Later Achim Kaufmann

• 1Blue-Brailled04:54
• 2The Mystery Song04:24
• 3Dominoes03:44
• 4Shuffle Montgomery04:01
• 5Callista Snow No. 207:59
• 6Misterioso03:49
• 7Cuk05:33
• 8Portrait of Ucha / In den Weiden05:31
• 9Dave04:06
• 10Moon Dripping03:33
• 11The Embalmers' Waltz04:58
• 12It's All Over Now, Baby Blue04:17
• Total Runtime56:49

Info for Later

Pianist Achim Kaufmann is a bold tonal explorer whose idols traverse diverse musical worlds. On his PIROUET CD Later, Kaufmann plays pieces ranging from Duke Ellington to Bob Dylan along with his own exciting compositions. There is a serenity to the music that has a magnetism all its own.

Achim Kaufmann is a player who explores new territory: the prestigious Frankfurter Allgemeine newspaper called him “the most daring of the German pianists”. Kaufmann, who was born in Berlin in 1962 and currently lives in Berlin, goes exploring on his own on his new PIROUET CD. The results: an exciting amalgam of musical influences from Duke Ellington to Bob Dylan, with nods towards such jazz greats as Herbie Nichols and musicians such as Pink Floyd co-founder Syd Barrett. Together with five of Kaufmann’s own compositions, there emerges an astonishing kaleidoscope of sounds providing for a profound musical adventure. Kaufman plays with an exceptional atmospheric density—an integral component of his style. This pianist’s play has an irresistible attraction, even in the slowest of ballads and the most minimalistic passages— it’s music with a built-in magnetic field.

Achim Kaufmann, piano

Achim Kaufmann
was born into a musical family in Aachen, Germany, in 1962, and became fascinated by jazz and the possibilities of improvisation as a teenager. He started writing tunes around that time. Later he studied music at the Conservatory in Cologne and also took classes with creative masters such as Dave Holland, Steve Coleman, Muhal Richard Abrams, George Lewis, and Steve Lacy.

From 1996 to 2009, he lived in Amsterdam where he became part of that city’s internationally renowned improvised music scene.

Since 2002, he has been touring internationally with the trio Kaufmann/Gratkowski/de Joode, an improvising unit which has released four CDs so far, to much critical acclaim.

In the late ‘90s and ‘00s, Achim led two groups with reed player Michael Moore: trio kamosc and gueuledeloup quartet.

In 2007, he recorded kyrill, a set of compositions for piano trio featuring Valdi Kolli and Jim Black. Their follow-up cd, entitled verivyr, was released in 2011.

He has also collaborated with his wife, poet/painter Gabriele Guenther, on the audiodrama Borderline – From the Shadows of a Journey, and has written music for various chamber ensembles. In his solo work, mixed techniques are used to create a fluctuating world of sounds and gestures. Resonance and reverberation, space and density play an important role in both his solo and ensemble work.

Since his move to Berlin, he got involved in various new projects, such as the trio grünen with Robert Landfermann and Christian Lillinger, Oni Kramler (with Matthias Schubert, Antonio Borghini, and various guests), and a trio with cellist Okkyung Lee and trumpeter Axel Dörner.

In 2013, the sextet SKEIN (Kaufmann/Gratkowski/de Joode plus Richard Barrett, Okkyung Lee, and Tony Buck) had its premiere at the dOeK festival in Amsterdam and subsequently recorded for SWR radio.

In addition, Achim has played and/or recorded with Han Bennink, Mark Dresser, George Lewis, Steve Swallow, Tobias Delius, Wolter Wierbos, Mark Helias, Paul Rutherford, Thomas Lehn, Ab Baars, Paul Lovens, Dylan van der Schyff, Peggy Lee, Chris Speed, Tomász Stanko, Gerd Dudek, Bill Elgart, Paul Lytton, Harri Sjöström, Andrea Parkins, Harris Eisenstadt, Ingrid Laubrock, Tristan Honsinger, Shelley Hirsch, Steve Swell, Thomas Heberer, Urs Leimgruber, Roger Turner, Fay Victor, Fred Lonberg-Holm, John Hollenbeck, Bob Brookmeyer, Simon Nabatov, Lê Quan Ninh, Gerry Hemingway, John Hébert, Al Foster, Adam Nussbaum, and many more.

He was awarded the prestigious German SWR Jazz Award in 2001.

Booklet for Later