Emma Sings (ENG)

Deutschlandfunk Kultur hailed the Keno Harriehausen Quartet’s 2019 album as “the jazz debut of the year” and “a little masterpiece”. After being awarded the Newcomer Award at JazzBaltica in 2020, the quartet performed on the main stage of the festival broadcasted by ZDF Kultur, the year after. There have been shows and broadcasts about the ensemble on 3Sat, ZDF Kultur, DLF Kultur, BR, NDR, and others, as well as many written articles. During the release period of the whole album, there will be a two nights concert in the biggest recording hall of the NDR in Hamburg and right after the release of the album the Keno Harriehausen Quartet performs a showcase at the worlds biggest convention for jazz, the jazzahead!.

With the unusual instrumentation of tenor saxophone, cello, and double bass alongside Harriehausen’s piano, the group consists of two Germans, a Latvian and a Russian, and describes itself as “founded in the Netherlands, shaped in Denmark and Norway, and at home in Germany.” As Wolf Kampmann observed: “The music is reminiscent of Shostakovich, Reger and Ravel, but also of contemporary American Jazz and Scandinavian searching for tonal colours. Yet, all these references lose themselves in the honesty of the performance and in the compelling responsibility to every single note.”