Clockwise from top-left: Patrick Kunka, Clinic@MAI, Alan Benzie & Dylan Coleman-Tunstall, PKQ signing CDs, Leah Gough-Cooper, PKQ@Le Blitz (Photos by sSkau)

… With a schedule like this one you’d have to really love what you do for a living, and these guys certainly do. You see it in the way they conduct business, their eagerness, professionalism, and interaction within the group, the media, and others, on stage and off stage. The Patrick Kunka Quartet (PKQ) had just concluded their own late-summer European tour before jumping onto this one which put them through some kinda routine. Mind you, they’re accumulating homework back in Boston and running into Berklee midterms as soon as they return. Hey, that’s like working two separate full-time jobs in separate continents; simultaneously (literally at the same time, across time zones). Forget about 9-5; the last three days, from pick-up to drop-off, ran from 10:30am – midnight, 2pm – 2:30am, and 3:15 – 1am.

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Tuesday, October 6, 2009: Berklee being present. Being in the world. Carrying the torch this time is the Patrick Kunka Quartet. This quartet is made up of Patrick Kunka ’09 on drums, Leah Gough-Cooper ’09 on alto and soprano saxophones, and current students Alan Benzie on piano and Dylan Coleman-Tunstall on bass. Location: Nancy, France. Event: Nancy Jazz Pulsations (NJP). October 2009.

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