Keith Jarrett: The Köln Concert (2LP, 50th anniversary) [ECM RECORDS]

Why you'll love it

ECM's 50th anniversary edition comes in a tip-on gatefold with a glued-in 8-page booklet and an art print bearing Jarrett's printed signature. With around 4 million sold, it's the best-selling solo jazz album and piano recording of all time, and the Library of Congress added it to the National Recording Registry in 2025.

This edition

• 2LP set
• 50th anniversary edition
• Tip-on gatefold jacket
• 8-page booklet with new liner notes
• Art print with printed signature
• Pressed in the EU
• Stereo mix

About the album

On paper, the night of January 24, 1975 had trouble written all over it. Keith Jarrett had asked the Cologne Opera House for a Bösendorfer concert grand; what he found on stage was a small rehearsal piano with a thin top end, weak bass and sticky pedals, and he very nearly walked. It took Vera Brandes, the 18-year-old promoter who'd booked the show (Germany's youngest at the time), to talk him onto the bench.

So Jarrett played to the instrument's strengths, leaning on rolling left-hand ostinatos to give the bass more weight and keeping to the middle of the keyboard, and improvised the whole thing on the spot at 11:30 at night in front of a sold-out house of 1,400. Martin Wieland recorded it, Manfred Eicher produced, and ECM split the continuous performance into parts to fit a double LP. The Penguin Guide to Jazz put it in its core collection.

Fifty years on, it remains the record we hand to people who think they don't like jazz. Jarrett and Eicher had driven to Cologne from Lausanne in Eicher's old Renault 4, so it's fair to say the man had earned a sit-down.

Also at Kops: more Keith Jarrett on vinyl · browse Modern Jazz

Tracklist

Listen

On ECM (cat# 780 3132), a reissue of the 1975 live album.