Rolf Kühn obit

RIP Rolf Kühn (1929-2022)

 

He was not on the list.

Here is the official statement from Edel, released today, announcing the death last Thursday 18 August 2022 of a universally respected, admired and liked figure in German jazz, clarinettist Rolf Kühn, at the age of 92. A good friend of LJN, writer/ photographer Ralf Dombrowski posted this photo earlier on his Facebook page with the inscription “Gute Reise und danke für die Musik!” (Have a good journey and thanks for the music.) We will be publishing a full tribute later.

Berlin/Hamburg, Germany August 22, 2022

It is with a heavy heart that wife Melanie Kühn, brother Joachim Kühn, the Jazzhaus Artists agency and the label Edel/MPS announce the death of jazz clarinettist Rolf Kühn on August 18, 2022 in Berlin.

Rolf Kühn could look back on an eventful life. Born in Cologne in 1929 and raised in Leipzig, his childhood was marked by repressions he had to endure as a “half-Jew” in the Third Reich. Already during this time he devoted himself to his beloved clarinet. After an engagement with the RIAS Dance Orchestra in the early 1950s, he lived in New York City for 6 years and played as first clarinettist in Benny Goodman’s band, founded his own bands and was awarded the Downbeat Critics Poll as Clarinet New Star. A long stint in Hamburg with the public broadcaster NDR followed, until he was drawn back to Berlin as musical director of the Theater des Westens. Rolf Kühn has released a large number of albums and composed hundreds of pieces of music for film and television 

His life’s work was honored, among others, with the German Jazz Trophy and the highest award of the “Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik”(German Record Critics’ Prize) and documented in 2019 in the TV documentary “Brüder Kühn – Zwei Musiker spielen sich frei.” Until now he gave concerts on the world’s great stages from New York to the Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie.

Rolf will always be remembered as the inspiring, gentle, innovative, and young-at-heart artist and person that he was. He lived a full life, dedicated to music, culture and joy until his last day.

Discography

As leader

Streamline (Vanguard, 1956)

Rolf Kuhn and His Sound of Jazz (Urania, 1960)

Rolf Kuhn feat. Klaus Doldinger (Brunswick, 1962)

Solarius (Amiga, 1965)

Nana Und Rolf in Action: Make Love! (Intercord, 1969)

R. K. Sextet (Intercord, 1969)

Devil in Paradise (MPS/BASF, 1971)

The Day After (MPS, 1972)

Connection '74 (MPS/BASF, 1974)

Total Space (MPS/BASF, 1975)

Symphonic Swampfire (MPS, 1979)

Cucu Ear (MPS, 1980)

Don't Split (L+R, 1983)

As Time Goes By (Blue Flame, 1991)

Big Band Connection (Blue Flame, 1993)

Affairs (Intuition, 1997)

Inside Out (Intuition, 1999)

Internal Eyes (Intuition, 1999)

Smile: Famous Themes from Hollywood (Intuition, 2003)

Bouncing with Bud (In+Out, 2005)

Close Up (Jazzwerkstatt, 2009)

Rollercoaster (Jazzwerkstatt, 2009)

Stop Time! (Sonorama, 2014)

Stereo (MPS, 2015)

Spotlights (MPS, 2016)

Yellow + Blue (MPS, 2018)

With Joachim Kuhn

 

Re-Union in Berlin (CBS, 1965)

Transfiguration (SABA, 1967)

Impressions of New York (Impulse!, 1968)

Monday Morning Hor Zu (Black Label, 1969)

The Kuhn Brothers & the Mad Rockers (Metronome, 1969)

Bloody Rockers (BYG, 1969)

Going to the Rainbow (BASF, 1971)

Brothers (Intuition, 1996)

East Berlin 1966 (Another Side (of Jazz), 2006)

Lifeline (Impulse!, 2012)[4]

As sideman

With Horst Jankowski

 

Gaste Bei Horst Jankowski (Metronome, 1962)

Follow Me (Intercord, 1972)

Starportrait/Follow Me (Intercord, 1975)

Wonderful (Opera, 2003)

With others

 

Eddie Costa, At Newport (Verve, 1957)

Buddy DeFranco, The Three Sopranos (2001)

Klaus Doldinger, Jubilee (Atlantic, 1973)

Tommy Dorsey, The Tommy Dorsey Orchestra (Brunswick, 1958)

European Jazz Ensemble, 20th Anniversary Tour (Konnex, 1997)

Urbie Green, The Persuasive Trombone of Urbie Green (Command, 1960)

Urbie Green, The Message (RCA, 1986)

Friedrich Gulda, Music for 4 Soloists and Band No. 1 (SABA, 1965)

Friedrich Gulda, Austrian Jazz Art: Friedrich Gulda and His Big bands (Amadeo, 2004)

Greetje Kauffeld, Young Girl Sunday Jazz (Sonorama, 2015)

Eartha Kitt, Thinking Jazz (ITM, 1991)

Albert Mangelsdorff, Albert Mangelsdorff (Fabbri Editori 1981)

Albert Mangelsdorff, Early Discoveries (Jazzhaus, 2016)

Oscar Pettiford, Germany 1958/1959 (Jazzhaus, 2013)

George Wallington, The Workshop of the George Wallington Trio & Eddie Costa Trio (Norgran, 1975)