[1] Kühn was a musical prodigy and made his debut as a concert pianist, having studied classical piano and composition,[1] with Arthur Schmidt-Elsey.

Together with his brother, he played at the Newport Jazz Festival and recorded with Jimmy Garrison and Aldo Romano for Impulse!.

Kühn has largely lived in Paris since 1968, and worked with Don Cherry, Karl Berger, Slide Hampton, Phil Woods, Michel Portal, Barre Phillips, Eje Thelin, Ray Lema, Hellmut Hattler, and Jean-Luc Ponty.

During the second half of the 1970s, he lived in California and joined the West Coast fusion scene and recorded with Alphonse Mouzon, Billy Cobham, Michael Brecker, and Eddie Gómez.

In the summer of 1996, he joined Ornette Coleman[2] for two concerts at the Verona and Leipzig festivals, which opened the way for his Diminished Augmented System.