Steve Kuhn Trio

Steve Kuhn Trio – Baubles, Bangles and Beads (2015)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:00:44 minutes | 1,39 GB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Venus Records, Inc.

This trio session by Steve Kuhn includes classical works and pieces adapted into pop songs decades ago. He initially studied classical music as a young man with the mother of baritone saxophonist Serge Chaloff, so he is well grounded in the music. With bassist Dave Finck and Billy Drummond accompanying him, Kuhn’s driving, boppish treatments of “Till the End of Time” (based upon Chopin’s Polonaise No. 53) and “Stranger in Paradise” (taken from Borodin’s Plovetzian Dance) sizzle with energy. His vibrant waltz setting of Erik Satie’s Gymnopedie No. 1 is far removed from the Impressionist composer’s minimalist conception, with Finck’s arco bass solo adding an interesting touch. Borodin’s “Baubles, Bangles and Beads” was a favorite of baritone saxophonist Gerry Mulligan during the 1950s; the trio’s introspective approach works equally well. While classical listeners who are unfamiliar with jazz may have reservations, jazz fans will savor these outstanding performances.

(more…)

Read more

Steve Kuhn Trio – Waltz Blue Side (2015)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 49:36 minutes | 1,07 GB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Venus Records, Inc.

Throughout a career of a half-century and counting, Steve Kuhn has earned renown as one of the most lyrical and affecting pianists in jazz, with an unfailingly beautiful touch and a sophisticated sense of swing.

“Steve is an original stylist,” points out Dan Morgenstern, director of the Institute of Jazz Studies at Rutgers. “He’s one of the finest pianists out there today”. Jazziz magazine described Kuhn’s distinctive sound: “Few other pianists, regardless of genre, can tease such an evocative range of timbres from their instrument. Kuhn’s lower register is as dark and rich as Belgian chocolate, and his upper register has the light, translucent quality of ice-cold champagne”.

(more…)

Read more

Steve Kuhn Trio – I Will Wait for You (2015)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/48 kHz | Time – 01:07:08 minutes | 852 MB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Venus Records, Inc.

One of the veteran American pianists who release new recordings from Venus Records regularly, Steve Kuhn has been admired and loved by jazz fans both in the U.S. and Japan. I Will Wait For You features recording of the music of Michel Legrand. The lyrical, romantic and memorable melodies written by the French composer — many of which have become part of the standard jazz repertoire — are brilliantly interpreted and performed by a superb trio that includes George Mraz on bass and Billy Drummond on drums. Kuhn and co. add a muscular, driving sense of swing to the faster tunes while digging deep emotionally on beautiful ballads. A wonderful piano trio release!

(more…)

Read more

Steve Kuhn Trio – Plays Standards (2015)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:11:47 minutes | 1,60 GB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Venus Records, Inc.

Kuhn was born in New York City, New York, to Carl and Stella Kuhn (née Kaufman), and was raised in Newton, Massachusetts. His parents were Hungarian-Jewish immigrants. At the age of five, he began studying piano under Boston piano teacher Margaret Chaloff, mother of jazz baritone saxophonist Serge Chaloff, who taught him the “Russian style” of piano playing. At an early age he began improvising classical music. As a teenager, he appeared in jazz clubs in the Boston area with Chet Baker, Coleman Hawkins, Vic Dickenson, and Serge Chaloff.

(more…)

Read more

Steve Kuhn Trio – Watch What Happens! (1968/2015)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/88,2 kHz | Time – 35:48 minutes | 675 MB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © MPS

American pianist Steve Kuhn’s playing credentials are as impressive as they are lengthy. Starting out in 1959 with trumpeter Kenny Durham, he went on to work with John Coltrane, Stan Getz, Art Farmer, and Gary Burton over the next few years. Kuhn recorded this 1968 album during his four-year sojourn in Stockholm. He teams up here with the best Scandinavian rhythm section of that era, bassist Palle Danielsson and drummer Jon Christensen, who were to become members of the legendary Keith Jarrett ‘European Quartet’. The title piece, a tasty Michel Legrand composition, flows from the Latin pulse of its theme on into Kuhn’s surging, hard-swinging solo. The Kuhn original Silver evokes the pianist’s contemplative side, and J. J. Johnson’s ballad Lament stays in this introspective vein before segueing into the relaxed Latin feel of Once We Loved. There’s a driving impressionistic impulse to Tom Jones that modulates into a lilting Burt Bacharach medley, Windows of the World & Here I Am, whereas Kuhn plays I Fall in Love too Easily with the required sense of pathos. Carla Bley’s Ad Infinitum is the album’s tour de force, encompassing the avante-garde, loping, Latinesque moments, and intense, propulsive modern jazz. Exquisitely recorded, this album is trio play at its refined best; it’s simply a beautiful album.

(more…)

Read more