The Köln Concert

Album Notes & Community Reviews

'The Köln Concert' documents a completely improvised solo performance where pianist Keith Jarrett famously overcame the limitations of a substandard and poorly conditioned baby grand piano. To compensate for the instrument's thin sound and weak bass register, he utilized powerful, rolling left-hand ostinatos and focused his melodic explorations on the keyboard's middle range, producing extended, rhythmically hypnotic vamps that fuse folk, gospel, and blues sensibilities. The resulting double album became the best-selling solo album in jazz history and the all-time best-selling piano album, its legendary status cemented by both the challenging circumstances of its creation and the transcendent quality of the music itself.