Joachim Kühn: Piano Works XIII: Melodic Ornette Coleman (LP)

Joachim Kühn is already a jazz legend during his lifetime. But the pianist does not rest on his reputation and international success, he is still incredibly productive and is still at the forefront of current jazz life. In view of this workload, it is hard to believe that he will be 75 years old on 15 March 2019. As expected, Kühn is not celebrating this occasion on the couch, but with a new project. And those who know him will not be surprised that he is not the centre of attention, but a colleague and friend who was his most important source of inspiration in the past decades: Ornette Coleman. When they met in Paris at the beginning of the nineties, it was the beginning of a special artistic relationship. Kühn became the only pianist who performed regularly with Coleman in a duo. Later he also replaced Geri Allen in Colemans Quartet. The American jazz icon who died three years ago found a special, highest praise for the 14-year younger German: "He doesn't come from jazz, he comes from music" It is therefore justified that Kühn associates his round birthday with the great inspirer Ornette Coleman. He describes the concrete reasons behind the album Melodic Ornette Coleman as follows: "From 1995 to 2000 I was able to play sixteen concerts with Ornette. Before each concert he wrote ten new pieces. I am the only one who now has all the recordings and scores of the 170 pieces. His most beautiful melodies and ballads I have now, after about twenty years, newly arranged and recorded piano solo. Except for Lonely Woman, none of Ornette Coleman's plays have ever been released." Another, more lyrical Ornette Coleman, in contrast to his Free Jazz eruptions of the early 1960s, can be discovered here. The monument that Kühn the jazz icon sets here is that of the creator of colourful melodies rooted in the blues. Of course, the sound is often different from the usual colours, of course Kühn also uses the models for his intuitive inspirations of the moment and his typical, tempo-laden rides, but above all two soul mates of sound formers can be discovered here, whose source material are melodies. The result is Jazz in Progress, the legacy of one of the most visionary jazz artists and a celebration for one of the greatest pianists.