ECM Releases 50th Anniversary Edition of Keith Jarrett's Groundbreaking "The Köln Concert"

the Best-Selling Solo Album in Jazz History

(Press release): The Köln Concert – the groundbreaking recording of Keith Jarrett’s improvised solo concert at the Cologne opera house – has attained legendary status since its release in 1975. An iconic album and an essential document of the era, few live recordings in any idiom have been celebrated as widely. In the liner essay included in the 50th anniversary edition of the LP, the concert’s context is outlined in detail. Recorded on 24 January 1975 and originally released on November 30th the same year, The Köln Concert was produced by Manfred Eicher. Nothing on this program was considered before he sat down to play. All of the gestures, intricate droning harmonies, skittering and shimmering melodic lines, and whoops and sighs from the man are spontaneous.

Although it was one continuous concert, the piece is divided into four sections, largely because it had to be divided for double LP. But from the moment Jarrett blushes his opening chords and begins meditating on harmonic invention, melodic figure construction, glissando combinations, and occasional ostinato phrasing, music changed. For some listeners it changed forever in that moment. For others it was a momentary flush of excitement, but it was change, something so sorely needed and begged for by the record-buying public. Jarrett's intimate meditation on the inner workings of not only his pianism, but also the instrument itself and the nature of sound and how it stacks up against silence, involved listeners in its search for beauty, truth, and meaning.

The concert swings with liberation from cynicism or the need to prove anything to anyone ever again. With this album, Jarrett put himself in his own league, and you can feel the inspiration coming off him in waves. This may have been the album every stoner wanted in his collection "because the chicks dug it." Yet it speaks volumes about a musician and a music that opened up the world of jazz to so many who had been excluded, and offered the possibility -- if only briefly -- of a cultural, aesthetic optimism, no matter how brief that interval actually was. This is a true and lasting masterpiece of melodic, spontaneous composition and improvisation that set the standard.

For the 50th anniversary, the special edition 2-LP is released in a high-quality tip-on-gatefold sleeve with a glued-in 8-page booklet featuring a new liner essay in German and English, as well as original and new photos. Includes an art print with a photo and printed signature by Keith Jarrett.

Exclusive limited edition bundle with a unisex premium T-shirt made from 100% organic cotton (185 g/m²) with cover print.

The Special Edition 2-LP Anniversary is Released in a High-Quality Tip-on-Gatefold Sleeve with a Glued-in 8-Page Booklet Featuring a New Liner Essay in German and English, as Well as Original and New Photos

(Tracking Angle is trying to get source, mastering and pressing credits for this edition and will update this ASAP)

Comments

2025-12-12 02:53:52 PM

Silk Dome Mid wrote:

I'll get this because my original copy is pretty worn. I saw Jarrett play at the University of Tulsa around this period-can't find the exact date. The university was proud of their Bosendorfer piano and had it tuned as Jarrett asked, but then they moved it from the ground floor up to the hall where the concert would be. Duuuuhhh! He came out on stage and said it was out of tune, so he would tune it himself by ear before playing. As a result there would be no encore. Just listening to him tune the piano was quite an experience. Then he left the stage for a few minutes before unleashing a delicate, varied and majestic performance like nothing else I've ever heard. He would play short passages over and over until he made a "mistake", then would allow the error to take him in another direction. After the main segment he sat quietly through the long and loud applause and actually did an encore, a short, lovely piece that seemed more rehearsed than what had come before. Words fail me when describing how stunning the music was. There was an opening act, a local jazz outfit featuring some T.U. music students, and a friend of mine had permission to set up mics and record them on his Sony reel to reel. Amazingly, Jarrett never told anyone to take down the mics, so he was recorded as well! Sadly, my friend was lost in the music and failed to notice when the thunderous chords in the last couple of minutes sent the VU meters way into the red and left that part of the tape extremely distorted and unlistenable. I wonder if he still has that tape. I imagine that current digital technology could salvage it.
2025-12-12 03:21:36 PM

Come on wrote:

Did ECM ever do anything else for their reissues than using the old metal parts? Quite some time ago when I asked how the (by then new) 180g reissues were done, I was transferred to an "expert" who didn't know what they did and wondered that someone's interested in this at all. I think they "think digital" since so long, they are far away from what DGG does. Anything else would be a real surprise to me.
- 2025-12-12 07:29:00 PM
  
  Michael Fremer wrote:
  
  I asked the publicist to please find out how the reissue was produced. I hope to hear back but I will be sure to compare it to my original pressing.
  - 2025-12-12 09:04:29 PM
    
    Come on wrote:
    
    Yes please do so, this will be interesting! As I mentioned, there already was a previous 180g pressing released long after the original lightweight LP. By the time I asked for differences, the guy at ECM wondered why people would care, if an LP was made from an analog or digital source. This doesn’t mean, the later one was from digital source (he didn’t know), but it shows, how little they care for such things. I very strongly doubt, they made a new cut from tape, I think they either did it from a digital backup or simply repressed.
2025-12-13 09:46:41 AM

Dan Lawton wrote:

In 1976 I bought this double album. It amazed me, sounding to me like “this is what Chopin would play if he had played Jazz”. Always have had both the LP & CD since, & discovered his other works & trio recordings. Saw him live at Ford Auditorium, Detroit, in Winter: when he began to play, many in the audience had colds & coughed. KJ stopped playing, smiled & said “Ok. Everybody cough together now”. So we all did. We laughed. Then he began to play. I will always remember listening to this LP in Winter in my second floor apartment on Dickerson, fireplace glowing. He has given listeners a tremendous life of music so unique its untouchable by time.
2025-12-13 02:07:36 PM

Floh Yesters wrote:

I was really looking forward to this reissue. After a few listens and comparing it with two older pressings… it’s not bad, but it’s not great either. A bit of a letdown. And for some reason, ECM insists on such wide center holes—if the record isn’t perfectly centered, the beautiful piano music wavers in pitch, which can be maddening.