buffyleigh
4
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.
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/