k3                                                                                                                                             

 „anti-cast“… probably just an over-reaction to certain TV casting shows
honest, open, down-and-dirty, absolutely unpredictable…

About k3…
Herbert Könighofer (sax, flutes)
Robert Kainar (drums, perc., electronics)
Klaus Kircher (double-bass, e-bass, guit.)

K3 have been referred to as the enfants terribles of the Austrian Jazz scene.
With their fusion of acoustically and electronically generated beats and sounds, the three unconventional artists walk on a tightrope between pop and free jazz.
Their genre-busting style oscillates between dub, trance, noise and drum and base and the three musicians boldly defy conventions and create a space for artistic freedom. In doing so, they play Jazz in its original meaning: crossing borders, pushing boundaries… far out! - keeping aloof from clichés and mainstream, leaving the beaten track of academic, inane high-speed Jazz.
Improvisation, spontaneity and humour are the main ingredients of the soup they cook up during their performances. Music emerges; it happens live - exclusively!
k3 reinvent themselves with every performance. They alienate, destroy and recreate - and never remain the same. Their music contradicts reproduction and thereby allows the audience to experience a unique feeling of becoming part of the development of k3.
Some may call it Jazz - we call it art, anyways!
k3 - corners and edges - as a matter of principle!

  Projects:  
* K3 goes to India with Ranajit Sengupta on the sarode and vocals and Samir Nandi on the tablas, both from Calcutta, India.
* New Year programme: K3 plays Strauss
* Peter Blaikner & k3 “Ein Strauss für Mozart”
* Ganz in Weiss (entirely in white) pop song parade with k3
+ K3- the karaoke show
* film music for “Dark Glimpse On The White Gloved Mouse” by Gudrun Bittner  
* k3 & Paul Thomas Bierau die maennerschlacht

With guests: Amy Denio, Otto Lechner, Nobulus, Karl Ritter, The Lumberjacks, Christian Wegscheider, Wolfgang Muthspiel, Gerry Dial, Nazide, Gottfried Stöger, Ranajit Sengupta, Prabir Kuma Mitra, DJ Aegyd and many others.

Selected Performances:
Jazz Festival Zagreb ; Vienna City Festival ; Porgy and Bess, Vienna; Thüringer Jazztage, wellenklaenge festival lunz,....


CDs:
bingo (sowiesound 2010)
popstarr (konnex records 2004)
geschuettelt ... nicht geruehrt (ATS records2002)

Vinyl:
popstarr+ (konnex records 2005)

Cinema/DVD:
K3...I und !
A Movie by Sina Moser (2005)


What the critics say: 

Herbert Könighofer, Klaus Kircher and Robert Kainar are k3. Their concept is believably simple. Groovy beats which serve as a base for Herbert Könighofer’s jazzy wind variations. Here and there they use loops and drum and bass elements. Cool downbeats float in the room and the saxophone invites us to take off while Hans Moser holds us firmly on the ground. 

...the pithy trio with the 3K’s at the ends of their sir names are no longer only in Salzburg shooting stars.

  That’s how jazz can be fun. Jazzit house band shines  with a simple concept. It’s always simple when you can do it, and these three really can! Groovy beats as the basis for jazzy variations, sometimes they use loops and drum & bass elements. Free improvisations, electric club-sound-feeling, relaxed beats and  simple fun with music. A real live experience.