Latest news with #Cologne
ABC News
6 hours ago
- Entertainment
- ABC News
The best-selling album that nearly didn't happen: Keith Jarrett's The Köln Concert, 50 years on
Today it's the best-selling piano and solo jazz album of all time. But 50 years ago, Keith Jarrett's The Köln Concert nearly didn't happen. Between the substandard piano, an exhausting car journey, missing meals, and chronic back pain, Jarrett's iconic performance in the Cologne Opera House had the makings of a disaster. Instead, Jarrett turned it into something that has captured audiences for half a century. As the Köln Concert turns 50, the jazz world explores Jarrett's remarkable legacy and pays homage to an album that has inspired countless pianists. Jarrett was born in 1945 in Pennsylvania, USA. His parents fostered his early musical abilities, with the young Jarrett having perfect pitch and a knack for improvising at the piano. Jarrett started lessons at age three and gave his first recital when he was just seven. The young artist was a fan of classical music. Throughout his career Jarrett has noted the influence of classical composers like J.S. Bach. Jazz became a part of Jarrett's musical world when he was in high school, starting with artists like Dave Brubeck. "Brubeck taught Jarrett about form and structure in jazz, and he could see how it behaved in a similar manner to the classical styles he'd already been mastering," shares Jazz Legends presenter, Eric Ajaye. Keith also became a fan of jazz artists pushing the boundaries, like pianist Paul Bley. When he was 16, Jarrett had the chance to further his classical music studies in Paris with Nadia Boulanger, who taught some of the most famous musicians of the 20th century, from Daniel Barenboim to Quincy Jones. The young pianist pulled out at the last minute and took a different direction. Jarrett "knew that if he really wanted to have an impact as an artist, he'd have to make his own discoveries and forge his own path," says Ajaye. Instead, Jarrett went to New York in 1964 and got his first big break playing Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers. "Blakey wasn't Boulanger. Instead of teaching harmony and form he simply built bands around the energy of his youthful musicians," Ajaye says. From there, Jarrett's work spans the who's who of jazz. He worked with musicians at the top of their game like Charles Lloyd and Miles Davis, as well as producers including George Avakian who worked with artists from Louis Armstrong to Edith Piaf, and Manfred Eicher, founder of the renowned ECM record label. Ajaye credits Davis as the first person to encourage Jarrett to perform solo. Davis's trumpet improvisations would also have a significant on Jarrett's future solo style. "Both rely on extreme discipline and command of instruments and audiences, but both also required the daring to know when to abandon technique and simply play on impulse," Ajaye says. That daring would go on to help create the biggest-selling solo jazz album of all time. The events that lead up to the Köln Concert hardly seem the right mix to create a record that would go on to sell over 4 million copies. But somehow it became a career-defining performance. "This is a gig where everything went wrong, but the music still carried the day," says Ajaye. 18-year-old concert promoter Vera Brandes invited Jarrett to perform the first-ever jazz concert in the Cologne Opera House. The pianist arrived in the city in the late afternoon after an arduous car trip from Zurich. Jarrett had been suffering from chronic back pain and turned up at the venue in a back brace to help him manage it. Instead of the full-size concert grand piano Jarrett had requested, the venue provided a baby grand from a rehearsal room that was in poor shape. It was out of tune, the sound quality wasn't great, and the pedals weren't working. Jarrett already had a reputation for being demanding, but somehow Brandes and Eicher convinced him to go ahead with the sold-out concert, and to keep the recording engineers around to document the performance. Jarrett and Eicher left for dinner while the piano technicians to tried to make the instrument playable. After a missed meal thanks to a restaurant error, at the very late starting time of 11:30pm, Jarrett started the performance that would go on to make history. In the Köln concert, "Jarrett produced one of the most profound improvised concerts of his career," says Ajaye. The pianist took the confines of the "shoddy" instrument and worked around them or even using them to his advantage, "drumming up improvised rhythms on the noisy pedals and using the tinny upper registers to create new texture." "Jarrett was able to find some sort of magic within the confines of that old piano producing a brilliant performance full of lyrical melodic moments all on the fly," Ajaye says. Australian jazz pianist Matt McMahon agrees. "I think in a strange way, what happened with the Köln concert, and this piano that was subpar, is it really clarified his playing," he shares with The Music Show's Andrew Ford. Like much of Jarrett's work, The Köln Concert encompasses sounds that echoed then-familiar American musical traditions, like blues and gospel. McMahon believes this might be a part of the album's success. He suggests that "even though from second to second, no one knows exactly where this is going next," the sounds of familiar genres help the audience feel more comfortable with the uncertainty. Jarrett was already popular by the time of the Köln concert, but the success of the recording really put him on the map. His career continued to grow with solo and group performances and an enduring, fruitful relationship with ECM. His output spanned classical composers like Bach and Shostakovich, as well as his original work. Following disruptions to his career from back pain and chronic fatigue, in 2018 Jarrett had a series of strokes that caused some paralysis. After rehabilitation, Jarrett regained enough mobility to play piano with his right hand, but "we may never see the master perform a live concert again," says Ajaye. However, Jarrett's incredible influence on jazz is still being felt today. "Keith Jarrett will forever be remembered for the way he elevated not just the piano but also jazz as a whole, taking the art of improvisation to places where it hadn't gone before," says Ajaye.
Yahoo
a day ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
🚨 Amid exit rumours: double contract extension at Köln
Just yesterday, there were reports about a major multi-million offer for Cologne talent Saïd El Mala, but now the 18-year-old attacking player himself is putting a stop to these rumors! Both he and his older brother Malek are extending their contracts with the Billy Goats. 1. FC Köln announced this this morning, among other places, on its social media channels. According to the club, both brothers have extended their contracts with FC early until 2030. This should put an end to any early departure this summer, especially for Saïd El Mala, to the Premier League. This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇩🇪 here. 📸 Selim Sudheimer - 2025 Getty Images
Reuters
3 days ago
- Business
- Reuters
Low water hinders Rhine river shipping in Germany despite rain
HAMBURG, July 17 (Reuters) - Low water levels following dry weather continue to hamper Rhine river cargo shipping in Germany, with rain in past days causing only a moderate rise in water levels, commodity traders said on Thursday. Low water is hampering shipping on all the river south of Duisburg and Cologne, including the chokepoint of Kaub. Cargo vessels are generally only able to sail about half full. But freight is still being delivered, with loads being carried by several vessels instead of one, traders said. The volumes vessels can load have risen slightly, traders said. Shallow water means vessel operators impose surcharges on freight rates to compensate for vessels not sailing fully loaded, increasing costs for cargo owners. Some rain is forecast in river catchment areas in the next week, which could at least prevent a further fall in water levels, traders said. The Rhine is an important shipping route for commodities such as grains, minerals, ores, coal and oil products, including heating oil. German companies faced supply bottlenecks and production problems in summer 2022 after a drought and heat wave led to unusually low water levels on the Rhine.
News.com.au
4 days ago
- News.com.au
1500 tarantulas hidden inside biscuit boxes caught at German airport
Officials were left 'speechless' when they discovered about 1500 young tarantulas hidden in biscuit boxes shipped to an airport in Germany. Customs officials released photos of the spiders in tiny plastic containers on Monday after making the discovery three weeks ago when the packages arrived at Cologne Bonn Airport. The officials said there was a 'noticeable smell' coming from the 7kg of confectionery boxes. 'My colleagues at the airport are regularly surprised by the contents of prohibited packages from all over the world, but the fact that they found around 1500 small plastic containers containing young tarantulas in this package left even the most experienced among them speechless,' Cologne customs office spokesperson Jens Ahland said in a statement. 'An extraordinary seizure for German Customs, even though it saddens us to see what some people do to animals purely for profit.' The packages came from Vietnam and were due to be delivered to an address in Sauerland, northwestern Germany. While the tarantulas were believed to have been shipped alive, violating animal welfare laws, 'many' died in transit. The remaining spiders were said to have been put in professional care. The Cologne customs office said criminal proceedings were underway against the recipient of the packages. It said animals of any kind must be declared to customs and that import duties need to be paid on parcels sent from a non-EU member state. Last year, a Korean man was arrested for allegedly trying to smuggle more than 300 tarantulas out of Peru by strapping them to his body. Authorities had thought the 28-year-old foreigner's stomach 'looked swollen' when passing through security at Jorge Chávez International Airport on November 8, 2024. They found two belts holding small plastic containers and Ziploc bags with 320 tarantulas, 110 centipedes and nine bullet ants, according to Peru's forestry and wildlife service, SERFOR. SERFOR said the young man was planning to fly to Korea via France before he was arrested by police.
CTV News
4 days ago
- Health
- CTV News
Calgary woman diagnosed with severe breast cancer raising money in hopes of extending life
Donna Ouellette believes a treatment, only available in Germany, will be able to extend her life to spend as much time as she can with her family, including her grandson Phoenix. (Supplied) A Calgary woman diagnosed with Stage 4 breast cancer is turning to what she says is her final option to extend her life. In October 2016, Donna Ouellette was diagnosed with Stage 3 metastatic Triple-Negative Breast Cancer (mTNBC). 'When I got my diagnosed, it was like I had no emotions whatsoever,' Ouellette said. She began chemotherapy in January 2017, which she continued for eight years. But her cancer spread after her diagnosis into her liver, lungs and paratracheal lymph nodes. In April, she stopped chemotherapy. 'There's no chemotherapies left for me, so I am dying,' Ouellette said. 'Things are just not good.' 'My only option at this point to do is an immunotherapy that is custom with all my DNA to either kill the cancer cells that are there or give me the opportunity to have further years with my family.' So Ouellette and her family are trying to raise $200,000 to seek treatment at the Immun-Onkologisches Zentrum Köln (IOZK) facility in Cologne, Germany. 'If we're able to raise the money for my mom, that would mean the world to me and to my family,' said Donna's daughter, Nevada Ouellette. Dr. Stefaan Van Gool, who is on the IOZK staff, has worked as a pediatric oncologist and neurologist. He's now in immunotherapy. He describes mTNBC has one of the more aggressive forms of breast cancer. 'It has the capacity to metastasize at several locations in the body,' Van Gool said. 'Stage 4 is when the tumor spreads the most.' 'I'm not ready to die' According to Van Gool, the IOZK treatment would aim to strengthen and activate Ouellette's immune system, should she seek immunotherapy help at the facility. 'We have the approval to produce these autologous dendritic cell vaccines as advance therapy, medicine products for use in the patient so we can try to vaccinate this patient with her cells against her cancer,' said Van Gool. He says the site is able to offer the special type of treatment due to legislation and regulations. There is no guarantee the treatment would work, but Van Gool says there is chance. 'I'm not ready to die,' Ouellette told CTV News. She wants to be around longer to watch her grandchild, Phoenix, grow up. Nevada, who is Phoenix's mom, couldn't agree more. 'My mom has given her whole life to kids,' she said. 'She was everybody's mom growing up.' 'Now I'm just pleading for her to have this opportunity so she can enjoy the good things in life.'
