A Reluctant Genius and half a Piano

Keith Jarrett was a legendary piano player.

He was a perfectionist. He practises hard, reaches the concert venue 3 hours early to have a rehearsal and distributes cough drops among audience lest it will disturb his rhythm.

In 1975, he arrived at Cologne for a concert and reached the venue ahead of schedule. All 1400 seats of Cologne Opera House were sold out.

There he finds what he called a half piano. The keys were sticking, pedals didn’t work. Even the sound was not loud enough for such a big hall.

On 24 January, 1975 in the concert hall of Cologne, the perfectionist meets world’s worst piano.

The concert is still one hour away. It was pouring with rains. The producer had no opportunity to get a better one. The perfectionist climbs back into his car waiting to be driven away.

Then this 17 year old kid drenched in rain knocks on the window and beggs him to stay. She was the organiser.

At that moment, he just felt sorry for her. She was just a kid. 1400 people are about to show up and there will be no concert.

And Keith says,” Only for you lady. Never forget.”

Keith is no doubt a Genius. But that day he was different.

The producer recorded the show anyway. But he never expected to release the album.

If you don’t give Keith the Right Piano, you better trash the track, don’t think of releasing the album.
…
The Koln Concert album recorded on that wet winter of 1975 went on to become the Best Selling Jazz Piano Album of all time.

So what makes history ?
A reluctant Genius and half a piano.

….

NB- The Köln Concert is a concert recording by the pianist Keith Jarrett performed at the Opera House in Cologne on January 24, 1975.
Faced with a dilapidated piano and suffering from back aches and sleep withdrawal, Keith Jarret defied the odds to record his masterpiece, ‘The Köln Concert’.
To this date, it’s still the best-selling piano album of all time.