One of a very few groups to bridge the elusive gap between crossover appeal and serious jazz credentials, Kairos 4tet bring a modern twist to the classic jazz quartet. Blurring the boundaries between accessible, tune-led music with heavy grooves and improvising of the highest order, this is a band whose time has come.

In music, as in life, timing is everything. And for 28-year-old saxophonist Adam Waldmann his contribution to the UK jazz scene in 2010 is a perfect case in point. His self released debut album Kairos Moment sparkled with melodic gems, sidestepping the fashion for adding electronic or amplified elements, instead focusing on tight group interplay and a strong sense of song-like compositions. Adam’s love of both classic and contemporary singer-songwriters and seminal rock bands goes hand in hand with his passion for the totemic greats and contemporary visionaries of jazz. A deep respect for the folk, world music and funk traditions have tempered his all-acoustic sax, piano, bass and drums line up with a rich understanding of modern music-making that serves perfectly his own distinctly unique musical vision.

His rich melodic ideas, delivered with a captivating warm tone on both soprano and tenor saxes, are full of sophisticated rhythmic undercurrents and thematic narratives. As Adam told Jazzwise magazine in their ‘Taking Off’ feature on him; “There are two Greek words for time: Kronos and Kairos. Kronos is literal time and Kairos is subjective time, which I thought lent itself quite well to a band that’s based on improvisation.” He named the band Kairos 4tet to explore this sense of times past, present and future and to explore music with a sense of space, between the competing worlds of written melody and in-the-moment improvisation. Whether it’s the urgent pace of opener ‘V.C.’ or the stunning ‘Unresolved’ featuring the alluring vocals of emerging Swedish singer Emilia Martensson, or the striking invention of ‘Russell’s Resurgence’, Kairos Moment showcases writing of refined conception. Yet it’s heat-of-the-moment creativity that this group excels at when performing; as Adam himself says, “I want it to be different every time.”

This is a view also shared by his band that features three hugely gifted musicians, each of whom has a maturity and sure-footedness of sound enabling them to expand Adam’s songs with improvisational fire and grace. Newest of these is piano sensation Ivo Neame, taking over from Rob Barron who does some fine work on the album. Ivo is one of the most talked about young pianists to emerge on the UK scene in the last three years both as a bandleader in his own right (and as part of London’s Loop Collective) and as a member of exciting trio Phronesis, a group led by Adam’s bassist Jasper Høiby. The tall Danish upright player indomitably lends his big sound, hard-grooving approach and dynamic flexibility to the Kairos 4tet, and he and drummer Jon Scott create a dynamo of progressive grooves. Their fast and light approach builds from low timpani style rumbles to shimmering rhythms that bristle with energy, pumping blood through Kairos 4tet's veins. 


With Adam’s sweet sounding soprano and tenor sax at the group’s core, this ensemble works as a unit, challenging and complimenting each other, leaving acres of space, then leaping onto a melody and delivering it with deft poise. Adam elaborates, “I’ve tried to choose guys that I don’t need to give much direction to, because I know we’ve been checking out the same stuff and even when I bring in new tunes I have to say very little, as it’s just a case of playing more and more together. They are coming from that approach anyway of leaving your ego at the door and making a collective statement as a unit. They all have a very strong sense of the holistic.”

On their recent UK tour Kairos 4tet picked up rave reviews for both their debut album and their live shows, not to mention radio play on such influential shows as Giles Peterson's Worldwide on Radio 1, a live session for Jazz Line Up with Julian Joseph on Radio 3 as well as airplay on Jazz on 3, Jazz FM, and UK Jazz Radio. They’ve also received glowing reviews from the Guardian’s John Fordham whose 4 star review of Kairos Moment said; “Kairos 4TET mixes group-sensitive and freewheeling jazz improv and memorable themes with an elan that’s likely to put it on a lot people’s “rising UK stars” list this year.” Jack Massarik of the London Evening Standard agreed stating Kairos 4tet was “a classy project whose time has definitely come” and Mike Flynn said in Time Out magazine in a 4 star review of the album, "Each luminously unfurling tune orbits around [Waldmann’s] exquisitely warm Wayne Shorterish tone on song-like pieces...It all points to a young master in the making.” While the Oxford Times review of their performance at the city’s jazz venue The Spin stated ".... virtuoso musicianship, breathtaking compositions and ensemble playing worthy of the great concert halls. The excellent Kairos 4tet blew through Oxford and confirmed why they are one of the most in-demand of the newest wave of jazz groups emerging in the UK”.

A wide range of listeners have been drawn to Kairos 4tet’s music – be it jazz-heads, students, kids, or open-minded music lovers in search of something different – the band are now surging forward, continuing to hit hard, making a lasting impression.