The Köln Concert Pt.1 - Keith Jarrett

The story behind this song (and by extension the entire album) is so fascinating! It's a story of how everything went wrong, and yet such beautiful music was created that one evening making it so that this album is the best selling solo piano album ever.

In a nutshell:

• Keith was tired: instead of one concert every night, due to venue availability, this concert was played the day after another concert in Switzerland, so he was tired.
• Instead of taking a plane, Keith drove a car from Switzerland to Köln, so he was even more tired
• The piano requested by Keith wasn't prepared, so instead they dug up an old rehearsal piano that was out of tune, sounded harsh in the highs and hollow in the lows and had broken pedals
• In an effort to improve the mood of Keith, a restaurant was booked, but Keith's order got mixed up and arrived late, adding yet another layer of stress

But despite all of this, Keith embraced the faults of the piano, using the broken pedals as a kind of percussion and improvising beautifully. Enjoy the music, and enjoy this inspirational story: even when disaster strikes and nothing seems to go your way, it's possible to create beauty and stay positive. Something we can all use every now and then.