“really beautiful, the purity and atmosphere he creates”
“really beautiful, the purity and atmosphere he creates”
This performance follows the triumph of Köln Concert 50, which Ford performed in Cologne in January 2025 on the exact 50th anniversary of the original concert. That anniversary event sold out, drew several audience members from the 1975 performance itself, and received major acclaim in UK and European press. In the year that followed, Ford’s tribute was invited to the Liverpool International Jazz Festival and the Aberdeen Jazz Festival, building on its earlier success at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2024, where critics hailed it as “one of the true glories of the Festival.”
Köln Concert 51 continues this artistic journey — not as a recreation, but as a living improvisational response to a piece that has shaped half a century of musical history.
“Highlight or Liverpool Jazz Festival for me, Dorian Ford’s masterly reinterpretation of Keith Jarrett’s Köln Concert. Intense, gripping and quite beautiful.”
Film by Paul Cox. Dorian Ford interviewed by Breandáin O’Shea for Deutsche Welle. 30 January 2025. Music: Keith Jarrett, Landscape for Future Earth. Performed live in Cologne by Dorian Ford.
01 December 2025
Press release for Köln Concert 51.
Sunday 25 January 2026 at 6.30pm
The Hex Hall For All, Acland Burghley School, London NW5
This performance follows the triumph of Köln Concert 50, which Ford performed in Cologne in January 2025 on the exact anniversary of the original concert; the event sold out, drew audience members from the 1975 performance itself, and received major acclaim in the press. In the months that followed, this important and exciting tribute was staged at the Liverpool International Jazz Festival and the Aberdeen Jazz Festival, building on its earlier success at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2024, where critics hailed it as “one of the true glories of the Festival.”
Köln Concert 51 continues this artistic journey — not as a recreation, but as a living improvisational response to a piece that has shaped half a century of musical history.
03 March 2025
Dorian Ford’s reinterpretation of ECM’s best selling album of all time and the best selling jazz solo album ever was quite stunning in its execution and intensity. He fully channelled the vibe and I felt it. I was totally engrossed from start to finish.
In awe of how someone can play such an intricate jazz meets classical rendition like that with such clarity and nuance. I’m not sure how a piece of music can have so much tension and yet be so beautiful at the same time. Dorian Ford captured just that, impeccably. Those standing ovations said it all. Bravo and thanks Dorian Ford. You nailed it.
Review for Liverpool International Jazz Festival.
29 February 2024
Looking forward to playing this 10 date tour with my UK/Japan trio. The trio features the versatile and sympathetic bass playing of Mao Yamada, and the one of a kind powerhouse that is Yasuhiro Yoshigaki on drums. We’ll pick up where we left off in Tokyo, and visit trusted friends and venues across the two main islands. I’ll also be playing Köln Conversations, my solo tribute to Keith Jarrett, in Tokyo at the start of the tour. For additional support, Kawaii vibes, and distraction, I will be joined by three members of my immediate family, or the girls, as they’re known.