Rolf Kuhn - The Best Is Yet To Come

Limited edition 9LP box set plus 12-page booklet

Celebrating the 90th birthday and life of the German jazz icon!

In cooperation with Rolf Kühn, MPS has put together a limited-edition 9LP box set to celebrate the 90th birthday and the life of this true German jazz icon. The box set contains seven albums, including a first-time live recording of the "Rolf + Joachim Kühn Quartet" from the Berlin Jazz Days 1966 and Newport Festival 1967 — all newly mastered for vinyl. In addition, a box-sized 12-page booklet is included.

A world-class German jazz musician was and remains a rare exception. The clarinetist Rolf Kühn belongs to this premier class. And in other ways, he is one of the exceptional artists: like no other, he managed to profile himself on his instrument with a tone that remains completely unmistakable — warm, round and perfect. The experiences of a long and rich musical life lived resonate with, maturity and wisdom.

But Rolf Kühn is easily driven by an unbridled curiosity that leaves him leaving the well-known, even the proven paths again and again. Sovereignty and perfection are as intrinsic to his work as daring and risk-taking. (Bert Noglik) Kühn, born on September 9, 1929 in Cologne and raised in Leipzig, was in the early years a sought after musician and soloist. He played with the most famous big bands and made the leap to New York in the '50s after three awards as Europe's best clarinetist and in 1957, Down Beat named him "Clarinet New Star." He soon became a clarinetist in Benny Goodman's Big Band and was its leader even in the bandleader's absence. He succeeded Buddy DeFranco in the Tommy Dorsey Big Band and was slowly creating his own modern clarinet tone.

Kühn relocated to Germany in 1962 and, in addition to the management of the NDR television orchestra, also took on numerous other jobs. Many recordings as Leader and Sidemen were written during this epoch. When his younger brother Joachim Kühn seized the opportunity in 1966 through a piano competition in the West, followed a long collaboration with him, which lasts until today. For the first time on the 90th birthday of Rolf Kühn, MPS is releasing the two concert recordings of the 1966 Berlin Jazz Festival and the 1967 Newport Festival.

Vitality and wisdom, maturity and brilliance — Rolf Kühn's music is his gift for his intermittent intergenerational crowd of fans and admirers in the jazz world and beyond. His decades-long presence as a powerful creative force continues with no end in sight. With the help of Rolf Kühn, MPS has put together the limited edition 90th Birthday and the Life of a True Jazz icon. The box contains a selection of Rolf Kühn's MPS albums as well as new and exclusive vinyl recordings from the '60s — all newly mastered for vinyl.

Featured albums:
Total Space (1975)
Symphonic Swampfire (1979)
Cucu Ear (1980)
Stereo (2015 — for the first time on vinyl)
Spotlights (2016 — for the first time on vinyl)
Yellow + Blue (2018 — vinyl for the first time)
Rolf + Joachim Kühn Quartet — Live: Berlin '66 / Newport '67 (2019 - exclusively in this boxset)

 

The Rolf Kühn Group - Total Space (1975) - 1LP

1. Uncle Archibald

2. Buzz

3. Lopes

4. Total Space

5. Miss Maggie

The Rolf Kühn Orchestra - Symphonic Swampfire (1979) - 2LP

1. Swampfire Part 1

2. Swampfire Part 2

3. La Canal

4. Just Call

5. Judy

Rolf Kühn - Cucu Ear (1980) - 1LP

1. One More Bass Hit (Dedicated To My Mother)

2. Key-Alliance

3. To Zbiggi

4. Cucu Ear

5. Beverly Hills Party

6. Sultans of Jazz

Rolf Kühn Unit - Stereo (2015) (never released on vinyl before) - 1LP

1. District 7

2. Black Jasmine

3. Q11

4. Descendants

5. Stereo

6. Husky

7. A Little Circus

8. Shogun

9. Open Windows

10. Goodbye (For Buddy)

Rolf Kühn - Spotlights (2016 - never released on vinyl before) - 2LP

1. Conversation One

2. Pinnochio's Dream

3. Pinnochio's Dance

4. Don't Forget

5. Choro Do Portina

6. Broken City

7. Laura

8. Fingerprints

9. A Strange Sunrise

10. X-Ray

11. Flip-Flop

12. Autumn Leaves

Rolf Kühn - Yellow + Blue (2018 - never released on vinyl before) - 2LP

1. Both Sides Now

2. Angel Eyes

3. Yellow And Blue

4. Impulse

5. The Second Time

6. Train To Norway

7. I'm Through With Love

8. Conversation III

9. Mela's Interplay

10. Body And Soul

11. What Are You Doing The Rest Of Your Life?

Rolf + Joachim Kühn - Berlin '66 / Newport '67 Live (2019 - exclusive to this box set) - 1LP

1. Golem

2. Chiarescuro

3. Don't Run

4. Flowers In the Dark

5. The Sound of Cats

6. Turning Point

Be the first to write a review for this item OR just rate it