Köln Concert 50 » Dorian Ford

Sellout performance Christuskirche Köln on exact date of the 50th Anniversary

On 24th January 2025, exactly fifty years after Jarrett’s original concert in Köln, Dorian Ford paid tribute to this remarkable performance, playing to a sell-out audience in Christuskirche, Köln.

Klaus Erich Haun, audience member at the original 1975 concert, said, “Never before has a concert and its aftermath moved me as much as Köln Concert 50. My head just won’t let go.”

from The Guardian

One musician who has immersed himself in the events of that day is the British pianist Dorian Ford. After spending years studying Jarrett’s solo improvisations, he was in Cologne to play an improvised set inspired by The Köln Concert on 24 January, its 50th anniversary – not in the opera house, which is undergoing renovation, but in a church around the corner.

“The Köln Concert was totally improvised,” says Ford, “but not what we understand as ‘free improvisation’. It’s tonal and melodic. It has a structure, and it transcends the boundaries of music-marketing. Jarrett described his solo improvisations as ‘universal folk music’: I can hear the sound of rugged American individualists, like Charles Ives and Scott Joplin, but I can also hear hymns, gospel music, country music, honky tonk, anthemic songs, soul, blues, stride, boogie woogie, modal jazz and plenty of classical music. This is not a European culture of deference. This is high-end, elite music, but presented with an audacious, American, heart-on-sleeve populism.”

Ford doesn’t think the piano actually sounds that bad, and the technicians had clearly addressed most of its problems. “The one thing is it sounds a little tinny, and he has to hit it hard. If you listen to Jarrett’s solo concerts from Bremen or Lausanne, recorded 18 months earlier, they’re technically superior in many ways. But the Köln piano lends a mystical, magical edge.”

The Guardian, 10 February 2025

Interview

A week after the Köln Concert 50, Dorian was interviews by Breandáin O’Shea for Deutsche Welle (30 January 2025).

Presenter

We end this week’s show with a tribute to a musical miracle. Keith Jarrett’s now-legendary 1975 Cologne concert almost didn’t happen. In fact, the series of disasters that seem to be conspiring against it are now the stuff of legend. An exhausted Jarrett, wracked by back pain, arrives in Cologne after a long inter-European road trip, only to find that the wrong piano has been put on the stage. Jarrett takes one look at the poorly-maintained rehearsal instrument and declares the concert cancelled, only to be persuaded back at the last minute by the tearful implorings of a teenage promoter. Yet, these challenges gave rise to a performance of astonishing creativity, blending jazz, classical gospel and folk influences into something extraordinary. British pianist Dorian Ford, a long-time admirer of Jarrett, was inspired to honour the 50th anniversary of the Cologne concert with a special performance in, you guessed it, Cologne. We tasked arts journalist and musician Brendan O’Shea with the story.

Dorian

I talk about it because it’s an excuse to talk about Keith’s music and I’ll use any excuse to talk about Keith’s music. For a lifetime, really.

Brendan

That’s British pianist Dorian Ford, who cites Keith Jarrett as one of his earliest inspirations. Ford began playing jazz in his teens. Discovering Keith Jarrett and the Cologne concert proved pivotal in shaping his musical journey.

Dorian

You know, for me, Cologne is the tip of an iceberg. What is revealed is still this very, very special music world, which is Keith Jarrett.

Brendan

Fifty years later, the pianist Dorian Ford marked the anniversary with a tribute performance at Christuskirche in Cologne, as the opera house, the original location, undergoes renovations.

Dorian

The main thing was feeling like it would be really nice to play in Cologne and really sort of feel the vibes, which I really did. I just don’t know how to say that any other way. But I sort of feel this is modern American piano music played in Europe. I suppose I’d always had that in the back of my head and never really put that into a thought when I was a kid listening to this music. But I kind of think that’s true. And it felt true. So to be in Cologne playing it gave it the edge. It’s fantastic.

Brendan

The Cologne concert album, released later in 1975, became a phenomenon, selling over 3.5 million copies and becoming the best-selling solo jazz and piano recording of all time. But it also resonated far beyond jazz audiences.

Dorian

In a way, you know, I’m advocating for this piece to be, in a way, sort of part of the concert repertoire of the solo piano world. You know, like a Beethoven sonata, it’s like, here’s a Keith Jarrett sonata, you know. I think that it has three parts to it. I think there’s something about it being, let’s say, a jazz standard, a classic pop song and a kind of an evergreen something very, you know, universal that really gets to people. And it’s also a piece of high music, let’s say, classical music, extremely well put together, incredible, unique relationship between the hands, all of these kind of technical things that are very unique to Keith’s playing.

Brendan

Ford was eager to recapture the original atmosphere for his concert on the 24th of January and offered free tickets to anyone who had attended the 1975 concert. Among those he found were Hein and Klaus-Erich Hahn. In 1975, they were students in their early 20s. It was a night they’ve never forgotten.

Hein/Klaus

My brother, our two girlfriends and I were sitting in one of those famous shoebox lodges in the Cologne Opera House, recalls Hein.
The first notes immediately captivated us. We glanced at each other and thought, wow, this is something truly special happening here. We got goosebumps. We knew it was a concert we’d never forget. Yes, it was utterly silent the whole time, says Klaus. The tension was incredible. You were captivated. Honestly, it really got to us.

Brendan

With Jarrett’s original concert still held in such vivid living memory, British pianist Dorian Ford was conscious of the pressure.

Dorian

Yeah, no, it’s really changed me. And in fact, just preparing for this, I mean, I’ve never sort of, I suppose, concentrated so hard as I did in order to prepare this concert. And in lots of ways, I had to prepare very hard by not thinking about all of the things that we’re talking about, you know, it’s the 50th anniversary, it’s in Cologne and Keith.

Brendan

The Köln Concert remains a masterclass in improvisation. Despite the piano’s flaws, Jarrett’s use of shimmering harmonies, rhythmic patterns and his raw emotional humming drew the audience into a profoundly moving performance. I asked Dorian Ford why the Köln Concert continues to resonate.

Dorian

Well, maybe it’s nostalgia for baby boomers and it’s kind of truth, beauty, light for millennials. But either way, I think it’s something to counter the cultural, ideological and ecological extinction. I haven’t got long on the planet, so I’m just going to do this while I can.

Brendan

50 years on, Keith Jarrett’s Köln Concert remains a profound reminder of music’s ability to transcend adversity and create something timeless. Whether for nostalgia or inspiration, it continues to captivate and connect audiences across generations.
Brendan O’Shea for DW, Berlin.

Presenter

And that is the note on which we end the show. Our feedback address is insideeuropeatdw.com. Thanks to everyone who reached out last week with feedback on everything from musical choices to political coverage.