Pierre De Bethmann

Born in 1965 and raised in Paris, France, Pierre de Bethmann graduated from ESCP in 1987 (major French graduate school of management), and studied one year at Berklee College of Music (Boston) in 1989. He started working as a management consultant for five years, before abandoning the desk to become a fulltime professional musician in 1995. He first co-founded trio PRYSM which recorded four albums on Blue Note from 1995 to 2001, then raised his own projects based on original music, both deeply rooted in the afro-american tradition and targeting many innovative contemporary works, for 5 to 7 to 12 elements. In 2013, he also started a new acoustic trio with Sylvain Romano and Tony Rabeson mainly focused on standards from many musical traditions. He created his own label ALEA in 2015, lead several artistic residencies in major French venues. He has recorded twelve albums as a leader or co-leader, and has taught at the CNSMDP (Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris) since 2008. He is Grand Prix Jazz of Académie Charles Cros 2016, Victoires du Jazz 2008 (French instrumental album of the year), Django Reinhardt Prize 2004 (French musician of the year), Django d'Or 1998 (French group of the year - Prysm), 1st prize at the Concours National de Jazz de La Défense in 1994