Review: Rolf Kühn – Fearless

A light and rich album that is both an obituary and a legacy. This is how Fearless, the last album by jazz clarinettist Rolf Kühn, could be summarised. Recorded in 2022, shortly before the then 92-year-old's death, and now released, it brings together many aspects of his long career.

Kühn recorded his album with pianist Frank Chastenier, double bassist Lisa Wulff and Túpac Mantilla on drums and percussion.

The dedication to Fearless is ‘freedom, lightness, love and peace’. And these four aspects can indeed be found in the music. Seven original compositions and three cover versions bear eloquent witness to this.

Just how freely the quartet is prepared to explore the boundaries is shown in the title track Fearless, which at times reaches into free jazz close to the voices in the orchestra pit. This is particularly noticeable on the drums, which Mantilla often does not use as a timekeeping device, but instead circles around the phrases and melodies of his fellow players - as can be clearly experienced on the opening track Alpha 47. Fun with Kids is also not a straightforward performance, with phrase, solo, phrase, but rather a 4:49-minute mini-narrative of juvenile exuberance, a containment with the means of music.

The contrast is provided by pieces such as Somewhere, which creates all the necessary foundations for light and precise soloing with a brush-stroked basic beat, delicate piano playing and a sober clarinet bass. As Cape is also more committed to the classical side of jazz, as is Tears in Heaven - the cover version of Eric Clapton's hit becomes a sensitive jazz ballad with a partly bowed bass.

The ten tracks on the album are marvellous gems in themselves, but they are also excellent acoustically. The MPS label continues to stand for high quality, even if it is no longer recorded in the living room of the former label boss in Villingen and MPS now resides under the wing of Edel Music.

In particular, the clarity of the sound and the transparency of the stage stand out, as do the full-bodied acoustics of the instruments, which don't seem to have lost an ounce of tonal expression when they come out of the loudspeakers or - even better to locate - the headphones.

Fearless by Rolf Kühn is a great album in every respect and a well-deserved final punk to honour an outstanding career. Very much worth listening to. (Thomas Semmler, HighResMac)

Rolf Kühn, clarinet
Frank Chastenier, piano
Lisa Wulff, double bass
Túpac Mantilla, drums, percussion