I’ll never forget the first time I heard Keith Jarrett, in Japan. In 1973. In a tiny, smoky, crowded sushi bar/jazz club in Tokyo’s Shinjuku district, drinking hot sake, transported to a new understanding of music. The realization that a human being could improvise such transcendent music was a huge inspiration, a door opening to a new universe of possibilities. That night we listened to the entire vinyl recording of Facing You and it changed my life.

The Köln Concert was released two years later in 1975, and it remains one of the pinnacles of Jarrett’s live improvised work, with moments so beautiful they’re not of this earth. This YouTube recording is the full album, in high resolution.