KUHN FU
JAZZ IS EXPENSIVE (2CD)

It is always best to fall nicely between all stools, which - not inevitably, but often - produces the more interesting music; and in the case of Kuhn Fu definitely the more amusing. Since 2012 the band, based around the guitarist Christian Kühn, has developed a singular and very headstrong form of jazz rock (or rock jazz), between parody and great seriousness, which they play without musical blinkers. Kuhn Fu, with John Dikeman (USA, saxophone), Tobias Delius (Germany, saxophone, clarinet), Ziv Taubenfeld (Israel, bass clarinet), Sofia Salvo (Argentina, saxophone), Esat Ekincioglu (Turkey, bass) and George Hadow (UK, drums), is an international ensemble that plays the exuberant pieces, brimming with melodies and compositional ideas, do or die. The comedy, which is always present in Kung Fu's music, does not take anything away from its intensity. "I love tonal music," says Christian Kühn. "Played tonally and then exaggerated, that's what it's about, so it always sounds burlesque." Parody - but also slapstick. On Jazz is Expensive, Kühn re-tells the fairy tale "The Fisherman and his Wife" differently. Kühn's discourse contributes, with forced German accent, to a story that is transformed into a modern fairy tale - in English. The main character is the fisherman Marcel de Champignon, a horn player who is looking for the perfect melody - "The melody that makes millions". The fish with the name "Bruno the Architect" is supposed to fulfil that wish. The Illsebill.com website also plays a key role. "The humour is not a concept," says Kühn. "It's just there."