Laurent De Wilde

Originally self-taught, Laurent went to New York in 1983 to learn jazz piano and stayed there for eight years, recording his first four albums as a leader with Ida Records from 1986 to 1995, when he signed with Sony Jazz (acoustic period), then with Warner Jazz in 2000 (electronic period), then Nocturne (both) until 2012, when he could lean on his label Gazebo for the rest of his productions. With a classic jazz education, he joined the electronic revolution for 2000 on and performed in various formats, from piano-computer duo to an electronic sextet with a DJ . Always keen on collaborations, he has worked with actor Jacques Gamblin or slammer Abd Al Malik and with Ray Lema for the past six years with a two pianos repertoire. Laurent was awarded the New Talent and the Artist of the Year Victoires, The Prix Django Reinhardt de l’Académie du Jazz and the Grand Prix Sacem for lifetime achievement It took a long time for Laurent to stand back on his two legs after a motorcycle accident which happened right after the Covis crisis. It was for him a period of refexion, introspection and gratitude to be alive, also realizing that our lives could well be nothing more than a movie whose director would be Fate. With the complicity of Jerome Regard on bass and Donald Kontomanou on drums, staunch members of the trio for over ten years, the three musicians explore speed, slowness, sound or silence, just like a movie score that would have the variety of their real life.