DISCOGRAPHY

All compositions and words by Christian Achim Kühn
Recorded by ORF / Radio Ö1 at Jazzfestival Saalfelden 2021, August 20th

Christian Kühn ( DE ) – guitar, voice, composition
Tobias Delius ( UK ) – clarinet
John Dikeman ( US ) – tenor saxophone, voice
Ziv Taubenfeld ( ISR ) – bass clarinet
Esat Ekincioglu ( TR ) – bass, voice
George Hadow ( UK ) – drums

Recording & Mix: Martin Leitner
Recording producer: Philipp Weismann
Mixing & Mastering by Werner Angerer
Artwork by Artur Bodenstein

After hundreds of shows and thousands of kilometers on tour, KUHN FU celebrates its 10th anniversary with a bang: The double album “Jazz is Expensive/Live in Saalfelden” was released on October 14th by BERTHOLD RECORDS.

Not only the band name is martial. In their “paranoid prog-punk-jazz performance”, the band KUHN FU of guitarist, composer and master of ceremonies, Christian Kühn, turns everything through the improvisational wolf. Zappa meets cabaret, surf sounds and metal riffs ride the Chattanooga Choo-Choo, while Shakespeare, Brecht and Monty Python are the godfathers.

Since 2012, the band around guitarist Christian Kühn has developed a unique and very idiosyncratic form of jazz rock ( or rock jazz ), between parody and a great seriousness with which they allude to musical blinders. Kühn’s international ensemble consisting of John Dikeman ( tenor saxophone ), Tobias Delius ( tenor saxophone, clarinet ), Ziv Taubenfeld ( bass clarinet ), Sofia Salvo ( baritone saxophone ), Esat Ekincioglu ( bass ) and George Hadow ( drums ) plays the compositions, which are overflowing with melodies and compositional ideas, as if their lives were at stake. The comedy that is always present in KUHN FU’s music does not take away from its intensity.

On Jazz Is Expensive, Kühn tells the Brothers Grimm fairy tale “The Fisherman and His Wife” in a new and different way. Kühn’s style does the rest: with a forced German accent, the story is transformed into a modern fairy tale in English. The main character is the fisherman Marcel De Champignon, a horn player who is looking for the perfect melody – “the melody that makes millions”. The fish is supposed to fulfil his wish, “Bruno the Architect” is his name. The website Illsebill.com also plays a major role.

How Kühn’s lyrics arise spontaneously on stage can be heard on the second CD/Vinyl of this double album, Live in Saalfelden, which features all new compositions except two old band staples Nosferatu and Maharani. The immense enthusiasm with which the musicians of KUHN FU go about their work is the same in the studio and on stage. Whether in the variations on the always extremely beautiful melodies that Christian Kühn composes as a starting point for the pieces or in the free improvisations: A perfectly coordinated band develops music from the common movement that has never been heard before. The “Invisible Jazz Wall”, as Christian Kühn calls it, which is supposed to protect tradition from the vulgar, carnivalesque and nonsense, needs to be torn down. In this picture, KUHN FU are something like the trombones of Jericho.

“If we wanted an Austrian Billy Jenkins, who better than Christian Kühn and his Kuhn Fu combo. Manic in terms of guitaring, puppet-dancing and mention-the-war humour, he roughed up the festival with a bucketload of zany humour, in the guise of avant speed-jazz.” Jazzwise, UK

“Kühn relies on K & K -Klamauk und Klasse- and is loved for it.”
Salzburg News, AT

“between cabaret and schizophrenia” Concerto, AT

“The band around guitarist Christian Kühn relies on style duels, as US saxophonist John Zorn used to, and it sounds massive” DerStandard, AT

“An entertaining chaos, a precisely organized action that is best experienced live – and as a reminder, there is the album for the home sofa.” JazzThing DE

“a fast-paced, sometimes breathtaking metal-jazz cabaret. A musical punch line chases the next one.“ Jazzthetik, DE

“a feeling of great musical freedom in this excessive music” culturejazz.fr

“Kuhn Fu have scored another touchdown in their own take of Football with Chain the Snake as if they brought everything from the kitchen table of Jazz, Swing, Ska, Punk, and the Rock In Opposition genre into a delicious Wasabi Mango Pineapple Smoothie.” zacharynathanson.blogspot.com

“A Colorful Combo, which once more proves that art does not know any restriction.”
rockline.si

“Anyone who is able to think outside the box should definitely have fun with this music close to anarchy.“ musikansich.de

“International line up, the world in art, globalization in good: “Chain The Snake” is a beautiful soundtrack to unnerving news about Brexit and other decay movements – and of course makes otherwise a good mood.“
KrautNick

“Some ideas probably reflect the less cheerful side of the composer, like the melancholic-dark” Oswaldo’s Waltz “, which can compete with the Borrowing & Club of Gore.”
Babyblaue Seiten

“Kuhnspiracy is an incredibly focused work, a commendable take on programmatic writing utilising multiple music blends…an aural kaleidoscope, often mentally exhaustive yet feeling quite pertinent within the current jazz climate.”
Jazz Journal, UK
”the chief attraction lies in the mash-up of genres—punk, funk, classical, folk, metal/grunge, marching music, spoken word (and probably more)—and the easy precision with which the group negotiates the incessant rapid-fire changes, from chugging power riffs to plaintive themes, from aggressive screams to gentle whispers.”
The New York City Jazz Record, USA
”I am left to contemplate Kuhn Fu’s awesomely twisted sense of humor.”
Progression Magazine, USA
”fein gemahlener Avant Edge Rock von der Steiger Mordwand ebenso wie vor gepflegten Disharmonien strotzender Rotz Jazz, 12/15 points”
betreutesproggen.de
”From existentialism to metaphysics; this music has everything in it related to life” Cumhuriyet, TR
”Humor schwärzester Güteklasse, schaurig, witzig, spannend. Programmmusik im besten Wortsinn, zum Grinsen, zum Grübeln, zum Headbangen”
Jazzthing, DE
”ein purer Genuss für alle vom Radio- und TV-Musik-Mainstream arg geschundenen Ohren, die den Schalter umgehend von Klang-Einheitsbrei auf Extrem-Dissonanz umlegen können, ohne auf das Eine wie das Andere gänzlich verzichten zu müssen.’
musikreviews, DE
”The music is too rich for me to think of it as a potential soundtrack – it’s more like an entire film, translated as album.”
arcticdrones.com
”You can never get comfortable with any of the tracks and that is a good thing as this style of music is made to be radical and shifting under your feet. KUHNSPIRACY is not for the faint of heart, but adventurous music lovers may just get the right kick from their craziness.” rockthebodyelectric.com
”Kuhnspiracy is tons of fun, both in the compositions and the improvisations, and this is definitely a band with a sound all their own and the talent to make it work.”
Jon Davis
”Kuhnspiracy is not just one of the maddest and scariest albums I’ve listened to, but for me, a Holy Shit album!….they are continuing where Don Van Vliet had left off during the continuation of the Trout Mask Replica sessions.”
zacharynathanson.blogspot.com
”To my ears, they have extended the Rock In Opposition genre with their classical leanings and deranged playing. Quite an impressive release that is sure to appeal to anyone tired of the same old, same old.”
Henry Schneider
”Im Spannungsfeld zwischen den ungestümen Avant-Jazz-Prog- und den eher traditionell orientierten Jazz-Einfällen kreieren KUHN FU ihre eigene Version einer Musik, die sowohl die Avant-Prog-Freunde, als auch die offenen Jazz-Hörer ansprechen dürfte.”
babyblaue-seiten.de
”Kunhspiracy n’est certes pas votre disque de prog habituel mais les fans de musiques expérimentales, ainsi que ceux des groupes précités et/ou du label Cuneiform, sont vivement conviés à s’immerger dès que possible dans ce récital extravagant.”
dragonjazz.com
”Wirklich spannende Musik mit schwer treibendem Groove und gelungenen Improvisationen”
Concerto, AT

JAZZ IS EXPENSIVE / LIVE IN SAALFELDEN [2022]

CHAIN THE SNAKE [2019]

KUHNSPIRACY [2017]

…A POST ROMANTIC JAZZ/ROCK DISORDER

KUHNSTANTINOPOLIS [2015]