Maxime Bender «Infinity of Sound» 4tet

EN

Saxophonist & composer Maxime Bender has enjoyed quite a career as a leader or sideman. The style within these projects varies greatly from more spontaneous and free with the quartet to written and arranged with the big band. He takes advantage of the different natures of these projects to showcase his different facets as a composer and a leader. He has released a number of albums, the most recent being “Universal Sky” under the prestigious Italian label CamJazz.

Today, Maxime Bender having played at several of the biggest festivals all over the world, Tokyo Jazzfestival, Jazz a Vienne, Montréal Jazz Festival to name a few, had the chance to shared the stage with a number of great musicians as George Duke, DeeDee Bridgewater, Donny McCaslin, Joachim Kühn, Emile Parisien, Louis Sclavis to name a only a few.

Constantly in the search of new musical adventures, he will release 2022 his 8^th Album as a leader for the Italian label CamJazz. 

Benjamin Moussay was first graduated in classical piano at the Strasbourg Conservatory, before graduating in Jazz piano at Paris National Superior Conservatory (CNSM). Prizewinner at Martial Solal International Jazz Piano Competition, soloist prize at Paris-La Défense National Jazz Contest, he is now a confirmed teacher and "a most sought after pianist".

Although he particularly likes playing solo piano concerts, we can not count his collaborations with the biggest names of Jazz, such as Louis Sclavis, Marc Ducret, Daniel Humair, Tony Malaby, Steve Swallow, Michel Portal, Vincent Peirani, Martial Solal Youn Sun Nah, Airelle Besson, the ONJ and long is the list.

Next to his trio with Eric Echampard and Arnault Cuisinier, he devotes himself to his duet with Claudia Solal whose latest album « Butter in my Brain », quoted as a “masterpiece” in Le Monde newspapers, received a resounding welcome. His compositions "are engraved in memory". He has "neither a style nor a genre, much less a repertoire: a singular attitude, yes, a unique and identifiable approach to music".

Presented as a keyboards sorcerer, space modeller, an imaginative pianist with sensual play, protean keyboardist, "between dreamlike piano whirlwinds on the edge of a precipice and intimate and spectral electronic architectures". Martial Solal also says that « He plays fair. Not too much, not too little. ".

Stéphane Kerecki was born in Paris in 1970. After studying economics at the University of Paris II, he entered the Paris National Conservatory where he studied bass with Jean-François Jenny-Clark, Riccardo Del Fra and Jean Paul Celea. 

For the past twenty years, Stéphane Kerecki has appeared in the groups of Denis Colin, Guillaume de Chassy, ​​Yaron Herman, Daniel Humair, François Jeanneau, Sheila Jordan, Steve Lehman, Ronnie Lynn Patterson, Michel Portal, Anne Paceo, Jacques Schwarz-Bart, Thomas Savy, Jacky Terrasson ...   

In 2001, he was awarded second soloist prize at the Paris International Jazz Competition of La Défense (only bassist named) and in 2005, "Jazzman" magazine ranked him among the 125 talents for tomorrow. 

In 2003, he created his own trio formed with saxophonist Matthieu Donarier and drummer Thomas Grimmonprez. He recorded two CDs with this trio "Story Tellers" and "Focus Dance" for which he receives numerous awards: Grand Prix 2007 of the "Charles Cros Academy", “Emoi” Record of the Year 2007 (Jazz Magazine), CHOC of “le Monde de la Musique”…

The third opus “Houria” invited the American saxophonist Tony Malaby (Charlie Haden, Paul Motian, Daniel Humair, Michel Portal ...) to join the trio; this record allowed him to be named to the “Victoires du Jazz 2009” (the french grammys) in the instrumental revelation category.   

In 2010, he continued his collaboration with the label Zig-Zag territoires by recording for this label the CD "Patience" with the English pianist John Taylor (Kenny Wheeler, John Surman, Jan Garbarek, Miroslav Vitous, Peter Erskine ...). This album was hailed by a "CHOC of the year 2011" from Jazz Magazine / Jazzman magazine and in 2013 this album is quoted by the magazine as one of the 120 cult duos in the history of Jazz.   

In 2012, the trio recorded his last album, “Sound Architects” with two guests, saxophonist Tony Malaby and Serbian pianist Bojan Z (Michel Portal, Henri Texier, Julien Lourau ...), for the Outnote / Outhere label. This album is hailed by the specialized press ("Indispensable JAZZ NEWS", SO Selection JAZZ, Elu citizen Jazz, MUST TSF ...) and is selected among the 3 jazz records of the year 2012 by the daily "Libération".   

In February 2013, Stéphane Kerecki is named among the three finalists of the Prix Django Reinhard (French Musician of the Year) of the "Academy of Jazz".  

In 2014, he recorded the CD "Nouvelle Vague" with John Taylor, saxophonist Emile Parisien, and drummer Fabrice Moreau. The singer Jeanne Added joins the group on two titles including "La Chanson de Maxence" of Michel Legrand which will be hailed by Télérama as “the jazz song of the year 2014”. This CD receives among other distinctions, a “CHOC” Jazz Magazine, FFFF Télérama , and the "Académie du Jazz" Award, rewarding the Best Jazz Record recorded by a French Musician.

In 2015, he won the “Talents Jazz ADAMI”, was named one of the three musicians of the year 2014 by Jazz magazine and the CD Nouvelle Vague received the “Victoire du Jazz” for Best Record of the Year 2015.   

In 2016 and 2017 he participated in two trios for which he wrote a part of the repertoire: the trio “Modern Art” founded by Daniel Humair and to which was added the saxophonist Vincent Lê Quang, and the trio “Aïres” founded by the pianist Edouard Ferlet and the trumpet player Airelle Besson. These two projects are unanimously hailed by the critics (Le Monde, Télérama etc ...)   

In september 2018, Incises Records released his new album "French Touch" in quartet with Emile Parisien, Fabrice Moreau and Belgian pianist Jozef Dumoulin around the standards of French electro-pop. This record has received unanimous criticism from the press: "CHOC" jazz magazine,"Incontournable" Jazz News.

In 2019 he co-wrote and co-produced Daniel Humair's new Opus "Drum Thing" with Vincent Lê Quang and Yoann Loustalot. In 2020 he begins a new collaboration on stage with the pianist Thomas Enhco around “Folk Songs”.

Daniel Humair had his first contact with the drum among a Genevans fanfare at the age of 7. From the age of 14, he got passionate about the New Orleans Jazz and was part of several amateurs’ courses, then discovered quickly modern jazz and became a professional musician after winning the first prize in three categories for the amateur Festival of Zürich in 1955.

Afterwards, he spent several years in Switzerland, in Belgium, in Sweden and in Germany. Autodidact, he acquired among various trainings the essential profession on the perilous exercise of improvised music in a band. In 1958, he decided to get a chance in Paris – capital of European jazz and worked immediately with legendary artists such as Don Byas, Lucky Thompson, Kenny Dorham, Bud Powell, Oscar Petitford, Chet Baker or Eric Dolphy. In fact, it would be easier to quote musicians with whom Daniel Humair has not played with than played with because except Miles Davis or Sonny Rollins, he played with most jazzmen for the last three decades.

In 1959, Daniel Humair started a long collaboration with Martial Solal, played very often with Pierre Michelot, René Urtreger, Barney Wilen, Michel Hausser, Stéphane Grappelli in the famous Club Saint Germain and met all the great names of jazz passing by in Paris. In the 1960s, Daniel Humair created a trio with the violinist Jean-Luc Ponty and the organist Eddy Louiss. They recorded two albums at the Chameleon club, re-released recently. He accompanied the Swingle Singers for two years, then participated with Phil Woods’ famous band: European Rhythm Machine. His activities on the international scene allowed him to have the “Drummer Deserving Wider Recognition” by the Down Beat International Critics Poll in 1970.

During several years, Daniel Humair played and recorded as a freelance with musicians like Jim Hall, Lee Konitz, Art Farmer, Joe Henderson, Dexter Gordon, Franco Ambrosetti, Georges Gruntz, Johnny Griffin, Herbie Mann, Anthony Braxton, Hampton Hakwes, etc., before creating a trio with François Jeanneau and Henri Texier. This band is considered as one of the catalysts of the French new jazz.

While continuing his career as a freelance, Daniel Humair formed as a coleader a trio with Joachim Kühn and Jean-François Jenny Clark which allowed him to develop fully his conception of modern drums and his activity as a composer. This trio constitutes now his main priority just as much as his collaboration with Michel Portal, Richard Galliano, Jerry Bergonzi and David Liebman.

Daniel Humair had the opportunity to play in main jazz festivals such as in Newport, Monterey, Paris, Berlin, Montreux, Chicago, Barcelone, Nice, Antibes, etc. In parallel of his musical career, Daniel Humair continued an intense activity as a painter. Having a tendency for abstract expressionism, his paintings are presented in several international galleries and can be seen in numerous public or private collections.

His interest for relations between visual arts and music allowed him to participate at the recording of numerous film music or television as a composer or a soloist.

He is also the author of an innovative drum book published by Leduc.

The graphic designs used in this book are the result of Daniel Humair’s work for a decade as a teacher.

He is certainly one of the pioneers of modern jazz in Europe. He participates on the International Jazz scene since the end of the 50s and all these years dedicated to improvised music have earned him to be awarded officially with a nomination of Chevalier, then “Officier des Arts et des Lettres” by the French government, in 1986 and in 1992.

In 1987, he received the Grand Prix of Jazz awarded by the Sacem, the Prize Charlie Parker of l’Académie du Disque, and the Prize “In Honorem” of the Charles Cros Academy for his entire career. He was elected European Musician the same year by the Jazz Academy. In 2000, he won the Victoires de la Musique for the trio HUM.

In 2003, his album “Baby Boom”, with the quintet composed of Christophe Monniot, Manu Codija, Matthieu Donarier and Sébastien Boisseau, received a lot of praises from the critics. In 2007, he recorded Tryptic with Jean-Paul Celea and François Couturier. In 2008, he worked again with Joachim Kühn and Tony Malaby to record “Full Contact” and in the same year his album “Baby Boom II”, two opus of his quintet, is anew greeted by the critics.

In 2010, he recorded the album “Pas de dense” with Tony Malaby and Bruno Chevillon as well as the album “I will follow you” for the BEE Jazz label with Ben Monder and Jérôme Sabbagh, two other albums well appreciated by the critics and received several awards.

The year 2011 is represented by the encounter with the Label Laborie Jazz, but is actually the closeness between two friends that time had separated for several years. Summary of a career, explanation of the recent creation of the label, crossroads and dialogues on the Artist’s place and on music in our world and in our current trend and mutual decision to present in a beautiful way their wishes and desires. This is done with the album “Sweet & Sour” in which Daniel Humair is younger and more creative than ever, moved up by a trio of musicians in full expansion. The scene transcends the album, the repertoire and the first concerts of this new quartet thus plays in the best concert rooms and on European festivals.

https://www.maximebender.com/