The Jeff Aug / Murat Parlak Quintet took nearly fifteen years to become a band. Guitarist Jeff Aug, pianist Murat Parlak and cellist Jann Michael Engel have been at the heart of the Anne Clark Band since 2002. Violinist Justin Ciuche and Sven von Samson on drums and percussion joined in 2021.

The music dates to May 2012. After a tour with fusion guitarist Allan Holdsworth, Aug met Parlak to record what was meant to be Aug’s eighth acoustic instrumental album. Some of the new compositions needed an ensemble, and those pieces became the quintet.

Aug’s fingerstyle steel-string guitar and Parlak’s piano sit with violin and cello, while drums and percussion supply momentum. The writing draws on Windham Hill’s acoustic instrumental albums of the 1970s and 1980s and on the rock fusion of that period. There is no vocalist.

Recorded at Stockfisch Studio in Northeim, For the Love of Nine is released by Stockfisch Records on 5 February 2027. The “Listen Up, Jazzhole!” Tour follows across Europe.