Joachim Kühn

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

Kühn was a musical prodigy and gave his debut as a concert pianist and studied classical piano and composition with Arthur Schmidt-Elsey. Influenced by his elder brother, clarinet-player Rolf Kühn, 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. 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 for Bob Thiele's Impulse! Records.

Living in Paris since 1968, Kühn worked with Don Cherry, Karl Berger, Slide Hampton, Phil Woods, Michel Portal, Barre Phillips, Eje Thelin and Jean-Luc Ponty. As a member of Pierre Courbois's "Association P.C.", he turned to electronic keyboards. During the second half of the 70's he lived in California and joined the West Coast fusion scene and recorded with Alphonse Mouzon, Billy Cobham, Michael Brecker, and Eddie Gomez.

Having settled near Paris again, he played in an acoustic trio with Jean-François Jenny Clark and Daniel Humair since 1985. During Summer 1996, he joined Ornette Coleman during two festival concerts at Verona and Leipzig festivals which opened the way for his "Diminished Augmented System". In the last years he toured with Rabih Abou-Khalil.

elected Discography

* "Hip Elegy" (1975) with Terumasa Hino, Philip Catherine, John Lee, Naná Vasconcelos, Alphonse Mouzon
* "Springfever" (1976)
* "Charisma" (1977, solo)
* "Joachim Kühn & Jan Akkerman Live" (1979)
* "Colors" (with Ornette Coleman; 1996)
* "The Diminished Augmented System" (1999, solo)
* "Poison" (2005) with Jean-Paul Celea and Wolfgang Reisinger
* "Piano Works" (2005, solo)
* "Journey to the center of an egg" with Rabih Abou-Khalil and Jarrod Cagwin
* "Kalimba (2007)" with Majid Bekkas and Ramón López

Trio with Daniel Humair and Jean-François Jenny Clark

* "From Time To Time Free" (1988)
* "Live 1989" (1989)
* "Carambolage" with WDR Big Band (1991)
* "Usual Confusion" (1993)