The potential of the jazz record

It is often said there is no jazz without the record, or that the history of jazz is in fact the story of recordings. Such positions always recall the limits of the record, compared to the live experience. And yet, for many listeners, the most important jazz experience is that of hearing records, no matter what form. Peter Elsdon focuses on the example of a single artist, Keith Jarrett, to investigate the potential of the record in jazz and to show how records can give us an understanding of the different aesthetic conditions of this music. Concerning the album The Cologne Concert, Elsdon specifically examines the extent to which a record can be heard in different ways by the listeners, and how debates about aesthetics and musical value are often responsible for how we listen to music