Joachim Kurt Kühn (born 15 March 1944) is a German jazz pianist.

Biography

He was born in

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as wel ...

, Germany. Kühn was a musical prodigy and made his debut as a concert pianist, having studied classical piano and composition, with Arthur Schmidt-Elsey. Influenced by his elder brother, clarinetist

Rolf Kühn Rolf Kühn (29 September 1929 – 18 August 2022) was a German jazz clarinetist and saxophonist. He was the older brother of the pianist Joachim Kühn. He lived in the United States from 1956 to 1959. John Hammond favourably compared him with ...

, he simultaneously got interested in jazz. In 1961, he became a professional jazz musician. With a trio of his own, founded in 1964, he presented the first free jazz in the

GDR East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...

. 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 James Emory Garrison (March 3, 1934 – April 7, 1976) was an American jazz double bassist. He is best remembered for his association with John Coltrane from 1961 to 1967. Career Garrison was raised in both Miami and Philadelphia where he l ...

and

Aldo Romano Aldo Romano (born 16 January 1941) is an Italian jazz drummer. He also founded a rock group in 1971. Biography He was born in Belluno, Italy. Romano moved to France as a child and by the 1950s he was playing guitar and drums professionally in P ...

for

Impulse! Impulse! Records (occasionally styled as "¡mpulse! Records" and "¡!") is an American jazz record company and label established by Creed Taylor in 1960. John Coltrane was among Impulse!'s earliest signings. Thanks to consistent sales and positiv ...

. Kühn has largely lived in Paris since 1968, and worked with Don Cherry, Karl Berger,

Slide Hampton Locksley Wellington Hampton (April 21, 1932 – November 18, 2021) was an American jazz trombonist, composer and arranger. As his nickname implies, Hampton's main instrument was slide trombone, but he also occasionally played tuba and flugelho ...

, Phil Woods,

Michel Portal Michel Portal (born 27 November 1935) is a French composer, saxophonist, and clarinetist. He plays both jazz and classical music and is considered to be "one of the architects of modern European jazz". Early life Portal was born in Bayonne on ...

Barre Phillips Barre Phillips (born October 27, 1934, in San Francisco, California, United States) is an American jazz bassist. A professional musician since 1960, he moved to New York City in 1962, then to Europe in 1967. Since 1972, he has been based in south ...

Eje Thelin Eje Thelin (born Eilert Ove Thelin) (June 9, 1938 – May 18, 1990) was a Swedish trombonist. Thelin led his own quintet in 1961. From 1968 to 1972, he was on the faculty of the Music Academy in Graz, Austria. For the rest of the 1970s, he led hi ...

, Ray Lema, Hellmut Hattler, and Jean-Luc Ponty. As a member of

Pierre Courbois Pierre Courbois (born 23 April 1940 in Nijmegen, Netherlands) is a Dutch jazz drummer, bandleader, and composer. Career After studying percussion at the ''Hogeschool der Kunsten'' in Arnhem, Courbois left for Paris, the center of jazz in Europ ...

'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 Jean-François "J.F." Jenny-Clark (12 July 1944 in Toulouse, France – 6 October 1998 in Paris) was a French double bass player. He was estimated as one of the most important bass players of European jazz. Allmusic credits/ref> Together with drum ...

and

Daniel Humair Daniel Humair (born 23 May 1938 in Geneva, Switzerland) is a Swiss drummer, composer, and painter. He is widely renowned and became a Chevalier of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in 1986 and Officier in 1992. He has played with many jazz p ...

since 1985. In the summer of 1996, he joined

Ornette Coleman Randolph Denard Ornette Coleman (March 9, 1930 – June 11, 2015) was an American jazz saxophonist, violinist, trumpeter, and composer known as a principal founder of the free jazz genre, a term derived from his 1960 album '' Free Jazz: A Colle ...

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

As sideman

Gary Bartz Gary Bartz (born September 26, 1940) is an American jazz saxophonist. He has won two Grammy Awards. Biography Bartz studied at the Juilliard School. In the early 1960s, he performed with Eric Dolphy and McCoy Tyner in Charles Mingus' Jazz Works ...

Lee Konitz Leon Konitz (October 13, 1927 – April 15, 2020) was an American composer and alto saxophonist. He performed successfully in a wide range of jazz styles, including bebop, cool jazz, and avant-garde jazz. Konitz's association with the cool jazz ...

, Jackie McLean and Charlie Mariano: '' Altissimo'' (Philips, 1973) * Zbigniew Namyslowski Quartet with Joachim Kühn: ''Live at Kosmos, Berlin'' (ITM, 1965) * The

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. (

) and Jeremy Steig: ''Mama Kuku (Live)'' (BASF/MPS, 1974) *

Zbigniew Seifert Zbigniew Seifert (7 June 1946 – 15 February 1979) was a Polish jazz violinist. Seifert was born in Kraków, Poland. He played alto saxophone early in his career and was influenced by John Coltrane. He devoted himself to jazz violin when he b ...

: ''Man of the Light'' (BASF/MPS, 1976) with

Cecil McBee Cecil McBee (born May 19, 1935) is an American jazz bassist. He has recorded as a leader only a handful of times since the 1970s, but has contributed as a sideman to a number of jazz albums. Biography Early life and career McBee was born in Tu ...

Billy Hart Billy Hart (born November 29, 1940) is an American jazz drummer and educator. He is known internationally for his work with Herbie Hancock's "Mwandishi" band in the early 1970s, as well with Shirley Horn, Stan Getz, and Quest, among others. Bi ...

, and

Jasper van 't Hof Jasper van 't Hof (born 30 June 1947) is a Dutch jazz pianist and keyboard player. Van 't Hof was born in Enschede, Overijssel, Netherlands, and began studying piano at the age of five. He played in jazz bands at school, and by the age of 19 wa ...

Larry Coryell Larry Coryell (born Lorenz Albert Van DeLinder III; April 2, 1943 – February 19, 2017) was an American jazz guitarist. Early life Larry Coryell was born in Galveston, Texas, United States. He never knew his biological father, a musician. He w ...

- Catherine - Kühn: ''Live!'' ( Elektra, 1980) *

Joe Henderson Joe Henderson (April 24, 1937 – June 30, 2001) was an American jazz tenor saxophonist. In a career spanning more than four decades, Henderson played with many of the leading American players of his day and recorded for several prominent l ...

Collective: ''Black Narcissus'' (

Milestone A milestone is a numbered marker placed on a route such as a road, railway line, canal or boundary. They can indicate the distance to towns, cities, and other places or landmarks; or they can give their position on the route relative to so ...

, 1976) * Alan Silva: '' Seasons'' (BYG, 1971)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kühn, Joachim 1944 births Living people Jazz fusion pianists Post-bop pianists Post-bop composers German jazz pianists BYG Actuel artists Atlantic Records artists MPS Records artists ACT Music artists Avant-garde jazz pianists Avant-garde jazz composers 21st-century pianists European Jazz Ensemble members Label Bleu artists EmArcy Records artists