Peter Kuhn plays jazz that’s inspired by the expressionism of Coltrane and Dolphy through his tenor, clarinet and bass clarinet. The two collections here have him 40 years apart, with the vision remaining constant.
The 2 cd set No Coming, No Going has a pair of live recordings. One is a broadcast from Columbia University Radio from 1978, with Kuhn’s clarinets teamed with Toshinori Kondo/tp-ah, Arthur Williams/tp, William Parker/b and Denis Charles.The three songs include some bright and freely frenetic sounds on”Chi” along with unite plungered trumpets with bluesy bop and bass clarinet on “Manteca, Long Gone, Axistential.” The team feels Mingusy on the driving “Red Tape” with some exciting colors provided by the three horns.
The second disc is a collection of concert duets between Kuhn and Charles in Massachusetts in 1979. There is some rapid drum work teamed with the clarinet on”Stigma”, melancholia and breathy bass clarinet on “Axistenital” and lots of squawking tenor sounds with rambunctious stick on work on “ Drum Dharma.” Was anything left on the seats of their pants after flying on them?
The single disc The Other Store is from June of 2015 with Kuhn on clarinets, tenor and alto sax along with Kyle Moti/b and Nathan Hubbard/dr. The eight tunes are intuitive and communicative. There’s some free floating brooding on the bluesy “Is Love Enough” and the reeds get fluffy on “Cause and Conditions.” Lots of grunts and screeches on the sax make for a harmonic workout on “Not Two” and Kuhn tunes into Dolphy as Hubbard delivers a military groove on “Volition.” The rhythm team gets restless as it rustles on “Beginning Anew” and Kuhn’s tenor sighs to Hubbard’s brushes on “unstrung heroes.” Don’t expect transcriptions of these!