Kühntett: The Contemporary Jazzmovement

“…a band on the way to the top.“ (Neue Württembergische Zeitung 2005).

The musicians around the young and highly gifted bassist Axel Kühn have devoted themselves to modern mainstream jazz. Their message is to create musical images and bring on moods that can be bittersweet and melancholic, but on the other hand determined by thrilling grooves. In order to move away from worn-out clichés, the four top-class musicians mainly play their own compositions and regard jazz as a free ticket to the most varied places.

During the recordings for this debut CD, Stefan Ulrich (tb), an old friend from the days with the Lumberjack Big Band, was present in the studio, too, and he joined the band as guest musician for a few pieces, in which he assimilated perfectly with the band concept.

Bass - Axel Kühn
„... a great talent from which one would like to hear a lot more.“ (Schwaebische Zeitung 2005). The promising double bassist Axel Kühn, originally from Goeppingen, but now living in Kusterdingen near Tuebingen, has been studying at the Stuttgart Music Conservatory since the autumn of 2002. During his studies, he already had the opportunity to perform together with internationally renowned jazz musicians such as Daniel Snyder and Bernd Konrad. Thanks to his long-standing cooperation with the Lumberjack Big Band Axel Kühn has already been able to accompany celebrities like Bobby Shew, Tom Gable and Andi Haderer. Since 2004, he has been leading his own ensemble, the „Kühntett“.

Sax - Alexander Kuhn
The 24-year-old tenor saxophonist started to develop his love for music on the piano in his early childhood, long before he encountered the saxophone. Fascinated by the swinging lines of Cannonball Adderley and John Coltrane’s marvellous, powerful and energetic sound, he immediately new that this instrument would be with him for the rest of his life. He has been devoted to the tenor saxophone ever since, trying to find his own sound and style, which, however, will probably never be possible without the determining influences of the great masters of the saxophone. During his musical development, Kuhn has already gathered experience in various formations and musical settings (Jazz Orchestra of the German Federal State Baden-Württemberg, Lumberjack Big Band, Lauschleben, Sweet Emma, Playground a.o.). Furthermore, a study trip to the USA gave him the opportunity to meet musicians as wonderful as Joe Lovano, Herb Pomeroy, Bill Pierce, Hal Crook, Ed Tomassi and Frank Tiberi, to get to know their views on music and to take inspiration from them for his own playing.

Drums - Marcel Gustke
has been studying at the Stuttgart Music Conservatory since October 2004. Thanks to his many years of working with the Jazzophonics Big Band, he has a.o. already had the opportunity to perform at the Oslo Jazz Festival (1999) and to play with well-known musicians such as e.g. Ack van Rooyen, Axel Schlosser, Sebastian Studnitzky, Wolf Kerschek and Nils Gessinger. In addition Marcel Gustke recorded the sound examples for the Beyerdynamic DVD on drum miking.

Piano - Olivia Trummer
has not only won various awards in the classical field, but is also regarded as a great jazz talent. She is a member of several jazz bands, among others the „Kühntett“ and her own quartet, with which she has already performed for enthusiastic audiences at the festivals “20. Internationale Theaterhaus-Jazztage“ and „Ludwigsburger Jazztage“. Not only her playing, but also her composing is attested an outstanding quality: „...at the end there were songs whose musical diversity would be very hard to beat.“ (Bietigheimer Kreiszeitung 2005)

As guest: Trombone – Stefan Ulrich
...also from Goeppingen and the Lumberjack Big Band sphere. He is now living in Berlin where he studied with Jiggs Whigham.