{"id":6188,"date":"2025-10-24T13:30:00","date_gmt":"2025-10-24T13:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/a-broken-piano-an-exhausted-pianist-and-the-album-that-changed-jazz\/"},"modified":"2025-10-24T13:30:00","modified_gmt":"2025-10-24T13:30:00","slug":"a-broken-piano-an-exhausted-pianist-and-the-album-that-changed-jazz","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/a-broken-piano-an-exhausted-pianist-and-the-album-that-changed-jazz\/","title":{"rendered":"A Broken Piano, An Exhausted Pianist, and the Album That Changed Jazz"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/10\/Kleadoln75_photo4.jpg\" width=\"1200\" height=\"800\" alt=\"John Magaro as Keith Jarrett in a scene from K\u00f6ln 75. (Courtesy of Zeitgeist Films \/ Kino Lorber)\"><figcaption>John Magaro as Keith Jarrett in a scene from K\u00f6ln 75. (Courtesy of Zeitgeist Films \/ Kino Lorber)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>For a lot of years, Vera Brandes couldn\u2019t listen. Not once had she heard the bestselling solo jazz album of all time\u2014Keith Jarrett\u2019s passionate and sublime <em>The K\u00f6ln Concert<\/em>\u2014though she\u2019d been essential to making it happen in 1975 as an 18-year-old music promoter in Cologne, West Germany.<\/p>\n<p>It wasn\u2019t the first show organized by the teenage music fanatic, but it was her most challenging, and almost didn\u2019t happen at all. \u201cIt was such a traumatizing situation for me that night that I never listened to the record,\u201d says Brandes, whose real-life struggle to make the concert happen is the subject of an engaging new film, <em>K\u00f6ln 75<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>More from Spin:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\n\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.spin.com\/2025\/10\/mumford-and-sons-hozier-single\/\">Mumford &amp; Sons \u2018Band\u2019 Together With Hozier<\/a>\n\t\t<\/li>\n<li>\n\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.spin.com\/2025\/10\/rafael-toral-is-murdering-the-classics\/\">Rafael Toral Is Murdering the Classics<\/a>\n\t\t<\/li>\n<li>\n\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.spin.com\/2025\/10\/5-albums-i-cant-live-without-slim-jim-phantom-of-the-stray-cats\/\">5 Albums I Can\u2019t Live Without: Slim Jim Phantom of the Stray Cats<\/a>\n\t\t<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>When Jarrett, then 29, arrived at the Cologne Opera House to perform on January 24, 1975, he hadn\u2019t slept in 24 hours and was dealing with serious back pain. Even worse, the magnificent B\u00f6sendorfer Concert Grand 290 Imperial piano he\u2019d requested was not waiting for him. Instead, he was provided an out-of-tune baby grand with a broken pedal.<\/p>\n<p>By then Jarrett was already an acclaimed jazz player who had recorded with Miles Davis, Art Blakey, and many others. But his European solo tour was a low-budget operation, and he was traveling by car from city to city, aggravating his back issues. When he saw the piano in Cologne (<em>K\u00f6ln<\/em> in German), he initially refused to play the concert.<\/p>\n<p>The scramble of Vera (played by Mala Emde) and her young team to salvage the night\u2014and convince Jarrett to perform\u2014is the story told by the alternately playful and dramatic <em>K\u00f6ln 75<\/em>, written and directed by Ido Fluk. The bilingual English and German language movie follows the desperate search for a suitable instrument, with the help of two heroic piano tuners, and the overflowing passions of a young woman putting on a show.\u00a0<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1200\" height=\"1778\" src=\"https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/10\/Koln75_poster_ZG_2025x3000.jpg\" alt=\"(Courtesy of Zeitgeist Films \/ Kino Lorber)\" class=\"wp-image-541793\" srcset=\"https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/10\/Koln75_poster_ZG_2025x3000.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/10\/Koln75_poster_ZG_2025x3000-340x504.jpg 340w, https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/10\/Koln75_poster_ZG_2025x3000-768x1138.jpg 768w, https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/10\/Koln75_poster_ZG_2025x3000-1037x1536.jpg 1037w, https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/10\/Koln75_poster_ZG_2025x3000-498x738.jpg 498w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">(Courtesy of Zeitgeist Films \/ Kino Lorber)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><em>K\u00f6ln 75 <\/em>debuted October 17 in New York, and opens October 24 in Los Angeles and Houston, and several other cities through December. (See <a href=\"http:\/\/zeitgeistfilms.com\/film\/koeln-75\" target=\"_blank\">zeitgeistfilms.com\/film\/koeln-75<\/a>.)<\/p>\n<p>The real-word result of that crisis was a hugely successful live album, recorded by the Munich-based label ECM Records, released as the 4 million-selling <em>The K\u00f6ln Concert<\/em>. The hour-long record was pure improvisation and deeply rhythmic, with elements of classical and American gospel. Because of his substandard rehearsal piano, Jarrett focused on the instrument\u2019s middle-register, and created spontaneous melody in a flow of inspiration.<\/p>\n<p>The resulting music touched a popular nerve, and its immediate pleasures provided a doorway to jazz for new listeners, much like other top-selling recordings, like <em>Kind of Blue<\/em> by Miles Davis and <em>A Love Supreme<\/em> by John Coltrane.<\/p>\n<p>Brandes didn\u2019t hear the record until many years later, when it came on at a lemonade stand while on vacation with some friends on the Spanish island of Formentera. \u201cAll of a sudden I hear this music, and I said, \u2018Shit, I know this from somewhere,\u2019\u201d she recalls with a smile, on a video call. \u201cThen I realized this was the album. And from that moment on, it started to haunt me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>It has also haunted the pianist who made it. Jarrett, now 80, has grown increasingly frustrated by the outsized notoriety the album has had in his career. Jarrett and ECM weren\u2019t involved in the movie, and did not allow the <em>K\u00f6ln <\/em>recording to be used.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1200\" height=\"800\" src=\"https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/10\/Koln75_photo2.jpg\" alt=\"John Magaro as Keith Jarrett in a scene from K\u00f6ln 75. (Courtesy of Zeitgeist Films \/ Kino Lorber)\" class=\"wp-image-541798\" srcset=\"https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/10\/Koln75_photo2.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/10\/Koln75_photo2-340x227.jpg 340w, https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/10\/Koln75_photo2-240x160.jpg 240w, https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/10\/Koln75_photo2-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/10\/Koln75_photo2-498x332.jpg 498w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"> (Courtesy of Zeitgeist Films \/ Kino Lorber)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Fluk was previously aware of the <em>K\u00f6ln <\/em>album, but knew nothing of the drama behind the scenes until he read a short magazine article about the substandard piano used and Brandes\u2019s role. \u201cI thought, what an incredible story about every piece of art ever made\u2014like how important it is to face obstacles and how that makes art better,\u201d says Fluk, calling from his home in Brooklyn.<\/p>\n<p>Once he began talking to Brandes, the filmmaker was pulled deeper into her backstory, from conflicts with her parents to the obstacles for a young woman in 1975 putting on such a large concert. Fluk spent eight hours interviewing Brandes about her story.<\/p>\n<p>In preparation for <em>K\u00f6ln 75<\/em>, Fluk immersed himself in German culture, learning the language, watching German films, and studying the music of the period. In the film, he also puts the concert in a larger musical context, not just within jazz, but the vibrant musical landscape of West Germany at the time.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo much happened back then musically, like Kraftwerk coming from D\u00fcsseldorf, inventing electronic music,\u201d says Fluk, who was born in Tel Aviv and grew up mostly in Paris and New York City. \u201cThen you have all this psychedelic rock and Kraut rock, with Can and Neu! and protopunk happening there. You also, by the way, have David Bowie and Iggy Pop moving to Berlin.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>As a young music fan and concert promoter, Brandes was engaged in many sounds and genres. \u201cThe story we\u2019re dealing with is a jazz concert, but it\u2019s a punk rock story, and I think the character is a punk rock character,\u201d Fluk says of Vera. \u201cShe just did not listen to anyone who told her what to do, and she just did whatever she wanted.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1200\" height=\"649\" src=\"https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/10\/Koln75_photo6.jpg\" alt=\"Mala Emde as\nVera Brandes in a scene from K\u00f6ln 75. (Courtesy of Zeitgeist Films \/ Kino Lorber)\" class=\"wp-image-541796\" srcset=\"https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/10\/Koln75_photo6.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/10\/Koln75_photo6-340x184.jpg 340w, https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/10\/Koln75_photo6-768x415.jpg 768w, https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/10\/Koln75_photo6-498x269.jpg 498w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Mala Emde as Vera Brandes in a scene from <em>K\u00f6ln 75<\/em>. (Courtesy of Zeitgeist Films \/ Kino Lorber)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>At the invitation of British jazz musician Ronnie Scott, Brandes booked her first tour at age 16 and began her career in music. Soon she was putting on her own shows in Cologne. She wasn\u2019t a neophyte when she brought Jarrett to town, but the 1,400-capacity Opera House was her largest venue yet.<\/p>\n<p>It also represented a big financial risk. Among the many miracles along the way was that her mother unexpectedly provided the 10,000 Deutsche Marks needed to rent the hall. Vera had to agree to leave the music business if she couldn\u2019t pay back the loan.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Though she had once dreamt of being a jazz singer herself, Brandes embraced the role of concert promoter. The mid-\u201970s was an exciting time to be engaging with art, music, and politics, she says.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was such a cultural explosion that was going on, and there was no separation of the arts and no separation of age groups,\u201d she remembers. \u201cWe were all in this together as so many things went on politically\u2014the peace movement, the anti-atomic power movement, and women\u2019s liberation. You know, \u201975 was the international year of the woman. Everything was going on at the same time.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>At the beginning of the movie\u2019s production, Brandes was welcome on the set, and she was curious to watch it come together. The day before shooting began, she made an encouraging speech to the cast and crew that Fluk says \u201cgave everyone a sense of mission.\u201d Then, the first day with cameras rolling focused on the family conflicts between Brandes and her parents, in particular, her disapproving father.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1200\" height=\"649\" src=\"https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/10\/Koln75_photo8.jpg\" alt=\"Michael Chernus as Michael Watts in a scene from K\u00f6ln 75. (Courtesy of Zeitgeist Films \/ Kino Lorber)\" class=\"wp-image-541799\" srcset=\"https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/10\/Koln75_photo8.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/10\/Koln75_photo8-340x184.jpg 340w, https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/10\/Koln75_photo8-768x415.jpg 768w, https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/10\/Koln75_photo8-498x269.jpg 498w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Michael Chernus as Michael Watts in a scene from <em>K\u00f6ln 75<\/em>. (Courtesy of Zeitgeist Films \/ Kino Lorber)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>In the scene, young Vera is quietly returning home late at night, slowly coming up the stairs with her boots off, when the light goes on, and her father confronts her in German: \u201cI can smell cigarettes. I\u2019m talking to you, young lady! Like a whore, coming home in the middle of the night \u2026 You went to that jazz club, didn\u2019t you?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Watching the actors bring her memories to life was too much. \u201cI saw them redo the scene a few times, and I realized I had to leave because my mirror neurons were dancing the polka,\u201d she says. \u201cAll the fear that my whole early part of life was associated with came up crawling through the soles of my feet. And I just couldn\u2019t stand watching it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The struggle of Brandes to make the concert happen is the heart of the film, but it also spends significant time with Jarrett on the road, leading to his troubled physical state on the night of the concert. <em>K\u00f6ln 75<\/em> offers a deeply empathetic portrayal of the pianist, as played by John Magaro.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe was clearly under an enormous amount of stress. He was rather shy. He was not a friendly creature,\u201d Brandes recalls.<\/p>\n<p>Jarrett adapted to the circumstances, and improvised his way to the creation of the most popular album of his career. As time went on, Jarrett grew less interested in talking about the concert. While the album has never been taken off the market, and has been reissued in different editions and formats multiple times (including a new 50th anniversary edition), Jarrett has often dismissed it entirely.\u00a0<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1200\" height=\"800\" src=\"https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/10\/Koln75_photo5.jpg\" alt=\"(Courtesy of Zeitgeist Films \/ Kino Lorber)\" class=\"wp-image-541795\" srcset=\"https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/10\/Koln75_photo5.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/10\/Koln75_photo5-340x227.jpg 340w, https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/10\/Koln75_photo5-240x160.jpg 240w, https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/10\/Koln75_photo5-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/10\/Koln75_photo5-498x332.jpg 498w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">(Courtesy of Zeitgeist Films \/ Kino Lorber)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Jarrett, who can no longer perform after suffering two strokes in 2018, was not interested in participating in the film.<\/p>\n<p>Fluk says he understands Jarrett\u2019s feelings, and he compares the <em>K\u00f6ln <\/em>record to Radiohead\u2019s early hit \u201cCreep.\u201d For a time, the British rock band expressed a similar resentment toward the early hit song as they pursued more challenging work, but have become a lot more relaxed about it in recent years. Jarrett seems only less inclined to celebrate it.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMusically speaking, I think he has better concerts, better live recordings, but everyone wants to just speak about this concert, and the record sold so much more than anything else,\u201d says the director. \u201cI understand that for him, this has become kind of like an albatross. I respect that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>That said, Fluk wasn\u2019t going to allow Jarrett\u2019s disinterest get in the way of telling Brandes\u2019s story.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe was never really given the credit that she deserves,\u201d Fluk says. \u201cWe live in a time where there\u2019s a lot of music movies being made, and they all focus on the artist, and they all almost tell the same story, just with a different soundtrack. That\u2019s fine, and I enjoy those. But I thought, here\u2019s an opportunity to focus the spotlight on someone we usually don\u2019t see. There\u2019s so many invisible people in making movies, in making music, and in the entire artistic endeavor.\u00a0<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1200\" height=\"649\" src=\"https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/10\/Koln75_photo7.jpg\" alt=\"(Courtesy of Zeitgeist Films \/ Kino Lorber)\" class=\"wp-image-541797\" srcset=\"https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/10\/Koln75_photo7.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/10\/Koln75_photo7-340x184.jpg 340w, https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/10\/Koln75_photo7-768x415.jpg 768w, https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/10\/Koln75_photo7-498x269.jpg 498w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">(Courtesy of Zeitgeist Films \/ Kino Lorber)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cThe Cologne concert is the spark that happens when two great improvisers meet. One\u2019s great at improvising on the keys, the other\u2019s great at improvising at life. And I was not going to let anyone tell me I\u2019m not able to make a film about this woman.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>After the Cologne concert, Brandes continued promoting concerts in Germany, and founded her first record label, CMP, in 1977. There were more labels in Europe and the U.S., including Intuition Records, which became Blue Note\u2019s world music sister label. Since 2000, she has been focused on the use of music in alternative medicine.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Brandes has had very little contact with Jarrett in the years after their famous concert, and her few experiences mirrored the pianist\u2019s increasingly negative attitude about the <em>K\u00f6ln <\/em>album. A few years after the Cologne concert, Jarrett was playing in a nearby town with his quartet. Brandes met him there.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI took him after the concert from the venue to his hotel, and we had a very friendly conversation,\u201d she recalls. \u201cWe even had dinner together, but that was it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>About 10 years ago, she saw him again at a show in Toronto, and Jarrett didn\u2019t even shake her hand. And then, shortly before his strokes in 2018, Brandes was invited backstage at a show in Vienna, where she again extended her hand to say hello. \u201cHe didn\u2019t take it,\u201d she says. \u201cHe was a little obnoxious. He said, \u2018Oh, they\u2019re telling me you are the woman with the piano in Cologne.\u2019 It was crystal clear he had absolutely no interest in talking to me, so I said goodbye.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Regardless, their names will now be linked forever with the release of <em>K\u00f6ln 75<\/em>. Brandes has seen the film several times at premieres and festivals, but plans to soon put it aside.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m trying to keep the original memory as much as I can, which is why I probably don\u2019t want to see it a lot more,\u201d Brandes says, though she hopes a new generation watches. \u201cIt\u2019s such a positive movie, telling people there is just absolutely nothing that cannot be done. That\u2019s a spirit that is so important.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p>To see our running list of the top 100 greatest rock stars of all time, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.spin.com\/2021\/07\/the-greatest-rock-stars-of-all-time\/?utm_source=yahoo&amp;utm_medium=bottomlink&amp;utm_campaign=yahoolink\">click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;\" class=\"sharethis-inline-share-buttons\" ><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>John Magaro as Keith Jarrett in a scene from K\u00f6ln 75. (Courtesy of Zeitgeist Films \/ Kino Lorber) For a lot of years, Vera Brandes couldn\u2019t listen. Not once had&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4215,4216,4217,4218,24,2240],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6188","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-john-magaro","category-koln-75","category-mala-emde","category-michael-chernus","category-pushly","category-watch-me"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6188","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6188"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6188\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6188"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6188"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6188"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}