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Achim Kaufmann
Achim Kaufmann (piano, composer, electronics) was born in Aachen, Germany, and has been living in Amsterdam since 1996.
He is involved in a number of different projects, some of them all improvised, some of them featuring his own compositions: His gueuledeloup quartet (with Michael Moore, John Hollenbeck, Henning Sieverts) "melds elements of the free zone with tenderly executed dreamscape type passages" (allaboutjazz) Their two CDs, Gueuledeloup (Red Toucan, 2002) and Double Exposure (Leo, 2000) have been called "models of some of the finest forward-thinking chamber jazz coming out of Europe today."
The improvising trio of Achim Kaufmann, Frank Gratkowski and Wilbert de Joode has released two discs so far (on Konnex and on nuscope) and is currently preparing their third release of energetic, multi-layered improvised chamber music.
Trio Kamosc (with Michael Moore and Dylan van der Schyff) is another group that mixes composition and improvisation in unique ways, including "blatantly traditional" materials that are treated as found objects.
Achim currently works on repertoires for different piano trios which he will record during the course of the year.
Besides, he has written music for string quartet and works as a solo performer. In 2001, he was awarded the prestigious German SWR Jazz Award.
Coming from a musical family, Achim started getting interested in the piano, improvisation and composition at age 15 and also took clarinet lessons for a while. Later he attended the Cologne Conservatory where he studied with Frank Wunsch and Rainer Bruninghaus. In 1986, he received a scholarship for the Banff Centre for the Arts in Canada to study and work with David Holland, Steve Coleman, Muhal Richard Abrams, George Lewis, Richie Beirach, and others. He also studied privately with Steve Lacy in Paris.
In the 80s and 90s, he worked in various bands and projects in the Cologne area and throughout Germany, covering a wide spectrum of musical genres - mainstream jazz, fusion, contemporary classical music, music for the theatre, free improvisation, and pop-influenced music.
Since the early 90s, Achim has focused more on writing music for his own groups (mostly trios) which led to his CD Weave, released in 1997. After his move to Amsterdam, he formed a quartet with reed player Michael Moore and percussionist John Hollenbeck.
In the last few years, he has also been increasingly active in the field of improvised music as documented on the trio CDs Kwast and Unearth with Frank Gratkowski and Wilbert de Joode.
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Frank Gratkowski, Achim Kaufmann, Wilbert de Joode, Tony Buck: Flatbosc & Cautery
by John Sharpe
Adding a new member to a long-established group sometimes reinforces the chemistry, at other times it transforms. With the threesome of reedman Frank Gratkowski, pianist Achim Kaufmann and bassist Wilbert de Joode, a unit since 2002, the co-option of Necks drummer Tony Buck propels the outfit more explicitly towards the high-energy end of the free spectrum, compared with previous outings such as palaë (Leo, 2007) and oblengths (Leo, 2016). Recorded in concert in Koln, in May 2018, ...
read moreKaufmann / Moore / Van der Schyff: Kamosc
by Jerry D'Souza
Kamosc is the first recording by Achim Kaufmann, Michael Moore and Dylan van der Schyff, three improvisers who are known to let their imaginations rove in their music. However, the name of the band is a more formal invention: they've taken the first two letters of their last names and strung them together.
This music was recorded during the trio's 2005 fall tour of Canada and the US. It goes into many spheres, but the basic compositional motif ...
read moreKaufmann / Moore / Van Der Schyff: Kamosc
by Nic Jones
This is what happens when three musicians simultaneously come to terms with both their musical identities as individuals and a programme of composed music that is open to all sorts of individual (improvised) expression.
This trio embodies a tight but loose ideal on Kamosc which is conducive to effective music-making, and from the listener's point of view, its approach is nothing but positive. Listening to the likes of Skimble-Scamble," one of two tracks on which trombonist Walter Wierbos puts in ...
read moreAchim Kaufmann: Knives
by David Adler
Achim Kaufmann's first solo piano disc is a study in atonal expressionism and sonic adventurism, draped in dark mysteries. Recorded mainly at the Bimhuis in the pianist's home city of Amsterdam, Knives consists of eighteen fairly short pieces that showcase Kaufmann's technical excellence, his aptitude for instant orchestration, his imaginative use of mixed techniques" (ie. prepared piano), and his firm yet idiosyncratic grasp of jazz piano tradition.
One cannot but admire the discipline of his left-hand bass lines ...
read moreAchim Kaufmann: Knives
by Christian Carey
Amsterdam-based pianist Achim Kaufmann combines the fluidity of modern jazz with the extended techniques of avant-garde concert music on his latest solo album, Knives. Many of the works feature Kaufmann playing inside the piano. Besides plucking strings, he attacks the instrument's interior with a number of devices: rulers, a small hand sander, a piano tuner's wedge, and a vibraphone mallet. As can be imagined, this elicits a host of tone colors and textures, ranging from percussive to sustained, at points ...
read moreAchim Kaufmann 4: Gueuledeloup
by Glenn Astarita
The worst part about listening to pianist Achim Kaufmann’s recordings is that you only get 60 minutes or so, of some of the most inventive modern jazz on the globe. His previous CD for “Leo Records,” was a bona fide knockout! With this release, he navigates similar concepts.
His base group featuring the impressive talents of woodwind ace Michael Moore and drummer John Hollenback is augmented by bassist/cellist Henning Sieverts who provides the fluid bottom end. But ...
read moreAchim Kaufmann Quartet: Double Exposure
by Glenn Astarita
Any recording that features saxophonist/clarinetist Michael Moore deserves attention these days as pianist Achim Kaufmann and his quartet have come up with a sure-fired dandy with this new release titled, Double Exposure. Here, Kaufmann and Moore create a stirring front line along with superb support from bassist John Schroder and one of the most in demand session drummers on the scene, John Hollenbeck. Simply put, these gents sound as though they’ve been shedding for years which is evident from the ...
read moreAchim Kaufmann - Verivyr (Pirouet - 2011) *****
Source:
Free Jazz by Stef Gijssels
By Joe Higham On the first listen to this album I sensed that it would be a strong contender for 5 stars. It's an album that covers everything interesting and important in improvised music. It explores, swings, uses dissonance, melody, it surprises and delights you. In fact it's a lesson in what's not being taught in jazz conservatories world wide, how to make individual music that blurs boundaries and shows a sense of tradition. Achim Kaufmann has been on the ...
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