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JAZZ ICON ROLF KÜHN LEAVES BEHIND HIS FINAL STUDIO ALBUM: FEARLESS 

Rolf Kühn was an exceptional artist, a German jazz musician of the highest rank, and one of the few truly world-class talents, according to critic Bert Noglik. Kühn had no idea it would be his last recording when he met with his quartet at Berlin’s Hansa Studio in late June 2022. And so, Fearless will come as a surprise to the jazz world, released as the final musical testament of the “Gentleman of Jazz” (as the FAZ described him). The album was carefully completed and curated with great love and respect for Kühn’s vision by his closest circle – his brother Joachim, his wife Melanie, his band, and arranger Jörg Achim Keller.

Kühn’s compositions, whether balladic or fast-paced and driving, always left room for what jazz meant to him: creating music together, letting it take flight through improvisation that developed from listening and feeling. This time, he said, he had written the material as a personal experiment, composing not at the piano but directly notating the music. “The piano was always my instrument of control. Now, I feel like I don’t need it anymore.” The main themes of his compositions were fully written out, but everything in between was open and arose from the moment. Even who took the first solo wasn’t predetermined; such spontaneity had always been essential to him.

Fearless includes seven original compositions by Kühn, as well as three cover versions. As his biographer Maxi Broecking writes in the liner notes, when listening to the album, you hear that virtuoso, sharply contoured yet warm clarinet tone, crystal clear and precise even in the softer passages. This is present in tender, dreamy ballads like “Somewhere” (L. Bernstein) and “Tears in Heaven” (E. Clapton), as well as in the spontaneously developed “Free Exit.”

In 2023, Rolf Kühn posthumously received the German Jazz Award for his lifetime achievement (together with his brother Joachim). Reflecting on his brother, Joachim Kühn stated: “My brother Rolf has been for me the world’s best jazz clarinetist since the early 1960s. He’s stayed that way even now. His tone is unparalleled and immediately recognizable. Now, at 92 years old, his last album is underway. Completely new, independent compositions. You can hear so much passion and feeling unlike ever before in his new solos. A true, incredible legacy.“

Kühn’s quartet was unlike any other, representing the meeting of four generations that transcended the boundaries of time and space through music: bassist Lisa Wulff, percussionist Túpac Mantilla, pianist Frank Chastenier, and Kühn himself, 92 years old, on clarinet.

At his final concert at the beginning of June 2022 in Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie, he played with violinist Rodrigo Bauzá for the first time. As he had wished, but was no longer able to hear himself, certain recordings were later complemented by string arrangements from Jörg Achim Keller for Bauzá’s Cuareim Quartet. This collage technique was one he had already used in earlier recordings for MPS, such as on his album Symphonic Swampfire. Always testing and expanding musical boundaries, following his own sonic vision. The music he loved, to the very end. Fearless.

The album will be available on LP, CD, and digital formats.

Pre-order here: https://MPS.lnk.to/FearlessWE

Listen to the first single “Somewhere” here: https://MPS.lnk.to/SomewhereWE