German saxophonist Stefan Keune first got noticed on the free improvisation scene in the 1990s with his trio and his duo with John Russell. His choice of the sopranino saxophone as main instrument gives him an uncommon sound, which he pairs with a textural approach reminiscent of John Butcher. He has performed with many improvisers from the German and British scenes, namely Matthias Bauer, Hans Schneider, Paul Lovens, and Paul Lytton. Keune was born in 1965 in Oberhausen (where he remained based). Until age 17, he had no particular interest in music. In 1982, after witnessing Peter Brötzmann in action, he decided there and then to buy a tenor saxophone. He studied classical technique with private teachers at first and moved on from there, always keeping free improvisation in mind. He played for some time in a trio with Martin Blume, but his public career really started around 1987, when he switched to the sopranino. Making contacts with established musicians in 1990, he ended up in a quartet with Dietmar Diesner, Bauer, and Lytton. The next year he formed his first group, the Stefan Keune Trio, with bassist Schneider and drummer Lovens, which recorded the CD Loft (1992, Hybrid). In 1993, Keune invited John Russell to join the group re-christened Beware of Art. The quartet made only a few appearances, but the saxophonist and the British guitarist developed a special musical relationship. When Russell and drummer Roger Turner visited Oberhausen during a tour of Germany, they asked Keune to join them. Since 1997, he and Russell perform a few concerts annually as a duo, eventually releasing Excerpts & Offerings on Acta in January 2001. This association has been long-lasting and is mostly responsible for Keune's first international exposure. The duo visited Japan in April 2001 (a track as a quartet with Brett Larner and Masahiko Okura appears on the compilation Deluxe Improvisation Series, Vol. 2 2001 Part 1). In 2000, Keune began playing the alto saxophone in conjunction with his sopranino. He founded the Ensemble Echtzeit, which also comprises Schneider, Lytton, Thomas Lehn, Gunda Gottschalk, Melvyn Poore, Marc Charig, Erhard Hirt, Ute Voelker, and Philippe Micol. ~ François Couture