Jazz at JAKI: Charlotte Illinger Quartett

The German singer Charlotte Illinger is a jazz singer in the style of American Songbook music. She is particularly fascinated by lyrical lyrics, which she uses to tell stories as a singer. After completing her Bachelor's degree at the Prins Claus Conservatorium in Groningen (NL), she graduated with distinction from the Folkwang University of the Arts in Essen in 2022.

She has already worked with renowned national and international artists such as Paul Heller, Martin Sasse, Hans Dekker, Randy Brecker and Deborah Brown. She was a member of the Bundes Jugend Jazz Orchester and has sung with the WDR Big Band. She has also won jazz prizes such as the Sparda Jazz Prize and the Haestens Jazz Award. In 2021, she won first prize in the Cologne Jazzsuporters e.V. composition prize. In 2015, she released the album "Young and Foolish" with the Florian Raepke Big Band on the Cologne label JazzJazzRecords, for which she received the German Record Critics' Award.

The quartet consists of renowned musicians from the jazz scene: Jerry Lu on piano, WDR Jazz Prize winner Caris Hermes on bass and Niklas Walter on drums. Each of them brings their own influences. In their pieces, they combine elements of straightahead jazz with modern influences, resulting in an interesting interplay of tradition and contemporaneity.