11. Keith JarrettKoln Concert
I remember someone telling me “this guy, he just improvises for an hour and it’s the most amazing thing”. He’s the exception that proves the rule – I think if anyone goes on stage and improvises for an hour, then they’re inherently awful – it’s too risky and it doesn’t respect people that pay money to basically say you’re going to fight your way out of a paper bag in front of them. I could never do that – it goes against my entertainment instincts. But of course Keith Jarrett: every rule has its exception. It just is really sublime. He’s done other live concerts and released them, but none of them quite hold a candle to it. He just was truly inspired – in a way Keith Jarrett goes against so much of what I believe of improvising and of being an extremely suffering artist and being a diva: the guy won’t play if there’s a draught. If the piano seat doesn’t go down far enough, he’s cancelling the whole thing! He makes no effort to be easy, but once in a while someone comes along and they can get away with that. It’s nice to know that every once in a while even my rules can be broken by someone.
