to the work I needed to get done this morning. I've listened to this a lot over the years without ever knowing the background story behind it.

I could listen to this all day. Piano is my spirit animal. I prefer this to any other instrument especially when played solo and freestyle. It soothes my soul and inspires. If you listen close, sometimes he even moans a little bit. Keith Jarrett, thank you for this. 10/10

Piano 8/10

What a mighty fine penist we have here. It really is just a dude playing piano for 1 hour though. He’s great but I feel you have to really like piano to fully enjoy this. Didn’t realize this was live until I heard the faint sound of people coughing in the background. 6/10

Somehow one man improvising on a piano manages to produce one of the most entertaining and profound pieces of music I've ever listened to. Simply phenomenal.

I can tell from the first few seconds of this that I found a new thing for me to get into

Very enjoyable piano music.

Sounds like I'm on hold for the phone company

Beautiful piano playing.

Improvisation album from a Jazz Master - maybe need to listen closer on a 2nd time but I suspect that this might be a technical masterpiece as opposed to a musical one. Or perhaps I'm just a phillistine. Wouldn't recommend, wouldn't not recommend, firm 3 starts.

Nice piano only album.

fuking amazing

I liked some of this but most of it was noise

Not one that I would normally listen to, but it is a stellar performance. I usually enjoy piano-bar style jazz, which is very different from this, but his performance here is pretty amazing. I enjoyed it quite a bit.

He’s obviously a great piano player but just solo piano Jazz for over an hour gets kinda boring.

Boring ah album

While I started enjoying this, it didn't hold my attention and ended up as background music. Very talented though

Very talented pianist but it’s not engaging me at all

Very pleasant

Beautiful compositions. At times it’s almost mesmeric how the melodies capture my attention. Wish I could have seen this live in concert.

Some of the best pianowork i've ever heard dont think ill be actively seeking out anything like this though

nett für nebenbei, hat mich auf Dauer aber genervt.

- schon cool, dass das alles improvisiert ist - hat definitv was entspannendes und habs auch gern gehört - mehr kann ich nicht dazu sagen - werde es mir wrsl. nicht nochmal anhören Rating: 2,75-3/5

- Für Alben wie dieses mache ich diese Challenge. - Ich habe in irgendeiner Doku schon mal von dem Konzert und den Umständen gehört. Dazu gabs ein paar sehr kurze Mitschnitte. Jetzt hab ich es zum ersten Mal richtig durchgehört und war wirklich einfach geflasht. - Ich hatte mal gesagt, dass wenn Pianos in einem Song mit Vocals, anderen Instrumenten und richtiger Komposition den Hauptteil einnehmen, finde ich das nicht so gut. Da stimmt auch mit ein paar Ausnahmen. Wovon ich hingegen großer Fan bin, ist reine Klaviermusik. Vor allem in Form wie bei Oskar Schuster, Johannes Bornlöf, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Christopher Dicker usw. - Diese Live-Improvisation ist natürlich viel mehr Jazz als kompositorische Klaviermusik. Dennoch war ich streckenweise richtig im Bann dieser Performance. Vor allem bei Pt. II A bin ich wild schnipsend und klatschend durch die Wohnung gelaufen. - Gab ein paar Momente, wo mich die Platte ein bisschen aus ihrem Bann entlassen hat aber grundsätzlich war das eine tolle Erfahrung. Werde ich auf jeden Fall nochmal irgendwann hören 4.25/5

Fands cool, war wieder so Musik, die mich in einen Flow gebracht hat irgendwie. Kurze Stellen haben mich aber dann auch ein klein wenig genervt. Nichtsdestotrotz hatte ich Spaß daran.

Virtuosic playing that I can’t believe is improvised, but some of the songs don’t work that well for me. There are beautiful melodies tucked in here though.

Amazing!

Great. Just not my thing now

Pretty relaxing listening in the morning. Better than I expected

New go-to album to RELAX but ~concentrate~. Beautiful.

Worked well as background music during the work day. Didn't really feel like anything special. Some fun and interesting parts. Some parts that meandered and got repetitive. The moans and woos and such seemed a bit out of place and off-putting at times, but I guess that's passion? Reading the stories about the circumstances of this particular performance make it interesting, and the fact it was entirely improvised is impressive, but still not something that blows me away.

A seminal album for the jazz purist. But, I did tire of the single dimension and longed for additional instruments rather than just the piano improvisation.

Live piano album

good piano.. i wouldn't necessarily listen to that tho...

I would give this album 2 stars, but live albums should NOT be on this list. Too bad.

3’5

Energetic

I've never heard this level of improvisation in Jazz. An amazing album. Totally worth it

I've got some Keith Jarrett concert records over here (5 including this album). My guess is that's more than your average dwelling. And yet, he probably doesn't get enough air time. I know why this album is on the list and support its inclusion; and yet, if I'm already not in the mood for piano it's not music that can "get me in the mood for piano" if you know what I mean (no euphemism). But if I feel like hearing it...well, then as Keith might say, "woah! oh! woop! yeah, hee!".

At first I was like, this guy's just gonna play piano for an hour? But the more I listened, the more it hooked me. This guy is improvising all this?? That's insane. Ended up watching a few interviews, cool guy. Able to just let music flow out of him.

Beautifully talented piano but after 15 minutes you want more variety. Interesting nonetheless 6

Love this one

Not a huge instrumental piano guy, but still worthwhile.

1. 4.9 2. 4.8 3. 4.9 4. 4.9

Very long classical piano album

Impressive, but I’m not that into modern jazz.

Nice piano, very chill

Out of my usual genres but it would be amazing even if it wasn't improvised.

Cool. First five minutes of song 2 gave me a new outlook on life. His little yelps throughout the whole thing kept making me think someone was behind me.

He was killing it on those keys. Saved this to revisit while I’m reading or studying or rising & grinding

Was dreading this when i saw it on friday so decided to save it for Monday AM. good move by me. it actually short of ripped. longer than it needed to be but i liked it more than i thought i would. just some songs dragged on a littttttle too long

Very talented man.

This is absolutely incredible. More words couldn't do it justice.

A strand of beautiful jazz improvisation I will listen again in the studio and/or at work.

It's good for what it is. An hour of piano music just becomes background. If I ever put this type of music on I'd probably pick George Winston instead.

I really enjoyed, nice piano soundscape but not the most interesting

Good music...quite relaxing, low key. Great for studying, reading, etc.

Very cool concept of one man making up the piano concerto, improvising, playing for an hour. You even get to hear little vocalizations as he "feels" the music. Unsurprisingly, I found myself not paying attention and zoning out, at times. Even considering the scenario, it's hard to remain captivated without the performer in front of me in a room full of people. Part II c does sound good as a stand alone song. Pleasant enough if you want to fill your home with something a bit whimsical.

yes!

Wow!! I absolutely loved this listen.

Not generally a fan of classical style music, but this was very listenable and easy to understand why it's on this list. Will add to my focus music list. Could've done without hearing so many enthusiastic "ohhhhh"'s from the artist, but whatcha gonna do?

Not what I typically listen to but this is some incredible piano music. Not easy to infuse that much character and emotion into just one instrument for an hour, very impressive

Eka osio on ihan huikee. Väkisinkin alkoi hymyilyttää.

It's good to work to. But there is nothing special about it.

A nice listen, not something I see myself revisiting or falling in love with but pleasant enough!

Passt gut zu einem verregneten Sonntagnachmittag

Precioso, sobre todo la primera canción.

So gorgeous. Even more so when I discovered that the whole thing is improvised. What an incredible talent! You can just lay back and let the whole thing wash over you. Exceptional.

pretty good

If you like piano, you'll probably like this. His vocalizations get a little odd but not overly distracting unless you really let them get to you.

Really surprised how good this was. A single piano and all improvised.

perfectly fine. seems like good background music to listen to while working.

This album is so good I am eating my words about having live albums on this list. I don't need more drawn out guitar solos, but I do need more artists at their best.

Me ENCANTÓ este álbum. Una enorme capacidad para improvisar de una forma creativa y ligera, fuera del ego y del yo. Crea unas atmosferas hermosas.

Hmm

Solid piano album, definitely a solid chill/upbeat listen.

Good

it's very nice but i'm sure there are better nights out in Cologne than going to see this

had a great time cleaning to this, hope i relisten

Never listened to anything quite like this.

Not a fan

this was amazing. It's the kind of music I was hoping to hear in this little expirement.

Najs instrumentellt album

This is just pure talent. Making a wordless album with pure piano this engaging shouldn’t be possible. The songs flip between moods in their long run times. I was listening on my walk to the train and felt like the main character in a movie about to go to the pivotal scene. Great stuff.

Whilst the words ‘improvisational’ and ‘jazz’ should rightly fill you with fear, this is a surprisingly warm and accessible live album.

One of the greatest of all time - I wish I could play like this.