Keith Jarrett’s 1975 live album, The Köln Concert, recorded at the Cologne Opera House in West Germany is one of the biggest blockbuster records in jazz. It is the best-selling solo album in jazz history and the best-selling piano album. But, according to Ido Fluk’s affectionate dramatization of Jarrett’s legendary performance, the show nearly didn’t happen.
Köln 75 tells the compelling, entertaining, and little-known backstory of Jarrett’s improvised masterpiece. Based on a true story, the film follows plucky teenage go-getter Vera Brandes (Mala Emde), an up-and-coming concert promoter who improbably conceived and orchestrated one of the towering achievements in the jazz canon. From organizing the concert venue to promoting the event to packing the house to appeasing the star, everything had to go right to get the classic ECM record on tape. According to legend, Jarrett, a famously prickly and demanding performer, nearly pulled the plug at the last minute when the Bösendorfer Imperial Grand piano he was promised was nowhere to be found.
John Magaro plays Jarrett with his own intensity, a sublime counterpoint to Mala Emde’s joyful portrayal of the enthusiastic and wide-eyed Vera. Between his devastating lead in Omaha, his dopey supporting turn in Kelly Reichardt’s The Mastermind, and now his fully-inhabited performance as the piano virtuoso, Magaro is having a quietly monumental year.
Köln 75 is also playing on November 29 at 7 pm in The Screening Room