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

Biography

Kühn was born in

Leipzig Leipzig (, ; ; Upper Saxon: ; ) is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Saxony. The city has a population of 628,718 inhabitants as of 2023. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, eighth-largest city in Ge ...

, Germany. He 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, he simultaneously grew 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. In 1966, he left the country and settled in Hamburg. Together with his brother, he played at the

Newport Jazz Festival The Newport Jazz Festival is an annual American multi-day jazz music festival held every summer in Newport, Rhode Island. Elaine Lorillard established the festival in 1954, and she and husband Louis Lorillard financed it for many years. They hire ...

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

, Phil Woods, Michel Portal,

Barre Phillips Barre Phillips (October 27, 1934 – December 28, 2024) was an American jazz double bass, bassist. A professional musician since 1960, he moved to New York City in 1962, then to Europe in 1967. From 1972 he was based in southern France, where in ...

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, Ray Lema,

Hellmut Hattler Hellmut Hattler (born 12 April 1952 in Ulm, West Germany) is a German jazz and rock bassist and composer. Hattler took much of his early influences from Jimi Hendrix. As a child, he received violin lessons, and in the 1960s, he played guitar. ...

, and

Jean-Luc Ponty Jean-Luc Ponty (born 29 September 1942) is a French jazz and jazz fusion violinist and composer. He is considered a pioneer of jazz-rock, particularly for his use of the electric violin starting in the 1970s. He rose to prominence for his colla ...

. 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,

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, and Eddie Gómez. Having settled near

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

again, he played in an acoustic trio with Jean-François Jenny-Clark and

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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, trumpeter, violinist, and composer. He is best known as a principal founder of the free jazz genre, a term derived from his 1960 album '' Free Ja ...

for two concerts at the

Verona Verona ( ; ; or ) is a city on the Adige, River Adige in Veneto, Italy, with 255,131 inhabitants. It is one of the seven provincial capitals of the region, and is the largest city Comune, municipality in the region and in Northeast Italy, nor ...

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,

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

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and

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: '' 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 Randal Edward Brecker (born November 27, 1945) is an American trumpeter, flugelhornist, and composer. His versatility has made him a popular studio musician who has recorded with acts in jazz, rock music, rock, and R&B. Early life Brecker was ...

* Association P.C. ( Pierre Courbois) and

Jeremy Steig Jeremy Steig (September 23, 1942 – April 13, 2016)Peter Keepnews, "Jeremy ...

: ''Mama Kuku (Live)'' (BASF/MPS, 1974) * Zbigniew Seifert: ''Man of the Light'' (BASF/MPS, 1976) with

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, and Jasper van 't Hof *

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

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Collective: ''Black Narcissus'' (

Milestone A milestone is a numbered marker placed on a route such as a road, railway, railway line, canal or border, boundary. They can indicate the distance to towns, cities, and other places or landmarks like Mileage sign, mileage signs; or they c ...

, 1976) * Alan Silva: ''

Seasons A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's axial tilt, tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperat ...

'' (BYG, 1971) ☆"Jan Akkerman" , EA1977

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 German pianists European Jazz Ensemble members Label Bleu artists EmArcy Records artists