KÖLN 75

Keith Jarrett’s The Köln Concert is the best-selling solo album in jazz history — a live recording of his extraordinary January 24, 1975, performance at the Cologne Opera House. Earlier this year, the album was inducted into the Library of Congress’s National Recording Registry, cementing its place as one of the most iconic moments in modern music.

In KÖLN 75, filmmaker Ido Fluk turns the familiar music-biopic formula on its head, reframing the story through the eyes of Vera Brandes, the 18-year-old promoter who made the concert happen. With a spirit that owes more to punk rock than free jazz, Brandes is brought vividly to life by Mala Emde, while John Magaro delivers a mesmerizing portrayal of the mercurial Jarrett.

You don’t have to be a jazz aficionado to love this film. KÖLN 75 is a vibrant, unconventional look at creativity, youth, and artistic risk — and anyone who appreciates original arthouse cinema will find something to connect with here.

Join us for our conversation with filmmaker Ido Fluk, on Inside the Arthouse — starting now.

Keith Jarrett’s legendary performance in January 1975 nearly didn’t happen. Based on a true story, KÖLN 75 follows how the concert was conceived and orchestrated by the efforts of a teenage up and coming concert promoter, Vera Brandes, (played by German actress Mala Emde). Her enthusiasm set her to multitasking – from organizing the concert venue (the Cologne Opera House), promoting the event, and selling the tickets, to convincing Jarrett to perform when he almost dropped out 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 unstoppable Vera.

KÖLN 75 captures the compelling, entertaining and, until now, unknown back story about Jarrett’s one-hour, entirely improvised concert, which became the best-selling solo album in jazz history.