EARSCRATCHER (REMPIS / HARNIK / LONBERG-HOLM / DAISY)

This transatlantic working quartet was conceived in 2019, as a way to celebrate Austrian pianist Elisabeth Harnik’s 50th birthday in 2020.  For the occasion, Harnik called on several longtime collaborators from Chicago with whom she’d connected at the Umbrella Music Festival back in 2008, on her first visit to the city.  Since that time, she’s continued to stoke the fires she started there, not only in various collaborations with these three musicians, but also with Chicago legends like Ken Vandermark, Michael Zerang, and Renee Baker.  And this new configuration – Earscratcher – was fully primed to celebrate her milestone with a May 2020 European tour. For obvious reasons, that May tour was postponed until October 2020.  Then May 2021.  That didn’t quite work out either. Finally, in May of 2022, the coast was clear.  Fourth time’s a charm?  As you can tell from their read more...