Blood, sweat and tears from Joachim Kühn at New Colours Festival

The first edition of this festival was originally planned for September 2020 but the COVID-19 pandemic pushed these plans to September 2022. The festival is organised and run by Berndt Zimmerman and his partner Susanne Pohlen who have been organising jazz concerts in this area of the Ruhr for many years.

This area of the Ruhr is still very much an industrial area. The view from the machine room, almost at the top of the winding tower of the Nordstern Colliery, is dominated by chimneys, and factories. However a new colour is starting to dominate on this landscape - the green of trees. This machine room doubles as a unique venue for the festival as does another former coal mine machine room - the Stadt.Bau. Raum, an event location for the City of Gelsenkirchen
since its restoration in 1994. The main venue for the festival is the impressive Schloss Horst - one of the oldest buildings in the city and one of the most important Renaissance castles in Westphalia. The venue is an extraordinary glass hall in front of the former palace courtyard façade.

In programming the festival Zimmerman and Pohlen tried to attract as wide an audience as possible. There is already a small and loyal audience for their monthly concerts but transferring that and building on it for a four-day festival with 11 concerts is another matter. I asked Zimmerman on the way to the opening concert, "What would be the best outcome for you at the end of the festival?", He wryly smiled and said, "We don’t lose any money", he quickly added that he and his partner see this as a long-term project with the first few years being the foundation stones. They hope they can build the festival to be an important and lasting part of the European jazz festival circuit.

The programming was certainly varied - ranging from Joachim Kühn solo, Rhymden, Purple is the Colour, The Moritz Götzen Trio, The Angelo Comisso Trio, Kristijan Kranjčan solo, Roman Babik’s Urban Wedding Band, mainstream trumpeter/singer Jeff Cascaro, Arnold Kasar solo, pianist/singer/beatboxer Kid Be Kid and Matthias Schriefl who gallantly led his marching band on what was probably the wettest day of the year in Gelsenkirchen.

The festival was opened by the Austrian/Czech quartet Purple is the Colour who play modern contemporary jazz. This was an excellent opening gig where the location and the music worked brilliantly in harmony - the large machine room of the pit with the stage set on a glass floor set off the music perfectly. Simon Raab (piano) and Štêpan Flagar (sax) both weaving delicate melodies or harder grooves with the rhythm section of Martin Koncián
(bass) and Michał Wierzgoń (drums) rock solid.

The musical highlight of the festival was without doubt the solo performance by Joachim Kühn at Schloss Horst. This was the first performance by Kühn after the passing of his brother Rolf in August. He addressed the audience before sitting at the piano: "My brother died three weeks ago. I want to dedicate this concert to him."

Kühn was clearly in a very emotional state - his opening tune was a new composition which he told Zimmerman was called ‘My Brother Rolf’, he also told Zimmerman that he could ‘hear’ Rolf within the piece, although he doubted if the audience would. It was a very impassioned piece - a deeply personal reflection of his love and affection for his elder
brother. Kühn also played a piece by Ornette Coleman with whom he played many times. It was an incredible piece of improvisation with the sweat pouring from Kühn's brow. The closing piece was an astonishing version of The Doors' ‘The End’ - an incredible and very moving interpretation of this classic ‘goodbye’ song. The final notes of the song were played so forcibly the piano moved forward several inches - a real tour de force leaving everyone in the room breathless before a standing ovation. Kühn encored with a wonderful version of Hoagy Carmichael’s ‘Stardust’, a ballad being the perfect ending for such an emotional concert.

The following day I was back at Schloss Horst early in the morning for a sound check. The piano tuner called me over to the Steinway to show me the smears of blood left on the keys from Kühn’s fingers from the night before. This really had been a concert of blood, sweat and tears and is probably one of the best solo piano concerts I have ever seen.

There were two other great solo performances during the festival. At the Nordsternturm tower machine room drummer/cellist Kristijan Kranjčan aided by loops and delays played a fascinating set based on his CD The Mountains Roared. Kranjčan is a classically trained cellist and a jazz trained drummer - his electronics and live playing creating complex patterns that somehow resonated with the now silent machinery and hard industrial landscape around us. The final piece ‘Requiem’ with its wonderfully cinematic motif could have been written for this unique venue.

Kid be Kid is a Berlin based pianist/vocalist/beatboxer and a rising star in Germany. Her performance is based around her excellent piano playing and soulful singing. She throws in elements of just about every genre which could be very chaotic but actually she pulls it off brilliantly. She is a very likeable performer engaging the audience from the outset and working really hard to entertain and showcase her talents. One to watch for the future.

The closing gig of the festival came from Scandinavian supergroup Rhymden (pictured above), who I have been lucky to see quite regularly since their inception. They have cemented their relationship as a group and are now pushing boundaries on all fronts. Their second album ‘Space Sailors’ was a very good album and it is interesting now to hear how those tunes have evolved live. The sound in the venue, a modern church with virtually perfect acoustics, was fantastic. Every note came across and the balance of the three instruments was perfect. The rapport and understanding of this trio is awesome and the freedom they are affording themselves - switching between jazz, fusion and at times almost prog rock is a joy. Where the band are now is only the beginning of this journey - already it is very exciting and the band has much more to give.

Creating and sustaining a jazz festival is always going to be hard work. The first edition of the New Colours Festival was a great start and Zimmerman and Pohlen should be very proud. Moving forward this region offers many opportunities for other unique venues to be used giving this festival a very special USP - contemporary jazz in a post-industrial landscape. The future for the festival will be very interesting.