CD review: Axel Kühn Trio – Time To Rethink 2021: Video, CD cover

Axel Kühn is a jazz bassist who lives in the south of Germany.

At the beginning of October 2020 his new solo EP “Bass Stories” was released, with which he impressively proves how emotional, varied and captivating a bass album can be. He is a musical poet who knows how to tell stories. As a sideman he is one of the most sought-after bassists on the southern German jazz scene

With their latest work “Time to Rethink”, the trio around the award-winning bassist and composer Axel Kühn impressively proves how homogeneous their mixture of jazz, grunge rock, pop and world music sounds.

The different genres merge into a completely new style, which band leader Kühn calls “grunge jazz”. The path taken by the trio on their previous albums “OPEN-MINDED” and “ZEITGEIST” is consistently followed. One can clearly hear that their journey together has been going on for several years.

The music has clearly gained in sophistication, independence, power and intensity. Together the 3 musicians act like a large organism in which everything is perfectly coordinated. The result is a completely independent trio sound that is deeply rooted in our time and always testifies to Axel Kühn’s personal concern. It consists of making a clear emotional statement with each song in order to meet the listener where music has the greatest impact: in the heart.

1. Time To Rethink
2. Hypnotic Belly Dance
3. The 3Rd Of August
4. Sounds From East
5. The Force Of Silence
6. Kafkaesk Yo
7. I Need Bass
8. Cycle Of Life

Axel Kühn – bass
Ull Möck – piano
Eckhard Stromer – drums