In collaboration with Rolf Khn, MPS has put together a limited 9-LP box set to celebrate the 90th birthday and the life of this true German jazz icon. The box set contains seven albums, including a live recording of the "Rolf + Joachim Khn Quartet at the Berlin Jazz Days 1966 and the Newport Festival 1967 which is published for the first time - newly mastered for vinyl. For a German jazz musician to find international recognition as a major player has been and remains a rarity. Clarinetist Rolf Khn 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. Khn 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 Khn 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. Born in Cologne, Khn grew up in communist-controlled East Germany in the city of Leipzig directly after the second world war. By his late teens, Khn was already a sought-after soloist by the best German big bands. And he accomplished what no other German was able to do at that time: make the leap to the USA and gain recognition in the country where jazz was born. After being voted Best European Clarinetist, Down Beat magazine named him "New Star on Clarinet" in 1957. Khn played in the orchestras of Benny Goodman and Tommy Dorsey and even led Goodmans band in the legendary leaders absence. Inspired by clarinetist Buddy DeFranco, Khn found his own, modern language on the instrument.
