About Harlequin

Harlequin is an improvisational jazz quartet which grew out of the years spent together performing at various club dates, jam sessions and shared stages as sidemen with a passion for jazz and a recognition of the excellent musical rapport they have together.

The Harlequin band takes its name from a colorful and resourceful character featured in the Italian Renaissance theatrical style called Commedia dell’Arte.
The two main distinguishing traits of Commedia: a cast of Stock Characters and Improvised Scripts or Scenarios. A unique feature of Commedia dell’Arte is that the entire performance was IMPROVISED.

To quote EVERT SPRINCHORN from his book, “The Commedia dell‘Arte”...
Commedia dell’Arte.
“Much of the genius of the Commedia lay in its spontaneity. No doubt this power
varied from performance to performance depending on the alertness of the players
and the responses of the audiences. We might compare Commedia performance to jazz sessions, no two of which are alike, even if the same songs are played.”