Off The Tracks

Off The Tracks
  • Blog
    • Interviews
    • Miscellany
    • Special Guests
    • Reviews
  • Podcasts
  • The Vinyl Countdown
  • Back Catalogue
  • About
    • About
    • About the banner image
    • On Song
June 15, 2011 by Simon Sweetman

The Vinyl Countdown # 1963

 Keith Jarrett, The Koln Concert (1975)

Now this is what I consider a time-capsule album. I first heard it many years ago and it’s getting better all the time; with every listen. Recently I was at a friend’s house and I heard that unmistakable Keith Jarrett phrasing as soon as I walked in the door. He was playing The Koln Concert. Recently I purchased a CD copy for my father-in-law. Recently I purchased a very nice (great condition) second-hand double-LP for myself as I’d lost the CD copy from years ago. So it’s been getting a lot of listening. It’s the perfect album to play in our den. Glass of wine and all of that. But it is – for me – the perfect album to get caught up in. It’s a beautiful performance to just sit and take in; impossible of course to take in the full breadth and depth of it in a single sitting. It’s a work that stays with you – that grows. You catch yourself with spiralling melodies in your head, later, when you’re listening to anything else. You find yourself astonished by the back-story: Jarrett hated travelling at the best of times and arrived, tired and hungry, to perform for a woefully underprepared first-time promoter. The piano that Jarrett assumed was a small rehearsal instrument only was in fact the tool for the main event. Frustrated, he poured his heart and soul out through his fingers. You hear it in the signature ostinatos, in the signature rhythm playing; you heard it in those signature grunts! And in the spaces between the notes (and in fact in the spaces after the grunts). It’s a stunning piece of jazz, a stunning piece of classical – it’s so many things from the worlds that sit in between. And finally it’s an amazing piece of improvisation. It’s made it in to my Top 10 records of all time and would easily be my new desert island disc.

Sample Track: Part 1 (1/3)

The Vinyl Countdown is a document of every LP I listen to, brand new discoveries and old-old favourites; extremely pre-loved, previously abandoned or with the shrink-wrap having just been removed it’s all here at The Vinyl Countdown

Posted in The Vinyl Countdown and tagged with Keith Jarrett, The Koln Concert, Vinyl. RSS 2.0 feed.
« The Vinyl Countdown #1964
The Vinyl Countdown # 1962 »

2 Responses to The Vinyl Countdown # 1963

  1. Pingback: Bobo Stenson Trio: Contra La Indecis¡on 

  2. Pingback: The Vinyl Countdown # 279 

Popular

  • The Best Guitarist in The World: # 8 – Mark Knopfler
  • The Sad Story of Bob Welch: Fleetwood Mac’s Most Undervalued Member
  • Janna Lapidus Leblanc: Four Years In Pictures
  • The Best Guitarist in The World: # 11 – Lindsey Buckingham
  • Time Casts Its Spell: When Silver Springs Became The Secret Weapon It Had Always Threatened To Be
  • Prince: Tokyo Dome 1990
  • Everything Must Go: My Last Time At The Record Fair
  • Bono’s Book
  • On: Neil Young’s Decade
  • Where Have All The Kiwi Soundtracks Gone?

Archives

Tags

Album Review Auckland Blog Book Book Review Chat Compilation DJ DVD DVD Review EP Film Film Review Gig Gig Review Guest Blog Guitar Interview Jazz Live Live Gig LP Movie Music NZ Podcast Poem Poetry Record Records Simon Sweetman Soundtrack Spines Spotify Stub Stubs Sweetman Podcast The Vinyl Countdown Vinyl Want more? Check out my Substack You can also support Off The Tracks via PressPatron Wellington Wgtn Writing You can support Off The Tracks via PressPatron [OST]

Categories

  • Back Catalogue
  • Blog
  • Interviews
  • Miscellany
  • Mixtapes
  • Playlists
  • Podcasts
  • Reviews
  • Scene Of The Day
  • Special Guests
  • The Vinyl Countdown

Off The Tracks is the home of Sweetman Podcast, a weekly interview/chat-based pod. It's also home to my reviews across film, TV, music and books and some creative writing as well.

Off The Tracks aims to provide quality reviews and essays, regular blog updates about the shows, albums, books and movies you should be experiencing.

It's a passion project. Your support will help to keep Off The Tracks online.

All content © 2022 by Off The Tracks. WordPress Themes by Graph Paper Press