Photo Credit: Mattias Launois
Quin Kirchner
In the years since his return to his native Chicago, Kirchner has become a ubiquitous drumming force throughout the city's diverse music scene. He has led countless large & small groups including the Broste/Beach/Kirchner Trio, Head with Wings, Ear to the Ground, Golombisky/Kirchner Duo, Lost Levels, Kirchner/Van Duerm/Lux & The Quin Kirchner Trio, Quartet, Ensemble & Group. In 2006, he was commissioned by the Umbrella Music Organization to compose and perform a 4-movement piece for string quartet & percussion entitled The Quagmire String Quartets. In 2010 he was selected as a member of the New Generation, a cross-cultural exchange in Dortmund, Germany led by Georg Graewe and Tobias Delias as part of the Ruhr 2010 Cultural Capital of Europe.
Kirchner is widely known as a popular sideman performing with such musicians as Rob Mazurek, Jeb Bishop, Jeff Parker, Greg Ward, Dave Rempis, Paul Giallorenzo, Mars Williams, Ryley Walker, Nick Mazzarella, Nate Lepine, Dave Miller, Jason Stein, Keefe Jackson & Matt Ulery to name a few. He has toured, performed and recorded with many different groups including Greg Ward's Fitted Shards & Rogue Parade, Matt Ulery’s Delicate Charms, The Nate Lepine Quartet, The Nick Mazzarella Quintet, Bill MacKay's Darts & Arrows, Paul Giallorenzo's GitGo, The Lucky 7s, blink., ZING!, Health&Beauty, In Tall Buildings, NOMO & Wild Belle, among others. His musical talents have been showcased on stages all across North America and in over 20 countries around the world in various venues, most notably The Chicago Jazz Festival, The Hyde Park Jazz Festival, The Montreal Jazz Festival, The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, The Vancouver Jazz Festival, Austin City Limits Festival, Voodoo Music & Arts Experience, Lollapalooza, Coachella, Outside Lands, Hangout Festival, Firefly Festival, Made in Chicago Festival (Poznan, PL), Music Meeting Festival (Nijmegen, NE), Festival Jazz International (Rotterdam & Nijmegen, NE), Au Foin De La Rue (St. Denis, FR), Festival Corona Capital (Mexico City, DF), and many more.
In 2018, Kirchner released his debut album as a leader, The Other Side Of Time, a sprawling 90-minute collage of jazz, beats & improvisations, called "the first great jazz album of 2018" by Chicago Reader's Peter Margasak. It was well received by critics, named an album of the year by Bandcamp Daily, a top 5 "Best Debut" in the NPR Jazz Critics Poll & given four stars in Downbeat & All About Jazz. In August 2018, The Quin Kirchner Group performed at the 40th Annual Chicago Jazz Festival and in toured the South and Midwest, appearing at Cropped Out Festival in October 2018.
In 2020, Kirchner released the follow-up to The Other Side of Time entitled The Shadows and The Light. In similar fashion to his debut album, his second album is a long-form musical journey, covering a wide range of styles and showcasing influences such as Elvin Jones, Sun Ra, Phil Cohran, Carla Bley & Charles Mingus. Since it's release in June 2020, it has already received glowing reviews from Chicago Reader, Bandcamp Daily, All About Jazz and Pitchfork.
Appears on:
OOYH U006: Nick Mazzarella / Quin Kirchner - See or Seem: Live at the Hyde Park Jazz Festival