hr-Bigband feat. Joachim Kühn Trio: Out of the Desert live at Jazzfest Berlin 2010

Ed Partyka conductor
Frank Wellert, Martin Auer, Thomas Vogel, Axel Schlosser trumpet
Günter Bollmann, Peter Feil, Christian Jaksjø trombone
Manfred Honetschläger bass trombone
Heinz-Dieter Sauerborn, Oliver Leicht, Tony Lakatos, Julian Argüelles reeds
Peter Reiter Fender Rhodes
Martin Scales guitar
Thomas Heidepriem bass
Jean Paul Höchstädter drums

Joachim Kühn piano
Majid Bekkas vocals, guembri, oud, kalimba
Ramon Lopez drums, percussion
recorded live at Haus der Berliner Festspiele, Main Stage, November 6, 2010

1. Night in the desert
2. Klangzeit
3. Der Wanderer
4. Fresh Air
5. Lichtquelle   

The great avant-garde pianist Joachim Kühn celebrated his 64th birthday in March, 2008, and spent it in the desert doing what he does best – making music. He played in the middle of the Sahara with Moroccan Berbers, the desert musicians of the “Source Bleue des Meski”, a small oasis near the Algerian border. This is documented on his album Out of the Desert. Kühn, his trio members and the North African musicians share the Maghreb’s heat, its richness of colours and its variety of forms. Departing from this experience and this fundus of material, Kühn wrote a special programme for the hr-Bigband. The 2009 premiere at Deutsches Jazzfestival Frankfurt was an overwhelming success and Frankfurter Allgemeine magazine even praised the stirring performance a “musical miracle”.
Joachim Kühn, first and foremost world-renowned as an imaginative virtuoso, in this project also impressively bears witness to his capabilities as a composer and big band-arranger. His input is the perfect starting point for the vibrant attacks of one of Germany’s longest-serving jazz orchestras which happily contributes all of its wealth of experience reaching from swing to avant-garde.
The new album by Joachim Kühn "Chalabas" will be released on ACT on February 25.