Rolf Kuhn The Best is Yet To Come 9LP Box Set

With the help of Rolf Kühn, MPS has put together this limited box set to celebrate the 90th birthday and the life of a true jazz icon. The box contains a selection of Rolf Kühn's MPS albums as well as a new and exclusive vinyl with live recordings from the '60s - all newly mastered for vinyl. Furthermore, a 12-page box-sized booklet is included.

The box set is limited to 1,000 copies worldwide.

For a German jazz musician to find international recognition as a major player has been and remains a rarity. Clarinetist Rolf Kühn belongs to this elite class. And there are ample grounds for this: he is an exceptional artist on his instrument. No one sounds like him on the clarinet; warm, round and masterful, his tone remains unmistakable no matter what style he may be playing at any given moment. His play resonates with a maturity and wisdom gathered from a long and rich life of musical experiences. Kühn continues to be driven by an unbridled curiosity that compels him to continually stray from familiar paths and tried and true formulas. Yet equanimity and a sense of completeness are as intrinsic to his work as the daring and the adventure of risk-taking.

Rolf Kühn has absorbed the entire history of jazz. What began with a youthful fascination for swing eventually led him into the freest areas of improvisation, while maintaining an unerring sense of form and quality.

Kühn continues to explore contemporary horizons and dares to venture into new musical territory. In this way, he is like his younger brother, pianist Joachim Kühn. The two had already begun to play together when the 15-year older Rolf would visit his brother behind the Iron Curtain at Joachim's home in Leipzig. After Joachim made his escape to the West, the Kühn brothers gave a triumphant concert at the Berlin Jazz Days, followed by a performance at the Newport Jazz Festival. Two weeks later they were in New York City recording on the legendary Impulse! label with their festival quartet, which included Coltrane bassist Jimmy Garrison and drummer Aldo Romano. In 2012 Rolf and Joachim reconnected with Impulse! with their album "Lifeline", featuring bassist John Patitucci and drummer Brian Blade. The albums Rolf Kühn recorded for the MPS label in the 1970s are now among the milestones of the music, and have become coveted collector's items. The list of band members on these albums reads like a who's who of the last half-century. The music spans jazz, fusion, and the avant-garde, as Kühn engages with the crème de la crème. Alphonse Mouzon, Philip Catherine and Wolfgang Dauner, Michael and Randy Brecker, Chick Corea, Charlie Mariano and Dave Liebman, as well as such musical freethinkers as Lee Konitz, Albert Mangelsdorff and Ornette Coleman are among the musicians that join Kühn on the MPS sides.

Characterized by a deep affection and intuitive understanding for each other, Rolf Kühn's collaboration with brother Joachim is a constant that runs through his work. So it is not surprising that the two were jointly awarded for their life's work with the Jazz-Echo Prize in 2012 and the German Jazz Trophy in 2018.

Vitality and wisdom, maturity and brilliance - Rolf Kühn's music is his gift to his continually expanding intergenerational crowd of fans and admirers in the jazz world and beyond. His decades-long presence as a powerful creative force continues with no end in sight.