Shannon Barnett Quartet - Alive at Loft (2023)

It all started with pianist and investigator Pablo Held's idea to do a week run at Loft in Köln, with three bands each playing a set of their favourite standards each night. I was initially skeptical about playing that repertoire with a quartet that has worked hard on establishing its own sound in the frame of my original compositions, but soon realised that this would be a great opportunity to pay tribute to but also reframe the music that first got me interested in improvising and with which I have had a complicated relationship ever since. I set about choosing pieces that meant something to me and then imagining how we could maintain the sense of freedom that the quartet often plays with, whilst navigating these well-loved compositions.
This music has a deep history and we feel privileged to be able to perform and record it.