The pianist, composer and free-jazz improviser Joachim Kühn who turned 80 this month is to be awarded a top honour by his country, Germany.

President Frank Walter Steinmeier will award Kühn the honour on 14 April to be presented in Paris, according to Kühn's booking agent Uli Fild.

The Leipzig born pianist's most recent album was the recording Duo made with Michael Wollny released recently.

Komeda - Kuhn's luminous tribute with his new trio of Chris Jennings & Eric Schaefer with the Atom String Quartet to Polish jazz and film music legend Krzysztof (Trzciński) Komeda issued in 2023 - was also a milestone achievement.

Recent work is certainly up there with the best of an extraordinary discography that to us specifically is his duo recording with Alexey Kruglov In Moscow (2014), his much earlier work with Ornette Coleman on the classic Colors: Live From Leipzig (1997) and in his trio with Daniel Humair and Jean-François Jenny-Clark - and certainly not to forget going back to some very early work and Springfever (Atlantic, 1972).

Kühn gigs coming up include concerts in Stuttgart - at the Theaterhaus in May on the 7th; Berlin in the Kammersaal of the Philharmonie on the 10th; and Hamburg in the Elbphilharmonie on the 15th. Joachim Kühn, photo: Tomasz Sagan