It has been 30 years since Keith Jarrett released The Koln Concert, a recording of solo piano improvisations that has sold over 3 million copies — far more than most jazz records.
It was a breakthrough for the 60-year-old pianist and composer, who studied classical music in his youth and got his start playing jazz with Art Blakey, Charles Lloyd and Miles Davis. After the success of Koln, Jarrett began doing regular solo concerts.
But in the late 1990s, a battle with chronic fatigue syndrome forced him to rest at his home in rural New Jersey. Last September, the pianist performed at Carnegie Hall. The concert became a two-CD set.
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