Kühn, Rolf

Kühn, Rolf, wide-ranging jazz clarinetist, leader; b. Cologne, Germany, Sept. 29, 1929. Kühn was classically trained in theory, harmony, and arranging. At age eight he took up the accordion, and at 12 the clarinet. As a teenager he discovered jazz while living in Leipzig. In 1946 he joined The Kurt Henkels Band, a group which emulated American swing bands, and over the next 10 years he became one of the top jazz musicians in Germany, regularly winning polls in the music magazines and playing in major festivals. In 1954, he caught the ear of jazz critic/author Leonard Feather, who encouraged him to move to N.Y, which he did in 1956. After arriving there, he attracted the interest of producer John Hammond, who arranged for some recording dates on the Vanguard label. In 1957 and 1958 he joined Benny Goodman’s band, subbing for Goodman during an extended illness, and he also did time with Tommy Dorsey and Urbie Green’s big band. During this time he also did small group work and recordings with both modern groups (in sessions with Art Farmer, Oscar Pettiford, and Toshiko Akiyoshi) and more traditional outfits (he played the Newport festival with Dick Johnson). He returned to Germany in 1962 to lead a jazz orch. in Hamburg, and his career has been based there ever since. During the early 1960s, he began experimenting with bringing free jazz to the clarinet. Through the 1960s he continued to perform and record in a variety of settings, including a co-operative group with his brother, a sextet, and various projects in the late 1960s and early 1970s featuring players such as John Surman, Barre Phillips, Chick Corea, Eberhard Weber, Tony Oxley and Randy Brecker. He continues to be active in both traditional and more experimental environments.

Discography

Streamline (1957); Be My Guest (1961); Solarius (1964); Impressions of N.Y. (1967); Transfiguration (1967); Mad Rockers (1968); The Day After (1972; with Phil Woods); Cinemascope (1974); Total Space (1975); R.K. (1978); Symphonic Swampfire (1978); Don’t Split (1982); As Time Goes By (1989); Big Band Connection (1993).

—Lewis Porter/Matthew Snyder