The Köln Concert

Had no expectations having not heard of Keith Jarrett before. Good listen.

The best part are the little noises you hear in the background

Relaxing.

Just not my cup of tea

This was very nice music to have on in the background.

Wow, that first song is amazing

Live plinky plonky piano.

Could definitely put into frequent rotation or on a working/focus playlist

For some reason, the generator generated three live albums in one week or so - I can do without the humming, but these improvised jazz piano songs form definitely a piece of timeless music that never gets old.

Pretty good live album with Jarrett playing solo piano, though I think I prefer the piano trio stuff. In this live setting, the involuntary humming and half-singing along with the melodies that we know from Jarrett was less of a distraction than I expected it to be.

What do you mean this is all improvised?

never listened to a piano concert before, and i must say i was pleasantly surprised, i felt like the music told a story without words or any hint towards it which was a cool experience

חמוד ממש

Really grew on me as I listened throughout the day. Brings up emotions unexpectedly.

Lekker toegankelijke piano muziek. Soms een beetje teveel "adlib" gepingel, maar gelukkig corrigeert het dan weer snel in een leuke melodie. Goed te luisteren op de achtergrond. Soms is het een beetje langdradig. Daarnaast gaat een hele tijd eenzelfde instrument ook wel vervelen. **

3. very pleasant, though nothing i'd go back to in the future I don't believe.

Cool jazz piano I saved it

The piano is very soothing.

De pogga fr

Come to Brazil!

Väldigt bra! Hittar en hel del känsla och passion i pianospelandet.

Not a fan of jazz piano. This could be excellent and it would still remind me of elevators and hallmark movies too much to be enjoyed

I am a little biased because I play piano and love it so much. But this jazz improvisation was absolutely gorgeous and I have heard so much of Jarrett before that I was worried my expectations wouldn't be met. They were surpassed. Lovely.

It was enjoyable to listen to, but I wouldn't revisit it again.

Really good background music. Would probably have been exceptional to have actually been there. Not something I would be actively sitting down and listening to, but then I'm not sure you really have to. It's good.

Classic mid-70's piano jazz..

What a great, relaxing album. Very enjoyable. First time I've heard it. 3/5

nice background music while painting. feels very organic and cool.

Meh. Very nice, very impressive, but just doesn't move me in the way that guitars and vocals do. Interesting story behind it though, with the wrong piano being brought, and then needing tuned, and then ... just read the Wikipedia page!

Flink på piano, og kan være bra bakgrunnsmusikk

too much piaano

Really nice piano…live

I've been slowly gaining an appreciation for jazz and I'm very happy this album was on the list of 1001 albums because I hadn't heard it before. Live improvised piano piece isn't something my younger self would have tolerated, so I listened with a open mind and open ears. A wonderful way to spend an hour or so, though it was background music while I was painting (art, not walls). It was a perfect mood for creating. Enjoyable listen!

Lovely piano

What you need to recognize is that this is genuine improvisation, it's sometimes sloppy and sappy, but damn if Keith isn't audibly having fun!

I actually discovered this in the early days of the pandemic when I found myself hardly able to listen to music. This has been a constant in the period since. Technically, it’s wonderful of course, but it’s also been that bit of a lifeline for me.

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. 5/5

Relaxing album, classical not generally my genre, but enjoyed it well enough

It’s refreshing to hear such pure talent and skill. Sublime

Is the way he improvised his music given the difficulties and the circumstances impressive? Yes. Are the melodies interesting for someone who doesn't know a single thing about jazz or music theory (like me)? At some moments, yes. A good background music for doing some tasks for school or work? If you don't mind the moaning sounds, yes. So does that mean that I enjoyed this piano fiddling that stretches for more than an hour? No.

If this was half the length I would have rated it much higher. As it is, it's over an hour of just piano solos. It's not bad, just way too long.

Good damn!

Legendary, but you’ve got to be in the right mood for that

Undoubtedly a great piano player; just not very interesting to me.

The Köln Concert by Keith Jarrett is THE ultimate jazz piano album. To quote Wikipedia: "It is the best-selling solo album in jazz history and the best-selling piano album". So yes, it is a five star classic and you should enjoy it. If not, please reconsider your openness to something that is apparently a bit out of your normal music scope and give it a second, third, fourth, fifth... listen. You will thank me later.

74. The Köln Concert - Keith Jarrett - 4 tracks The best selling piano recording in history? It's ok, but it doesn't do it for me. It's good, of course it's good, but it doesn't make me want to listen to it again. 3/5

the sims pause music

I appreciate the background story and I play piano a bit. But I don't think I'm up to actually commenting on this one. I will just enjoy soaking in its dances and rhythms whenever the time is right.

Piano, klassiek met jazzy invloeden

Jazz piano improv

Very fun and uplifting piano music

5 Beautiful Stars

This is pretty amazing. Beautiful piano improvisations, even more impressive after reading the story behind this concert on Wikipedia. A crappy rehearsal piano, which caused him to focus more on the bass and middle keys, exhausted and with back problems, and no proper meal before the performance. Out of adversity comes beauty though. Very nice. 4 stars.

Amazing piano! Really fantastic relaxing music to listen to

This is exactly the kind of thing I signed up for this service for. Never heard of Keith Jarrett before. This album is lit. Amazing solo piano jazz.

Good, not my genre.

No ty

Piano-instrument only which I love. Easy to listen to and have on in the background.

An interesting listen, definitely something that I would not normally listen to unless I was perhaps going to a concert specifically for this. I can appreciate that Keith Jarrett is a very good pianist, but I will probably never listen to this again. No Best/Worst as I think it should be treated as a whole performance.

This album is fucking great. I listened to it twice, once in the driving range and at night when I was reading a book. I have never heard of this artist or album. Welcome to the regular music rotation.

I really liked this. There was so much sound that came out of one guy and a piano. The way is built in waves and crashed down to do it again was awesome.

Fantastic. Really enjoyed the first track. The segments when he gets popping are the definition of nod-inducing. I’ll be coming back to this one a lot.

This was pretty good. I found out after listening that it was all improvised which is impressive. I could personally have done without the moaning and wooing throughout. Still, music was pretty.

Different

Tak koscistego zywca jeszcze na plejsce nie bylo, tylko jeden artysta, jeden instrument i podowjny krazek jest ich wynikowa, artysta jest Keith Jarrett, ktorego nie kojarze, bo solowego materialu nie ma az tak duzo w porownaniu do tego na ilu albumach wystepuje lacznie, bo gral nawet u Davisa czy z jazz messengersami, natomiast jego instrumentem jest pianino, czyli rowniez pojecia o nim nie mam, opis albumu mowi o jakis zamiankach pianinowych, graniu na sprzecie ktory mozna se rozbic o kant dupy, o tym jak Keithowi sie nie chcialo nagrywac jakiegos koncertu dla smarkuli w kolonii, ciezko stwierdzic jaki to gatunek, bo chyba nigdy nie sluchalem solowych klawiszowych jazzow, ale najblizej kojarzy mi sie z evansowym graniem na postbopowych albumach, chociaz jazz to jednak nie jest to malpia improwizacja barowa, a jednak koncert operowy, wiec i publika odzywa sie jedynie nagrodzic brawami na koniec traka, sam muzyk tez nie wchodzi w interakcje z publika poza sama muzyka, calosc podzielona jest na dwie czesci, przy czym pierwsza ma 26 minut jako jeden trak, wiec naprawde potezna improwizacja, druga czesc jest podzielona na trzy traki, najkrotszy ma 6 minut, wiec jak znalazl na plejke, nadal nie jestem przekonany do klawiszy, ale jednak sluchalo sie dobrze albumu jako soundtracka do lektury, moze niezbyt gatunkowo trafilem, bo czarny jazz z napoleonska rasijom, ale jednak sprawdzil sie wysmienicie, pewnie nie bedzie mi dane zrozumiec fenomenu tego picku na liscie muzyki rozrywkowej, bo az 104 wydania tego krazka i nadal pojawiajace sie nowe musza o czyms swiadczyc

Nice songs, interesting background story. But 1 hour of solo piano playing ends up just being background music.

I thought this was absolutely fantastic, crazy random vocalizations and all. I was in a near delirious state with 103 degree fever while listening so your mileage may vary.

I think this album really represents something unique - a special piece of music you should hear before you die because of it's interesting story, not just because of it being an influential album. Would love to see more good, but novel recordings included in this list that have fun stories like this one. You could probably get rid of some repetitive beatles and bowie albums to fit in interesting things like this instead. || Moaning throughout was hilarious, and the music is great. but itis the story, the ridiculous circumstances of the performance and improv, and novelty of it all that bumps this up from a 3.5 to a 5 in my eyes.

Quite boring.

chill piano music

Quite enjoyed this as background music but wouldn't call it anything more.

Piano was nice. Weird human noises in there tho

I started off thinking it was the bg music for an old cartoon, but I did get into it. Yes, it's beautiful and interesting, but I probably won't listen to it much and I've already forgotten most of it.

It took me a while to review The Köln Concert, because when I first looked for this album YouTube only had copies of other people playing Keith Jarrett's work. It seemed a shame to listen to someone else playing Jarrett's improvisations. I've never heard of Jarrett before. Culturally, I am quite ignorant when it comes to jazz, so this was all new music for me. If I hadn't read the description of the album, I don't know if I would have thought this was jazz - says someone who doesn't know anything about jazz. When the album was done, I was already curious as to what I might hear a second time through. Four stars from me.

It's okay

Above others by a head and neck. The control over the keys was pretty cool. Mixed up a lot of timing too. Enjoyed more than I expected

Surprisingly good, even if jazz piano is no my thing. Good background mudguard.

Absolutely fantastic.

Amazing that he played this on a crappy piano.

Some nice jazz piano, I like it. The crowd is quite enough that the live element doesn't bother me. You can hear him humming along to his playing sometimes..

Brilliant

Starts well

Amazing.

This was a really nice and wonderful album of some jazz piano. I listened to it a few times and each time it was more enjoyable. The sounds were impressive and the backstory on it makes it even more impressive. I thoroughly enjoyed it 8.0/10

Captivating virtuoso improvised piano jazz concert performance - a wonderful achievement, all the more impressive because of the challenges and adversity along the way (the Wikipedia page is a must read to understand this album). A work of art. Thrilled to have been introduced to this music by this project.

I've heard of this concert before, pretty sure I read about it in a book, but I can't remember exactly where! Really fascinating story though, that such an engaging concert was performed under such difficult and ridiculous circumstances. Could have done without the moaning throughout, but maybe that's part of his style? Plus when you're improvising and suffering from back pain I won't fault somebody for making odd noises

The story behind this album is incredible. Much respect - I probably won’t listen again but as far as Jazz albums go this was one of the better ones so far.

Incredibly beautiful piano only album

Мне кажется я не понял

Was amazing piano instrumental. I will listen again.

While I am not a fan of classical music, I can not deny the incredible talent for music that Keith Jarrett displays on his live Koln performance. The variety he displays in his music with just one instrument is absolutely awe-inspiring. It is even more impressive when you consider the amount of improvisation that went into this performance, and the circumstances under which Keith had to perform. I have to adjust my rating due to some parts sounding very repetitive and some 2-3 minute stretches droning on, while not introducing a novel idea or pleasant groove.

that was actually really cool just a dude messing around with the piano for an hour i don’t know if i’ll be listening to it again very soon but i still really appreciated it for what it was to think this dude could create such beautiful pieces off the top of his head just blows my mind i love his talent and i think that album is very special to me 10/10 - no complaints, just a great album

Very, very good jazz piano improvisation. This was a great listen.

Beautiful concert piano. A bit too relaxing for a work setting, but perfect for background music at home.

Ещё предстоит понять

Róleg píanótónlist, læv flutningur. Ágætis bakgrunnsafþreying.

This album was fine, but it's not particularly my style of jazz

Virtuosismo al piano. Atemporal

Like a light summer rain, much needed and beneficial.

Пианизм то ли поп, то ли джаз. Приятно, но лучше фоном — может надоесть

got pretty intense in the middle. the guy has some mad stamina.

If this was a footballer, it'd be Dimitar Berbatov during his career wind down at Fulham.

Piano music it’s ok

Nice relaxing piano music. I dug it. 4

Amazing. He improvised the entire thing...that's just...wow. I get why he's so revered, and this album is so celebrated. I realized as I listened to it again that it takes some effort and concentration to stay with it; then I remember they only thing my lazy-arsed-self is doing is listening. Playing this? Making it up as I go along? Whoa.

Piano

I don’t think I will listen to it again but it was nice

It is miraculous when you realise he is making it up as he goes along.

rustig maar o zo mooi

4 Dit is mooi! Ik wil heel graag piano kunnen spelen nu. Later in men huis komt er sowieso eentje! Perfect als achtergrond muziek

Jaaa is iets helemaal anders. Perfect om te concentreren, ik vind dat tof

Ehhhhh, this was very jazz heavy. It wasn't bad but can't think when I would ever listen too again

Ich kann hier nun wirklich keine kompetente Bewertung bezüglich Könnens, Genrebezeichnung (Malo, das ist doch Acid, oder) und Verortung des Keith Jarrett im Musik Zirkus abliefern. Mir gefällt aber das flirrende, wiederholend variantenreiche Spiel. Klavier ist eh ein riesentolles Instrument, alle Komponisten und Spieler werden jedoch immer eine Welt für sich bilden, die zu erkunden wohl eine Lebensaufgabe darstellt, wie mit Ü40 Chinesisch zu erlernen. Deswegen bleibt die qualifizierte Meinung darüber aus, ob Keith gut spielt, welche Fehler eingepreiste Varianten sind und welche nunja Fehler sind und ob das kitschig oder virtuos sei. Mir gefällt es, jedoch ohne die große Dringlichkeit seiner Performance. Salomonische 2.5

Ja, das ist ganz schöne Musik. Sohni findet das auch. Aber, mit Bitte um Entschuldigung für Bock auf Schlägerei: ich empfinde sie als Geklimper. Berührt mich kaum, macht auch wenig Lust mich tiefer zu öffnen, und das Label "meistverkaufte Solojazzplatte aller Zeiten" is ja nu auch kein Qualitätssiegel. Super Story natürlich mit der jungen Vera Brandes, dem kaputten Flügel, dem R4 und dem Essen, aber trotzdem: Mer losse d'r Dom in Kölle und wollen heute mal nicht mehr als 2,4 geben. Köbes, bringen Sie mir einen Tee!

I'm glad there was a piano concert included in the 1001. This guy is amazing and if I read the notes correctly he did it with his piano out of tune.

My co-judge called this Muzak, but she was eating breakfast at the time and it's easy for an unaccompanied piano concert to get lost in the background. I, on the other hand, thought it (esp. Part I) was brilliant. He changes moods effortlessly, with lots bit of improvisation. I appreciate that it's difficult for one instrument to hold the audience's attention for a 1 hour + concert - not to mention he was playing on a busted piano! It's hilarious how long they wait to clap after each piece - it ain't over 'til it's over.

This is a perhaps the most iconic solo piano album ever. It was interesting to read on Wiki about all the screw-ups that preceded this concert, very impressive that he was able to pull it off despite all the adversity. My only complaint is Jarrett's trademark moaning and wailing while he plays which is a bit distracting. Favourite track for me is Pt II, C.

Wow, amazing! As I make my way through these 1,001 albums, I think I will look back at Jarett’s Koln Concert as the one that finally got me to appreciate this genre. I mean I didn’t need a class in music theory or have to read a critic’s detailed explanation on why I should enjoy this. I was just blown away by the music which transported me to a place where I could see this artist on stage painting brilliant scenes with his music. Really this performance has rewired my neurons to fire differently now. Bonus note how I appreciated the record producer’s decision to leave in the applause so the listener will know that the audience knew they were witnessing a magical special moment. Bravo!

I enjoyed listening to this. Part I in particular sounded very… lyrical. But I have to be honest, I started to lose focus on it somewhere in to part II. I think if I was there at the concert I would have appreciated it more.

Wow. Infectious. Twenty seconds in and I was blown away by the beauty of his playing. I know in another post I said I enjoy lyrics too but not necessary here. I went down the rabbit hole to find out about him and this concert - pretty much just him "jamming" and figuring it out as he went. Wow. Part 1 is incredible.

This album is a perfect example of the problem of labels. I am not quite sure what I listened to but if you asked I would not have called it jazz. I would have said a beautiful hour of solo piano though. I've only ever listened to Jarrett's work with Miles and the trio of him, Jack DeJohnette and Gary Peacock but this is something completely different. What I also found interesting is that he's done an album of Gurdjieff piano music, which this kind of made me think of a little bit. Last interesting tidbit is that this was recorded at the Cologne opera house at almost midnight after an opera was performed in the same location that night.

Now this is jazz I can get behind. The first track is absolutely gorgeous. I wasn't paying close attention at first (jazz is usually background music to me), but about 4 minutes in I found myself drawn in and captivated. I ended up transfixed the entire time. Beautiful track. The second track is outstanding also, and I love how there were so many unique motifs on this album. Too many jazz albums sound like "more of the same." This album was constantly evolving and flowing. Mind-boggling that this is mostly improvised. I spent the day playing this album on repeat and kept finding new moments that surprised me. This is what jazz should be. Outstanding.