Lieko Quintet are a Manchester-based contemporary jazz ensemble. Their music embodies a vibrant blend of tumbling melodic phrases, simmering rhythmic interplay and collectively navigated dynamic contours.

The band aspires toward symbiosis, prioritising group explorations of phrasing and orchestration every bit as much as moments of individual improvisational virtuosity. Chewing up influences as wide-ranging as Brian Blade’s Fellowship Band, Dhafer Youssef, Fela Kuti and Led Zeppelin, Lieko’s ‘intelligent, inventive and imaginative’ (The Jazz Mann) music is poised somewhere between jazz, rock, soul and folk song. Their anthemic, propulsive original compositions are at once uplifting, introspective and, crucially, identifiable.

Since forming in 2016, Lieko have undertaken several UK tours, made their international debut at Malta International Arts Festival and performed at events including Manchester Jazz Festival, Brecon Jazz Futures and Kelburn Garden Party. In 2019, the group self-released their second EP ‘Amethyst’, opened for acclaimed Congolese hip-hop artist Baloji, and released their newest single ‘Black Lake’ accompanied by a 10-date UK tour. More recently, they were featured as one of fourteen Mancunian artists on the ‘2020’ compilation (listed as New & Notable on Bandcamp) organised by acclaimed venue Band on the Wall.