Fearless

Rolf Kuhn‘s decades-long presence on the jazz scene was a stroke of luck and a gift. Rolf Kuhn was an exceptional artist, a German jazz musician of the highest caliber, one of the very few with international standing. Kuhn had no idea it would be his last recording when he met with his quartet at Berlin’s Hansa Studio in late June 2022. In August that year he sadly passed away. His 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 thrived 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." When listening to the album, you hear that virtuoso, sharply contoured yet warm clarinet tone, crystal clear and precise even in the softer passages. In the tender, dreamy ballads like "Somewhere" or "Tears in Heaven," as well as in the completely free improvisations, such as "Free Exit," a track that emerged spontaneously in the studio. His quartet was a meeting of four generations: bassist Lisa Wulff, percussionist Tupac Mantilla, pianist Frank Chastenier, and finally Rolf Kuhn himself, 92 years old, on clarinet. As he had wished, but was no longer able to hear himself, certain recordings were later complemented by string arrangements for the 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.