How a 'Broken' Piano Created a Magical Concert
Musician Keith Jarrett made history in 1975
When I was very young, Grandma Collier bought a piano for my sister and me.
Grandma Collier could really play. So could my dad.
I think she had high hopes for her granddaughters.
Practicing piano is not what a highly extroverted kid like me wanted to do after school. But I took piano lessons for years, and they did cement my love of music.
I still enjoy hearing people play the piano.
Especially people who can really play.
And recently, I learned a story about someone who could really play – and who used his talent and creativity to deliver a magical concert 47 years ago…
Here’s the story of Keith Jarrett and the ‘Broken‘ Piano…
On January 24, 1975, pianist Keith Jarrett had a problem.
He was scheduled to perform a sold-out concert at the Cologne Opera House that night.
But when he arrived for rehearsal, he discovered that the Bösendorfer 290 Imperial concert grand piano he required wasn’t there.
Instead, he had been given a piano used for opera rehearsal, a much smaller Bösendorfer baby grand.
And it was in bad shape.
The keys were sticking. The pedals didn’t work. It was badly out of tune.
The concert was just a few hours away, and there wasn’t enough time to get a replacement piano.
Jarrett was a known perfectionist.
He was also exhausted, and suffering from excruciating back pain.
He threatened to cancel the show.
But Vera Brandes, a 17-year old German student and jazz enthusiast who had organized the concert, refused to give up.
She managed to cajole and persuade Jarrett while technicians worked to make the piano sound halfway decent.
They managed to tune it, but couldn’t do much to improve its tone and timbre, which was defined by jangly high notes and a less-than-resonant bass register.
And the sustain pedals still weren’t working when Jarrett took the stage that night.
The concert seemed like a recipe for disaster.
Jarrett, a musician who possessed perfect pitch, was about to perform a sold-out concert on a sub-par instrument.
But Jarrett got creative – and found a way to get the most of out the piano.
And instead of a disaster, his performance in Cologne that night was magical.
Jarrett improvised his show, blending jazz with elements of folk, classical, Latin, gospel hymnals – and even country music.
The magic he created was recorded, and The Köln Concert sold more than 3.5 million copies.
And Jarrett’s show playing the 'broken piano' became the best-selling piano album of all time.
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