ABOUT

ENKI are a modern jazz quartet based in Manchester. Drawing on a wide range of influences from Alfa Mist to John Zorn, the four young musician focus on spontaneity and synergy. They have presented their original repertoire both in the UK and Luxembourg and have release their debut EP with MSC Records in May 2020.

Their 2020 reduced Summer Tour was a great success with sold-out gigs in Germany (Jazz im Brunnenhof) and Luxembourg (Abbey Neimënster & Trifolion Echternach).

Our story

ENKI Quartet played their debut gig in Soup Kitchen (Manchester) in May 2019. We were joined, following Sam's invitation, by the London-based afro-jazz band “Kiki and the Tiger".

No later than July 2019, we embarked on our first tour. Near David's hometown in Luxembourg, we had managed to get three supporting gigs for the new edition of the Echternacher Festival, now called Echterlive and presenting artists like Donny McCaslin, Joachim Kühn and Joss Stone. After playing a total of 5 gigs in Luxembourg, it was clear to us that there was real potential here, given the organic musical connection we had been able to forge in such a short time.

From then on, we continued to build on our artistic experience organising a number of local gigs in and around the Manchester area alongside a few gigs in London. This included multiple appearances at the two Manchester jazz institutions Band on the Wall and Matt and Phreds Jazz Club. With regular gigs at Fuel Café Withington, Haus Fallowfield, AATMA, Night and Day Café and Joshua Brooks, we stayed very connected to the raw and independent music scene, that continues to inspire us.

It was time for a first production. In close collaboration with the Manchester-based independent label MSC Records, we recorded live in February 2020 and then three months later released “The Keppel Road Session”. This debut EP features 4 original compositions and was an entirely crowd-funded project.

Despite the harsh impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on our gig schedule, we played our first gig in Germany in July 2020 for the “Jazz im Brunnenhof – Trier” concert series, starting off our reduced Summer 2020 Tour. We were welcomed at the Trifolion Echternach for their “Trifo-Apéro” series and completed the tour with a Luxembourgish jazz scene classic, the Sunday morning “Neimënster Apéro Jazz”.

Dealing with all the cancellations, we adapted and transitioned to recording and filming some of our existing material at the Unison Studios during our stay in Luxembourg. Our second EP is now scheduled to be released in January 2021, with a pre-release single coming out in December 2020. Recorded as a live session, WithFoqus captured some exiting footage of this spontaneous musical adventure, which will be released on our YouTube channel.