Andrea Keller Quartet

Eugene Ball – trumpet
Ian Whitehurst – tenor Saxophone
Joe Talia – drums
Andrea Keller – piano

Keller's main focus,‘The Andrea Keller Quartet’, emerged in 2003 from what was once ‘The Andrea Keller Quintet’ (formed in 1999). When their bassist relocated to New York, rather than throwing a new sound/personality into the mix they became a bass-less ensemble complete with a whole new and exciting set of challenges.

The ensemble has performed at major Australian jazz festivals including the Wangaratta Jazz Festival, Summer Jazz Festival Canberra, Melbourne Women’s International Jazz Festival, Melbourne Jazz Co operative, SIMA (Sydney), Apollo Bay Music Festival and the Melbourne Jazz Fringe Festival. In 2007 the Andrea Keller Quartet performed at the Moers Festival (Germany) and the Copenhagen Jazzhouse (Denmark).

In 2009 The Andrea Keller Quartet embarks on their first national Australian tour. Collaborating with special guests Stephen Magnusson (Melbourne), Phil Slater (Sydney), Miroslav Bukovsky (Canberra), John Rodgers (Brisbane) and Jamie Oehlers (Perth), the AKQ will be presenting new works to feature these iconic creative improvisers.

The album ‘Thirteen Sketches’ by The Andrea Keller Quintet (Newmarket Music) won the ARIA award for Best Jazz Album 2002 and ‘Angels and Rascals’ by The Andrea Keller Quartet (ABC JAZZ) received an ARIA nomination for Best Jazz Album 2005. Their third album ‘Little Claps’ (Jazzhead records) received an ARIA nomination for Best Jazz Album 2007 and won the Bell Award for the Best Australian Contemporary Jazz Album 2008.

The focus of the Andrea Keller Quartet is on performing original contemporary improvised music which challenges the traditional role-play of instruments in a jazz context. The bass-less line up of trumpet, tenor saxophone, piano and drums is not so common in contemporary jazz. This coupling of instruments has been a leading force in developing a chamber music-like approach to the improvisations and compositions performed by the group. Although the ensemble's repertoire and personnel are heavily influenced by and stem from the jazz tradition, each member also brings a wide array of experience from other genres, ranging from contemporary western art music through to electronica, all merging to create a strongly identifiable and unique sound.

Described as distinctive and alluring, ‘The Andrea Keller Quartet’ perform compositions by Keller. The ensemble is said to be "a marker of just how good Australian jazz is”. review of ‘Angels and Rascals’ by Bev Stapleton AllAboutJazz.com, 12th January 2006.