German jazz pianist
Musical artist
Joachim Kühn in March 2010
Joachim Kurt Kühn (born 15 March 1944)[ 1] is a German jazz pianist.
Biography
He was born in Leipzig , Germany.[ 1] Kühn was a musical prodigy and made his debut as a concert pianist, having studied classical piano and composition,[ 1] with Arthur Schmidt-Elsey. Influenced by his elder brother, clarinetist Rolf Kühn , he simultaneously got interested in jazz. In 1961, he became a professional jazz musician.[ 1] With a trio of his own, founded in 1964,[ 2] he presented the first free jazz in the GDR . In 1966, he left the country and settled in Hamburg. Together with his brother, he played at the Newport Jazz Festival and recorded with Jimmy Garrison and Aldo Romano for Impulse! .
Kühn has largely lived in Paris since 1968, and worked with Don Cherry , Karl Berger , Slide Hampton , Phil Woods , Michel Portal , Barre Phillips , Eje Thelin , Ray Lema , Hellmut Hattler , and Jean-Luc Ponty .[ 3] As a member of Pierre Courbois 's Association P.C. , he turned to electronic keyboards. During the second half of the 1970s, he lived in California and joined the West Coast fusion scene and recorded with Alphonse Mouzon , Billy Cobham , Michael Brecker , and Eddie Gómez .
Having settled near Paris again, he played in an acoustic trio with Jean-François Jenny-Clark and Daniel Humair since 1985. In the summer of 1996, he joined Ornette Coleman [ 2] for two concerts at the Verona and Leipzig festivals, which opened the way for his Diminished Augmented System . In 2015 he formed the New Joachim Kühn Trio with Chris Jennings and Eric Schaefer.
Discography
As leader/co-leader
Year recorded
Title
Label
Notes
1967
Impressions of New York
Impulse!
Quartet, with Rolf Kühn (clarinet), Jimmy Garrison (bass), Aldo Romano (drums)[ 4]
1969?
Sound of Feelings
BYG Actuel
Trio, with Jean-François Jenny-Clark and Aldo Romano
1969?
Paris Is Wonderful
Byg Actuel
Trio, with Jean-François Jenny-Clark and Aldo Romano
1973?
This Way Out
BASF/MPS
with Gerd Dudek , Peter Warren , Daniel Humair
1974
Cinemascope
1975?
Hip Elegy
MPS
with Terumasa Hino , Philip Catherine , John Lee , Naná Vasconcelos , Alphonse Mouzon
1976?
Solo Now
with Albert Mangelsdorff , Gunter Hampel , Pierre Favre
1976
Springfever
Atlantic
Most tracks quartet, with Philip Catherine (guitar), John Lee (bass), Gerry Brown (drums); one track with Zbigniew Seifert (violin), Curt Cress (drums) added[ 5]
1977?
Charisma
Atlantic
Solo piano
1978
Sunshower
Atlantic
With Jan Akkerman and Ray Gomez (guitar), Tony Newton (electric bass, piccolo bass), Glenn Symmonds (drums), Willie Dee (vocals)[ 6] [ 7]
1979
Kiel/Stuttgart Live!
Inak
Duo, with Jan Akkerman (guitar, electric guitar, synthesizer); in concert[ 8]
1980?
Snow in the Desert
Atlantic
Solo piano
1981
Nightline New York
Inak
With Michael Brecker and Bob Mintzer (tenor sax), Eddie Gómez , Billy Hart (drums), Mark Nauseef (percussion)[ 8]
1983
I'm Not Dreaming
CMP
With George Lewis (trombone), Ottomar Borwitzky (cello), Mark Nauseef (piccolo, tenor sax, percussion), Herbert Forsch (percussion)[ 8]
1984
Distance
CMP
Solo piano[ 8]
1985
Transformations
CMP
Solo piano; also known as Wandlungen [ 8]
1985
Easy to Read
Owl
Trio, with Jean-François Jenny-Clark (bass), Daniel Humair (drums)[ 9]
1988
From Time to Time Free
CMP
Trio, with Jean-François Jenny-Clark (bass), Daniel Humair (drums)[ 8]
1988
Ambiance
Ambiance
Duo, with Walter Quintus (digital sound-board)[ 8]
1988?
Situations
Atlantic
Solo piano
1989
Live: Théâtre De La Ville, Paris, 1989
CMP
Trio, with Jean-François Jenny-Clark and Daniel Humair ; in concert[ 10]
1990?
Dynamics
CMP
Solo piano
1990
Let's Be Generous
CMP
With Miroslav Tadic (guitar), Tony Newton (bass), Mark Nauseef (drums, percussion)[ 8]
1991
Get Up Early
Ambiance
Duo, with Walter Quintus (digital sound-board)[ 8]
1991
Carambolage
CMP
With the WDR Big Band[ 10]
1991–92
Sometime Ago
New Edition
With Harry Beckett (trumpet, flugelhorn), Jerry Bergonzi (tenor sax), Jean-François Jenny-Clark and Jesper Lundgaard (bass), Thomas Alkier (drums); released 2006[ 9]
1993?
Usual Confusion
Trio, with Jean-François Jenny-Clark and Daniel Humair
1994?
Joachim Kühn Plays Lili Marleen
Solo piano
1994
Europeana
ACT
With Radio Philharmonie Hannover NDR[ 11]
1987–95
Joachim Kühn Birthday Edition / Europeana
ACT
Some tracks trio, with Jean-François Jenny-Clark (bass), Daniel Humair (drums); in concert; other tracks released on Europeana ; released 2014[ 12]
1995
Famous Melodies
Label Bleu
Solo piano[ 9]
1995?
Abstracts
Label Bleu
Solo piano[ 13]
1996
Colors: Live from Leipzig
Harmolodic/Verve
Duo, with Ornette Coleman (alto sax, trumpet, violin); in concert
1997?
Generations from (East) Germany
KlangRäume
Duo, with Connie Bauer
1998?
Triple Entente
Mercury/PolyGram France
Trio, with Jean-François Jenny-Clark and Daniel Humair
1999
The Diminished Augmented System
EmArcy
Solo piano[ 9]
2001?
Universal Time
with Chris Potter , Scott Colley , Horacio 'El Negro' Hernandez , Michel Portal
2002?
Bach Now - Live
with Thomanerchor
2003
Piano Works I: Allegro Vivace
ACT
Solo piano[ 9]
2004
Poison
In + Out
Trio, with Jean-Paul Celea (bass), Wolfgang Reisinger (drums)[ 9]
2005?
Journey to the Centre of an Egg
Enja
with Rabih Abou-Khalil , Jarrod Cagwin
2006
Kalimba
ACT
Trio, with Majid Bekkas (guembri, oud, kalimba, vocals), Ramón López (drums)[ 14] [ 15]
2008
Piano Works IX: Live at Schloss Elmau
ACT
Duo, with Michael Wollny (piano); in concert[ 16]
2008
Out of the Desert
ACT
With Majid Bekkas (vocals, guembri, kalimba, molo), Ramón López (drums, tabla), guests[ 17]
2010
Chalaba
ACT
Trio, with Majid Bekkas (vocals, guembri, oud), Ramón López (drums, tabla, percussion)[ 18]
2010
Out of the Desert Live
ACT
With Majid Bekkas (vocals, guembri, oud), Ramón López (drums, tabla, percussion), hr-Bigband / Frankfurt Radio Bigband; in concert[ 19]
2011?
Wo!man
Archie Ball
Duo, with Archie Shepp
2011–12
Voodoo Sense
ACT
With Majid Bekkas (guembri, vocals, kalimba, balafon), Ramón López (drums, percussion); with Archie Shepp (tenor sax), Kouassi Bessan Joseph and Gouria Danielle (percussion, vocals), Dally Jean Eric (calabas), Gilles Ahadji (jembe), Abdessadek Bounhar (karkabou) added on some tracks[ 20]
2012?
Lifeline
Boutique
with Rolf Kühn, John Patitucci , Brian Blade [ 21]
2014?
Moscow
ACT
Duo, with Alexey Kruglov (alto sax)[ 22]
2015
Beauty and Truth
ACT
Trio, with Chris Jennings (bass), Eric Schaefer (drums)[ 23]
2017
Love & Peace
ACT
Trio, with Chris Jennings (bass), Eric Schaefer (drums)[ 24]
2018
Piano Works XIII: Melodic Ornette Coleman
ACT
Solo piano[ 25]
2020
Speaking Sound
ACT
Duo with violinist Mateusz Smoczyński [ 26]
2021
Touch the Light
ACT
Solo piano[ 27]
As sideman
Gary Bartz , Lee Konitz , Jackie McLean and Charlie Mariano : Altissimo (Philips, 1973)
Zbigniew Namyslowski Quartet with Joachim Kühn: Live at Kosmos, Berlin (ITM, 1965)
The Rolf Kühn Group: The Day After (BASF/MPS, 1972) featuring Phil Woods
The Rolf Kühn Group: Connection 74 (BASF/MPS, 1974) featuring Randy Brecker
Association P.C. (Pierre Courbois ) and Jeremy Steig : Mama Kuku (Live) (BASF/MPS, 1974)
Zbigniew Seifert : Man of the Light (BASF/MPS, 1976) with Cecil McBee , Billy Hart , and Jasper van 't Hof
Larry Coryell - Catherine - Kühn: Live! (Elektra , 1980)
Joe Henderson Collective: Black Narcissus (Milestone , 1976)
Alan Silva : Seasons (BYG, 1971)
References
^ a b c d Colin Larkin , ed. (1992). The Guinness Who's Who of Jazz (First ed.). Guinness Publishing . p. 247. ISBN 0-85112-580-8 .
^ a b Kelsey, Chris. "Biography: Joachim Kühn" . AllMusic . Retrieved 8 June 2010 .
^ "Joachim Kühn Biography" . Oldies.com . Retrieved 2017-09-07 .
^ "Impulse! Records Catalog: 9100 Series" . jazzdisco.org . Retrieved 8 February 2019 .
^ "Atlantic Records Discography: 1976" . jazzdisco.org . Retrieved 8 February 2019 .
^ Jurek, Thom. "Joachim Kühn: Sunshower" . AllMusic . Retrieved 8 February 2019 .
^ "Atlantic Records Discography: 1978" . jazzdisco.org . Retrieved 8 February 2019 .
^ a b c d e f g h i Cook, Richard ; Morton, Brian (1992). The Penguin Guide to Jazz on CD, LP & Cassette (1st ed.). Penguin . pp. 637–638. ISBN 978-0-14-015364-4 .
^ a b c d e f Cook, Richard ; Morton, Brian (2008). The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings (9th ed.). Penguin . pp. 850–851. ISBN 978-0-141-03401-0 .
^ a b Cook, Richard ; Morton, Brian (1996). The Penguin Guide to Jazz on CD (3rd ed.). Penguin . p. 773. ISBN 978-0-14-051368-4 .
^ "Joachim Kühn: Europeana – SACD" . ACT Music . Retrieved 8 February 2019 .
^ "Joachim Kühn: Joachim Kühn Birthday Edition – 2 CD Set" . ACT Music . Retrieved 8 February 2019 .
^ "LABEL BLEU --- INDIGO --- BLEU ELECTRIC : Artistes" . Archived from the original on 2016-04-02. Retrieved 2014-06-03 .
^ Yanow, Scott. "Majid Bekkas / Joachim Kühn / Ramón López: Kalimba" . AllMusic . Retrieved 8 February 2019 .
^ "Joachim Kühn: Kalimba" . ACT Music . Retrieved 8 February 2019 .
^ Henderson, Alex. "Joachim Kühn / Michael Wollny: Piano Works, Vol. 9: Live at Schloss Elmau" . AllMusic . Retrieved 8 February 2019 .
^ "Joachim Kühn: Out of the Desert" . ACT Music . Retrieved 8 February 2019 .
^ "Joachim Kühn: Chalaba – CD" . ACT Music . Retrieved 8 February 2019 .
^ "Joachim Kühn: Out Of The Desert Live At Jazzfest Berlin – CD" . ACT Music . Retrieved 8 February 2019 .
^ "Joachim Kühn: Voodoo Sense – CD" . ACT Music . Retrieved 8 February 2019 .
^ Hielscher, Hans (2012). "Rolf & Joachim Kühn Quartet: 'Lifeline' ". Kulturspiegel (in German) (4): 36.
^ "Joachim Kühn: Moscow" . ACT Music . Retrieved 8 February 2019 .
^ "Joachim Kühn: Beauty & Truth" . ACT Music . Archived from the original on 1 December 2018. Retrieved 8 February 2019 .
^ "Joachim Kühn: Love & Peace – CD" . ACT Music . Archived from the original on 1 December 2018. Retrieved 8 February 2019 .
^ "Joachim Kühn: Melodic Ornette Coleman – CD" . ACT Music . Retrieved 8 February 2019 .
^ "Speaking Sound – CD - Joachim Kühn" . ACT Music . Retrieved 15 January 2021 .
^ "Joachim Kühn: Touch the Light" . ACT Music .
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