In 1975, Vera Brandes, then an 18-year-old student and part-time promoter, organized a concert for Keith Jarrett In Cologne, a recording became “Cologne concert”, the best-selling solo jazz album ever.
Half a century later, director Ido Flucked Is in Berlin premiere “Cologne 75” about the woman behind this monumental moment in jazz history. One who, ironically, Jarrett has no desire to revive. Flucker speaks to Amount About the fun movie – with John Magaro, recently seen in “September 5”, like Keith Jarrett and rising German star Mala Emde as Vera Brandes – and why it was important “to give Vera attention, the limelight she deserves.”
How to sprout the project?
I read a story somewhere where Vera was mentioned. And I was like: “It’s a little interesting: she really made this happen, and she doesn’t get much attention for it.” I thought it would make a really interesting movie. And I went and I showed a few more pages (Oscar-nominated screenwriter, director and Emmy-award-winning filmmaker-producer) Oren Moverman, who is like my personal protector, and produced my last film, “The Ticket.” And he said, “Huh, it’s a bit cool.” He has a background in music films with the Beach Boys movie and Cate Blanchett, Bob Dylan thing (Todd Haynes-directed “I’m Not There”) and he sent it to Sol Bondy in Germany. Then sun went and found Vera on a beach in Greece. And she sat there waiting for someone to tell her story. We realized that it is the perfect underdog story, about this woman who really changed music and she has never received any credit.
Have you been in contact with Keith Jarrett and his camp in this project?
Well, when I wrote the script we were enough. They did not want to be involved in this. They did not want to give Vera credit. But Keith has a brother, his name is Chris Jarrett. And he was involved in the translation of Keith’s last biography. He read the script and emailed back: “This is exactly what my brother says.” I was like: “Ok, good.” We continued to update that camp without hearing anything. By the way, I understand how Keith feels, I mean how I guess he feels. This is his “creep”. His radio heads ‘crawl’. The song they can’t stand and play anymore. So I understand where his camp comes from. At the same time, I think they should be more generous when it comes to giving Vera attention, the limelight that she deserves, which is what we do here.
How did you handle the fact that you did not have the right to Jarrett’s music?
Well, first and foremost it is a movie about the seventies in Cologne, which was an incredible time in music history. You have bands like Can and Neu!. You have bands like Kraftwerk. You have so many things. Bowie and Iggy (POP) and these guys are moving to Berlin. It is such a legacy of both political action and musical development. For me, it was the scene. Vera Brandes was a jazzimpressario, but she was surrounded by all these new music styles. Then of course we had to find a way to show off Keith’s music. So, for example, when we see Keith playing his first concert in Berlin, there is a piece that Keith used to play by Gurdžiev, who was, like a mysterious philosopher but also wrote music. And Keith actually released an album with these songs. So it’s a piece that Keith actually played. In a movie you can still only have 20 seconds of one piece about music, not the whole thing. So for me, as a filmmaker, the best thing you can do is that when you get out of the cinema you put the “Cologne Concert” record on, and you listen to it in its entirety. I think that’s what Keith also wants.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
