Negative Positive
Title: Technically awe-inspiring but ... too many notes?
Review: It may be sacrilege to criticise the album that broke Jarrett into the jazz bestsellers league, but when I feel in the mood for listening to a Jarrett CD, I almost never pick this one. I love Jarrett's rapid right-hand runs in the group context -- e.g. in 1976's THE SURVIVORS' SUITE, recorded a year after KOLN -- but I find them dizzying in a solo setting.Compare the number of piano key depressions per minute on KOLN with a later work like DARK INTERVALS (1987) or THE MELODY AT NIGHT WITH YOU (recorded in 1999 after suffering the agonies of ME), and you'll likely get a hit rate some four times faster.Yes, I own some New Age CDs by the likes of George Winston and Philip Aaberg, and I rarely listen to those either. Jarrett is streets ahead of both of these, and other jazz imitators like Lyle Mays. But if I want to hear 1970s solo Jarrett, I tend to choose BREMEN LAUSANNE or even wade into SUN BEAR CONCERTS.
Is the review positive or negative? 