Rolf Kuhn, Clarinet, 1929, Cologne, Germany
Rolf's made his mark in the world of jazz as a clarinetist, even though he began his music studies on the piano which he studied from the late '30s into the early '40s. He performed on clarinet in several German dance bands during most of the 1940s.' In 1952 he joined a radio big band and before long became it's leader. These radio broadcasts made him well-known in Europe. In the mid '50s Kuhn madse his move to the U.S.,where ,with the encouragement of John Hammond, the booking agent Willard Alexander, and Friedrich Gulda he formed his own group. In 1957 Kuhn led the Benny Goodman band for a year, when Goodman was unable to play due to illness. During the late '50s into the1960s he worked with Urbie Green, Warren Covington, and Dick Johnson, and he also recorded with Winners Circle, a bop all-star group that included Art Farmer and Oscar Pettiford. Rolf decided to return to Germany in 1962 where he led the dance and jazz orchestra of the Norddeutscher Rundfunk, Hamburg. From the 1960s into the1980s he toured and recorded almost exclusively in Europe, as a member of various small groups. His playing has gone through several phases. He worked first in the style of Goodman and Buddy DeFranco, then played successively; bop, cool jazz, and free jazz. In addition to his work in jazz, he has written popular music.
Freddie Keppard, cornet, 1890, New Orleans, LA
As a child Freddie studied the mandolin, violin, and accordion, but by 1906 he was working professionally as a cornetist with his own group the Olympia Orchestra and other New Orleans bands. In 1914 he moved to Los Angeles to join the Original Creole Band. After touring in vaudeville and performing in Chicago and New York with this group, he settled in Chicago. He was prominent there throughout the 1920s with his own groups, including theJazz Cardinals. Among the leading New Orleans trumpeters who left recordings of their work, Keppard is notable for a brusque and staccato style that comes closest to ragtime. Keppard seldom recorded before 1926, but by then his health was failing. Although his stature can never be fully assessed, he was one of the first musicians to lead a New Orleans jazz ensemble in the northern and western U.S.
Jean-Luc Ponty, Violin, 1942, France
Jean-Luc's father was a violinist and director of the School of Music in Avranches, and his mother was a piano teacher, so Jean-Luc played the piano and violin from age five and at age 11 took up the clarinet. At 13 he left school to concentrate on becoming a concert violinist. He studied for 2 years at the Paris Conservatoire, winning the Premier Prix when he was 17. He then played with the Concerts Lamoureux orchestra for three years, during which time he was introduced to jazz. He first played jazz as an amateur clarinetist and tenor saxophonist, but by 1962 he was performing and recording on violin with Jef Gilson. After his military service he devoted himself exclusively to jazz. He played and recorded in quartets and trios with Eddy Louiss and Daniel Humair during the mid '60s. Jean-Luc made his first visit to the U.S. in 1967 to perform at the Monterey Jazz Festival. In 1969 he was in Los Angeles working and recording with Frank Zappa, making the album "King Kong", and some other Zappa compositions. He settled in the U.S. in 1973, and toured with Zappa's Mother of Invention, then with the second Mahavishnu Orchestra. From 1975 he led jazz-rock bands, touring extensively and reaching an ever-growing audience. By developing a range of new sounds, grounded in electronic effects, Ponty has made a place for the violin in modern jazz. At first he simply amplified the violin so that it could be heard, but from 1969 he used mainly electric violin and violectra which he played through a distortion device. He has often reverted from electric to acoustic violin and used the synthesizer to create electronic effects. His "sounds" can best be heard on an album he recorded with Stephane Grappelli and Stuff Smith--"Jean-Luc Ponty & Stephane Grappelli" which they recorded in 1973. Ponty's versatility is rare among jazzmen; he is equally at home in swing, bop, modal jazz, and free jazz, always improvising beautifully. He is a supreme exponent of jazz-rock. During the mid '70s he really began to develop his own style/sound and moved away from the raucous style of Zappa and the Mahavishnu Orchestra.
