Paul Kuhn

Paul Kuhn was born in 1928. When he was only eight years old, he performed at the 1936 edition of Berlin’s Radio Exhibition, playing the accordion. At the age of seventeen, he joined Wiesbaden’s conservatory and began to perform jazz piano music. After 1945, he had his own radio program on the American Forces Network and performed regularly in various West German jazz clubs.  

Paul Kuhn composed and arranged hits sung by light music performers from the 1950s onwards. As television became widespread and music programs became ever more frequent, he was often seen on German TV screens. In 1968, he was appointed director of both the big band and the dance orchestra at SFB, West Berlin’s radio and television broadcaster. The big band was dissolved in 1980, however, and Kuhn founded his own jazz band in Cologne. From the 1990s onwards, he focused on jazz music and performed mainly with the Paul Kuhn Trio.   Paul Kuhn died in 2013.

 

Foto © Arne Köhler

Paul Kuhn Trio

Paul Kuhn Trio

Paul Kuhn, simply known in Germany as "Piano Man," has in his decade-long career always liked to play on Bechstein grand pianos. At 81years of age in March 2009 he selected a C. Bechstein grand piano for an anniversary concert at the Cologne venue "Senftöpfchen." The "Unforgettable Golden Jazz Classics” from the Great American Songbook as well as a tribute to his long-time friend and colleague Johnny Griffin represent outstanding interpretations of the Paul Kuhn Trio (with Martin Gjakonovski on bass and Wily Ketzer on drums). Singer Gaby Goldberg appears as special guest. Paul Kuhn’s relaxed, swinging piano playing is always exciting.