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Rolf & Joachim Kühn


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Has anyone picked this one up? It was apparently supposed to be a release on Atlantic, but never materialized at the time. Now Polystar Japan has released it. I'm interested, though the price is fairly steep (2415¥), and wanted to check in here first.

Are you sure this is EAST Berlin? The last GDR (Mitweida) concert by Joachim -- sans Rolf -- was in May 1966, he left the GDR through Vienna one week later. Rolf was a welcome guest from Hamburg (West Germany) before that time, but seeing that his seminal Solarius album on the GDR Amiga Jazz label (1964/5) was pretty much boycotted after Joachim went over, I can hardly imagine the two of them performing in East Berlin in 1966.

Leafing through some books, I see there was a "Jazz in der Kammer" (E-Berlin) concert by the Kühn brothers on 31 January 1966. Maybe this is it?

Do you have any more details on the personnel?

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Do you have any more details on the personnel?

Rolf Kühn(cl)

Joachim Kühn(p)

Klaus Koch(b)

Reinhard Schwartz(ds)

that's the Joachim Kühn Trio of the time with Rolf added, which fits the "Jazz in der Kammer" description I have

pity I have no track list of that concert. This is for the CD you describe:

1.Golem

2.Chiarescuro

3.Don't Run

4.Flowers In The Dark

5.The Sound Of Cats

6.Turning Point

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Unfortunately, I'm going to take a raincheck on this one for now, and not put an order in. Not because it's not likely good — it seems very interesting — but because funds are not looking up right now. I allowed myself "one more" (yeah, we've all said that) for a period of time, and instead went with the (also East German) Focus Jazz: More Music from the Wewerka Vaults. Cheaper, and with a diversity of musicians from the same geographical area and time period.

I'll still be interested to read a review if anyone here decides to pick it up. (Watch, the review will rave, and then I'll "have" to buy it. But it will have already gone out of print in Japan ... )

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I allowed myself "one more" (yeah, we've all said that) for a period of time, and instead went with the (also East German) Focus Jazz: More Music from the Wewerka Vaults. Cheaper, and with a diversity of musicians from the same geographical area and time period.

Now please ... Focus Jazz is most definitely NOT to be equaled with East Germany! The jazzmen featured on this one are mostly from Austria and Czechoslovakia; Dusko Goykovich was originally from Yugoslavia (and made it to Newport in '58 with the ill-fated International Youth Band) but was a mainstay of the WEST German jazz scene for a long time.

A minor difference from the Stateside point of view maybe, but it made ALL the difference to everyone involved in the countries right here ... ;)

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  • 3 weeks later...

Listening to this as I type and it's damn good! As ep1str0phy writes above, the music is extremely directed: it goes wham-bam right through the middle with lots of drive and energy.

The liner notes mention that the Joachim Kühn Trio + Rolf had been touring and playing larger venues in the GDR (because Rolf was such a famous guy, remember he won the Downbeat award in 1962). Joachim considers this music the best his trio + Rolf have played during that period. When he left through Austria, he took a copy of the tapes along and sent it to Nesuhi Ertegun who really liked it and wanted to release it on Atlantic. They then played the Newport Festival in 1967, however, where Thiele offered to record them for Impulse!, which resulted in the "Impressions of New York" album. Ertegun considered two albums to be too much for the market and the Atlantic project was canned.

Rolf is a strong player who has no problems keeping up with the exuberant ideas of his brother and Koch, the bassist. Technically, Schwartz may not be the best drummer, but he is very free and very supportive. Seems he has some big ears and lots of experience playing with this group.

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  • 2 months later...

I dunno. Rolf and Joachim have always managed to get away with (if not from) lackluster rhythm men. Can't speak for this session, but most of their albums (that I've heard) have been extremely directed.

Have you not heard Joachim's trio featuring Daniel Humair and J.F. Jenny-Clark? I have two and both display an especially tight and ferocious rhythm section imho. Daniel Humair is a drummer of tremendous talent.

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I have the Impulse recording and it is indeed impressive. I will have to keep my eye open for this one.

kellaway, hell yes!

Uh? (Maybe I'm missing something.)

The line-up for the Kühn Impulse! date is:

Rolf Kühn: clarinet

Joachim Kühn: piano

Jimmy Garrison: bass

Aldo Romano: drums

Impressions of New York

recorded 1967

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I have the Impulse recording and it is indeed impressive. I will have to keep my eye open for this one.

kellaway, hell yes!

Uh? (Maybe I'm missing something.)

The line-up for the Kühn Impulse! date is:

Rolf Kühn: clarinet

Joachim Kühn: piano

Jimmy Garrison: bass

Aldo Romano: drums

Impressions of New York

(recorded 1967

of course-was thinking of kellaway's impressions of red square on angel. hasnt there ever been a 2 piano quartet? and joachim is one of my fav pianists!

(Kellaway has had an impressive career, including recording with two Soviet defectors, Boris Midney and Igor Berukshtis, on the under-appreciated Russian Jazz Quartet’s Happiness.)

Edited by alocispepraluger102
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