Keith Jarrett My Song 2009 transcription

Keith Jarrett My Song 2009 transcription portable#

A new interpretation of The Köln Concert was published in 2006 by Polish pianist Tomasz Trzcinski on his album Blue Mountains. For years he resisted such requests since, as he said, the music played was improvised 'on a certain night and should go as quickly as it comes.' In 1990, Jarrett finally agreed on publishing an authorized transcription but with the recommendation that every pianist intending to play the piece should use the recording itself as the final word. Subsequent to the release of The Köln Concert, Jarrett was asked by pianists, musicologists and others, to publish the music. Roughly the first 8 minutes of Part II A is a vamp over a D major groove with a repeated bass vamp in the left hand, and in Part IIb, Jarrett improvises over an F# minor vamp for about the first 6 minutes. For about the last 6 minutes of Part I, he vamps over an A major theme. For instance, in Part I, he spends almost 12 minutes vamping over the chords Am7 (A minor 7) to G major, sometimes in a slow, rubato feel, and other times in a bluesy, gospel rock feel.

The third part, labelled 'IIc', was actually the final piece, a separate encore.Ī notable aspect of the concert was Jarrett's ability to produce very extensive improvised material over a vamp of one or two chords for prolonged periods of time. As it was originally programmed for vinyl LP, the second part was split into sections labelled 'IIa' and 'IIb'. The recording is in three parts: lasting about 26 minutes, 34 minutes and 7 minutes respectively.

Keith Jarrett My Song 2009 transcription portable#

The performance was recorded by ECM Records engineer Martin Wieland, using a pair of Neumann U-67 vacuum-tube powered condenser microphones and a Telefunken M-5 portable tape machine. It remains his most popular recording and continues to sell well more than 35 years after its initial release. Despite the obstacles, Jarrett's performance was enthusiastically received by the audience and the subsequent recording was acclaimed by critics. The show was completely sold out and the venue was filled to capacity with over 1,400 people at a ticket price of 4 DM ($1.72). This late-night time slot was the only one the administration would make available to Brandes for a jazz concert – the first ever at the Köln Opera House. The concert took place at the unusually late hour of 11:30, following an earlier opera performance. After trying out the substandard piano and learning a replacement instrument was not available, Jarrett nearly refused to play and Brandes had to convince him to perform as the concert was scheduled to begin in just a few hours. He had not slept well in several nights and was in pain from back problems and had to wear a brace. Jarrett arrived at the opera house late in the afternoon and tired after an exhausting long drive from Zurich, Switzerland, where he had performed a few days earlier. Because he could not fall in love with the sound of it, he found another way to get the most out of it.' ECM Records producer Manfred Eicher later said: 'Probably played it the way he did because it was not a good piano. Consequently, Jarrett often used ostinatos and rolling left-hand rhythmic figures during his Köln performance to give the effect of stronger bass notes, and concentrated his playing in the middle portion of the keyboard. The instrument was tinny and thin in the upper registers and weak in the bass register, and the pedals did not work properly. The piano they had was intended for rehearsals only and was in poor condition and required several hours of tuning and adjusting to make it playable. Unfortunately, the error was discovered too late for the correct Bösendorfer to be delivered to the venue in time for the evening's concert. However, there was some confusion by the opera house staff and instead they found another Bösendorfer piano backstage – a much smaller baby grand – and, assuming it was the one requested, placed it on the stage. At Jarrett's request, Brandes had selected a Bösendorfer 290 Imperial concert grand piano for the performance. The concert was organized by 17-year-old Vera Brandes, then Germany’s youngest concert promoter.