CKRAFT 2025 Photo by Manuel Braun

We have returned with our feature My Favorite Concert Memory for the first time in 2025. We welcome in an artist we dig and ask them to recall a treasured musical memory. In this new edition; Charles Kieny of Paris France-based CKRAFT recalls how he converted from Nu Metal and Extreme Metal to an awakening to Jazz. The band released their latest and sophomore album, Uncommon Grounds on January 17, 2025.

Charles Kieny of CKRAFT: My favorite concert memory from before I was in a band dates back to when I was an obsessive metalhead teenager, constantly listening to Metal all day long, whenever I had a few spare minutes, from Nu to Black, to more groovy and avant-garde stuff (1990s/2000s Opeth albums, 2000s KoRn & Slipknot albums, Gojira, Enslaved, Dimmu Borgir, Pantera, Meshuggah, Primus, Mr Bungle, Dub Trio, Faith No More…) I got my first pair of headphones and entered this period of completely shutting myself from the world around me. I was just 24/7 bathing in Rock and Metal. One day though, I had a chance to attend a jazz concert. My mate from high school was learning music in the local conservatory, which had some sort of Jazz ensemble workshop that was playing a support show for a Russian saxophonist (Dmitry Baevsky) who was touring in the area. Anyway they were playing some of the great American Jazz tunes of the 20th century. I got there early to see my friend perform with the Jazz ensemble, last thing I expected was to have my mind blown, but that’s exactly what happened! I especially remember when they played a Dizzy Gillespie tune called “Night In Tunisia,” the whole band plays the main melody, concluding with a “break”, which means everyone stops except the first “soloist”, who is completely free to play his own thing alone for a few seconds before the rhythm section starts playing with him again. The most renowned version was recorded in 1946 and features a legendary alto sax “break” by Charlie Parker (if you type “Charlie Parker’s break Night in Tunisia” on any search engine, you’ll see that nowadays Jazz fans are still losing their mind over it!). A feeling of absolute freedom, that I never experienced in music, completely swept me off my feet that night as I witnessed a live Jazz performance for the first time. I instantly fell in love with this music and a new obsession was born. If I stayed home that day, I think CKRAFT wouldn’t exist today!

Buy and stream CKRAFT’s Uncommon Grounds here:

Order the album, here: https://ckraft.bigcartel.com/product/album-pre-order