Keith Jarrett: The Koln Concert

[A Lark Ascending]

Interesting 30 minutes about the concert and recording:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0103z8j

Unfortunately, presented by Paul Gambaccini, whose presentational style (constant superlative!) will grate on some (he does on me!), but it's mainly left to the voices of those who organised it.

Includes grunts and a tantrum about the piano.

Available for 7 days for those can access the BBC iPlayer.

[sidewinder]

Isn't this one a repeat? (I think I heard it one lunchtime several years back - part of a whole series by Gambachini).

[A Lark Ascending]

Isn't this one a repeat? (I think I heard it one lunchtime several years back - part of a whole series by Gambachini).

Could well be. It is part of a series. I just heard it by chance last night.

[JohnS]

Didn't spot this Bev, thanks for the link.

[David Ayers]

Interested to learn about the producer, Vera Brandes, and sorry to hear she got stuffed by the label.

[A Lark Ascending]

I suspect it was a marketing thing. The storyline of a 17 year old putting on an iconic concert might have trumped the myth of the great artist dragging inspiration from the ether.

Or maybe they just forgot she was there!

I found the bit about the Columbia cull interesting. I came to Jarrett via ECM and then Impulse. Never understood why there was this 'Expectations' album on Columbia.

[Guy Berger]

Will check it out. I am not a big fan of the concert itself - all sugar, no substance to my ears.

[A Lark Ascending]

I think you'll find that's the orthodox interpretation.

Reading one of Gary Giddin's books a few years back I was amused by how much Jarrett's Romanticism had got under his skin, endlessly needling him.

Edited December 30, 2011 by A Lark Ascending

[Guy Berger]

I think you'll find that's the orthodox interpretation.

Reading one of Gary Giddin's books a few years back I was amused by how much Jarrett's Romanticism had got under his skin, endlessly needling him.

Maybe among hardcore jazz fans... but if you look here it seems many listeners consider it to be his "best" album.

[A Lark Ascending]

I think you'll find that's the orthodox interpretation.

Reading one of Gary Giddin's books a few years back I was amused by how much Jarrett's Romanticism had got under his skin, endlessly needling him.

Maybe among hardcore jazz fans... but if you look here it seems many listeners consider it to be his "best" album.

Probably because it has quite clearly defined 'tunes' (or attractive chord progressions) that make it easy for a general listener to get a grip on. I still wonder how many of the germs were plucked out of thin air; how far he had them stored up to use.

It appeared at just the right time. I suspect many young listeners, like myself at the time (about 20), were wearying of rock and its hard and fast beat; yet the likes of Bill Evans still sounded 'old-fashioned' (a perception at the time, not a judgement on the music) and the likes of Chopin and Rachmaninov too fusty. Jarrett offered something that seemed free-wheeling, unencumbered with a regular beat yet with the melodic interest that most listeners need. I came to his solo music via Facing You and Bremen/Lausanne so Koln was not the surprise that many heard.

Listening back I can appreciate the criticisms - if you'd been listening to Paul Bley, Mal Waldron or Andrew Hill than Jarrett would definitely sound over-perfumed.

I can still enjoy Jarrett - including Koln - as part of a broad, balanced diet because that was my entry point.

Edited December 30, 2011 by A Lark Ascending

[mjzee]

Interesting radio program. I've always loved The Koln Concert, and offer no apologies for this. I had heard Ruta & Daitya and Bremen/Lausanne before, but they struck me as rather cold and diffuse. Koln has a warmth and accessibility that I found appealing; it really does seem like a magical moment.

[Head Man]

Thanks for the link, Bev. I've just finished listening to it - very interesting.

The Koln Concert was one of the first of his ECM albums that I bought (I think "Facing You" was probably the first) and I've always enjoyed it. In fact I'm listening to it whilst I type this...lovely!

[David Ayers]

I also appreciated the discussion of the instrument and how it led him to play - that explains a *lot* about that recording.

[jazzbo]

Bremen-Lausanne was when I discovered the acoustic solo Jarrett. . . and Koln cemented my fascination. Love this concert.

[medjuck]

I really liked this program. I'm not sure that the concert should be judged as jazz. I know people with exquisite taste in all kinds of music who love it who aren't particularly jazz fans. A couple of them say that this was the first cd they bought of material they already owned on Lp. (I had to buy it a couple of times on cd because the first release left off the coda.)

Anyone on the board have memories of being at concerts that became famous recordings? (I was at the John & Yoko Live Peace in Toronto show.)

[Head Man]

I was at the (in)famous Bob Dylan concert at the Manchester Free Trade Hall in 1966.

Loved the first half...hated the second..just like nearly everyone else there.

Thank God he never took any notice of us!

[medjuck]

I was at the (in)famous Bob Dylan concert at the Manchester Free Trade Hall in 1966.

Loved the first half...hated the second..just like nearly everyone else there.

Thank God he never took any notice of us!

Wow. Have you read the book about that concert? I think it's called "Just Like the Night". And of course Scorcese's Dylan documentary is built around that concert.

[David Ayers]

I suspect it was a marketing thing. The storyline of a 17 year old putting on an iconic concert might have trumped the myth of the great artist dragging inspiration from the ether.

Or maybe they just forgot she was there!

No-one forgot anything. Record producers like to make a name for themselves and for sure this record is as big a part of the Eicher myth as it is of the Jarrett myth.

[Chuck Nessa]

The bit with George Avakian was fanciful - Ellington and Clive Davis never crossed paths at Columbia - Duke had been gone for a decade.

[medjuck]

I didn't know George Avakian managed jarrett. Did he manage anyone else?

[JSngry]

Charles Lloyd, iirc.

[Head Man]

I was at the (in)famous Bob Dylan concert at the Manchester Free Trade Hall in 1966.

Loved the first half...hated the second..just like nearly everyone else there.

Thank God he never took any notice of us!

Wow. Have you read the book about that concert? I think it's called "Just Like the Night". And of course Scorcese's Dylan documentary is built around that concert.

I bought the Scorcese DVD when it came out a few years ago and enjoyed it very much. I haven't read the book you mention - I'll try and pick up a cheap copy if I find one.

My recollection of the actual concert was that it was no big deal. At that period of my life I was seeing so much live music that it all became a bit of a blur. I was really surprised when it achieved mystical status later, based mainly I think, on one member of the audience shouting out "Judas". I don't even remember hearing that, BTW. However, the music was so loud and distorted that it was difficult to hear anything!

[A Lark Ascending]

The supposed Davis/Ellington exchange is mentioned here in a Tony Bennett interview.

http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=wScEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA52&lpg=PA52&dq=Duke+Ellington+Clive+Davis&source=bl&ots=DNhd0s1M3Z&sig=kdfrC7zFoFs59dyW6ztxzptPP_8&hl=en&sa=X&ei=atn-TozsE8vR8QOJwKFi&ved=0CDQQ6AEwBA#v=onepage&q=Duke%20Ellington%20Clive%20Davis&f=false

He seems to be citing from a Judy Collins book.

Hearsay, it seems.

[David Ayers]

I suspect it was a marketing thing. The storyline of a 17 year old putting on an iconic concert might have trumped the myth of the great artist dragging inspiration from the ether.

Or maybe they just forgot she was there!

No-one forgot anything. Record producers like to make a name for themselves and for sure this record is as big a part of the Eicher myth as it is of the Jarrett myth.

I wondered if he had changed his approach so I checked the Paul Motian Lost in a Dream which is also a concert recording. Again the concert promoter is not credited. I hardly have any CDs here with me so can't really look but I wonder if it is just routine not to credit promoters - except where the record producer is also the promoter in which case we never hear the last of it!

The bit with George Avakian was fanciful - Ellington and Clive Davis never crossed paths at Columbia - Duke had been gone for a decade.

Ah if only people really had said all the things attributed to them. My favorite is Uxbridge's leg: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lord_Uxbridge's_leg

Edited December 31, 2011 by David Ayers