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KRISTIN BERARDI – VOCALS
SEAN FORAN – PIANO

RAFAEL  KARLEN – SAXOPHONE

With Pascal Schumacher – Vibraphone

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A true collaborative trio BERARDI/FORAN/KARLEN features the talents of three distinctive Australian jazz artists.  Featuring Kristin Berardi, winner of the Montreux Jazz Vocal competition, APRA Jazz Award Winner Sean Foran and Churchill Fellowship recipient Rafael Karlen, are three are strongly creative musicians, known for their clear personal aesthetic and artistic voice. Highly awarded nationally and internationally as performers and composers, their combined experience is formidable.

 

The music of this group is unlike anything they have each produced before and draws on sounds from modern jazz, European folk music and classical music. You may hear influences from jazz masters such as Kenny Wheeler, Bobo Stenson and Norma Winstone alongside the sounds of Debussy and Joni Mitchell. Intensely intimate, textural and emotional, the music of Berardi/Foran/Karlen draws you close, at times a whisper, the lush piano harmonies merging with Berardi’s sublime vocal lines and Karlen’s engaging melodic interplay.

 

The debut album from the trio “Hope in My Pocket” features a range of material developed to explore the powerful experiences and emotions contained in the correspondence of men & women involved in our military past. The songs explore themes of hope, fear, separation, loss, love, and conditions of war, in a stunningly original way. Their 2015 tour took the group to major jazz festivals around Australia including the Wangarratta, Canberra, Sydney, Noosa, and Brisbane Jazz Festivals.

Their album “Hope in My Pocket” was the winner of the QLD Music Award for Jazz in 2016 and the APRA/Australian Music Centre QLD State Award for Excellence in Jazz at the Art Music Awards.

 

In 2017 they collaborated with the acclaimed vibraphonist Pascal Schumacher (Luxembourg) with performances at the Melbourne and Brisbane Jazz Festivals, and a recording of new music.

Their new album HAVEN featuring Pascal is released November 2020 on Earshift Music. This new quartet blends the vibraphone with the subtle nuances of the trio creating textural music blurring genres and captivating audiences.

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“Schumacher is one of the finest vibes players in contemporary jazz.” - Bruce Lindsay, Allaboutjazz

"If you have not heard Kristin Berardi sing, rush to do so. She is probably the finest jazz singer Australia has produced..." - SYDNEY MORNING HERALD

"The balance between composition and improvisation gives the ear a bit of structure to rely upon while keeping on its toes. Most of all, this music is about as beautiful as it gets (Rafael Karlen - Sweetness of things half-remembered)" - WONDERING SOUND

"a gifted pianist with abundant ideas and the technique to go with them (Sean Foran)" - IRISH TIMES