CUANTUNE
Nu-Jazz | Electro Swing | Future Soul
The nu jazz project Cuantune was born in the spring of 2011, in Romania, from the creative minds of two talented musicians with totally different personalities, Cruxfader and Elizabeth. These differences were actually the elements that brought them together and put a distinctive mark on their musical compositions. For the live performances, Cuantune presents an extended formula, the two founding members being joined on stage by other experimented musicians like Andreas Aron (bass guitar, doublebass), Dragos Anghel (electric guitar), Bogdan Nicodim (piano/keyboards), Harvis Cuni Padron (trumpet) and Paolo Profeti (sax).
ABOUT
The duo met at a friend’s party, where Cruxfader was deeply impressed by Elizabeth’s voice, who was leading a jam session of jazz piano improvisation. Discovering their common interest for music, especially for jazz music, Cruxfader and Elizabeth decided to team up and work together. The first track they recorded, “I’ve seen you”, told the story of their first encounter, and was soon picked up by the main alternative radio stations in Romania. The song enjoyed air-play success for more than 3 months, encouraging Cruxfader and Elizabeth to continue the project. The music of Cuantune represents the natural state of sounds, in a constant evolution and movement, that can suddenly stop and materialize for a short period of time in a new musical composition. The band’s name, composed of two words, “cuantum” (Romanian for “quantum”) and “tune”, describes best their vision on music. For Cruxfader, music represents an infinite quantum of sounds and the different ways of combining them, while for Elizabeth, the rhythm and the harmony are found at the core of a new piece of music. It’s quite hard to assimilate Cuantune’s style to a solely musical genre. Cuantune has its roots in the 40’s jazz, bringing that idealistic atmosphere to the present times through a fusion of musical elements, borrowed from soul, funk, electro, DnB or hip-hop, surprising the audience with it’s freshness, cleverness and boldness.
The Duo
Elizabeth
Elizabeth, one of the best Romanian jazz singers of the new generation, was influenced in her musical path by her family even since early childhood, her father being an accordion player and her grandfather a virtuoso on saxophone. After taking her first piano lessons at the age of 7, Elizabeth began studying intensively classical canto, but the love for jazz convinced her to devote herself to extensively studying this musical genre.
Mario Cruxfader
Cruxfader began his musical journey at the age of 13, fascinated by the hip-hop beats, when he started to write lyrics and compose his first tracks. From behind the turntables, sound mixer, music software and keyboards, Cruxfader became a self-taught musician, experimenting with rhythms and sounds through various featuring with artists from the hip-hop and soul underground scene, both in Romania and Ireland, where he lived for five years.