Sigurd Køhn

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Sigurd Køhn (1959 - December 26, 2004), was a Norwegian jazz saxophonist and composer. He was, along with his 16 year old son killed in Khao Lak, Thailand by the tsunami following the Sumatra-Andaman earthquake on December 26, 2004.

Sigurd Køhn was born in Kristiansand, Norway, and started playing the violin and the clarinet at the age of 9, and begun playing the alto saxophone when he was 14.

He moved to Oslo when he was 19 years old, and became quickly a part of the city's jazz life. In the 1980s he played the saxophone with different fusion- and soul bands (Lava, Son of Sam, The heavy gentlemen and more), to return to the jazz in the 1990s. He played with the jazz quartet The Real Thing from 1992 until his death, in addition to his own Sigurd Køhn Quartet from 1994 and Køhn/Johansen Sextet from 1999. In 1996 Køhn's first record under his own name was released, More pepper, please, where he performed the music of Art Pepper.

He performed with the band a-ha on their tours between 1991 - 1994, and also recorded a wonderful jazz cover of their song October.

He had just finished his last record This Place before the tsunami disaster, due to be released in January 2005 along with a release concert planned January 17. Because of the tragic events the release of his record was delayed but the concert became a tribute concert to Køhn's music, where many of his friends participated. The record was released by his widow Heidi Køhn on October 26, 2005.