Jazz pianist, composer and writer, Laurent de Wilde was born in Washington in 1960. Raised in France from 1964, he joined the Ecole Normale Superieure in 1981, philosophy section. In 1983, during a music scholarship, he lived inNew York at the Brooklyn campus of Long Island University. At the expiration of his scholarship six months later, he decided to settle permanently in New York. With the encouragement and advice of his elders, he performed in town and joined the trumpeter Eddie Henderson's regular band.
In
1987, he recorded the first of a series of four albums for Ida Records
“Off The Boat “ with Eddie Henderson, Ralph Moore, empowered by Ira
Coleman on bass and Billy Hart on drums. In 1989, “Odd And Blue” is
released with Coleman and Jack DeJohnette (drums) followed in 1990 by
“Colors of Manhattan”, with Coleman, Henderson and Lewis Nash. Laurent
then returned to Paris to settle but came back to New York
in 1992 to record a trio album, “Open Changes”, with Coleman and Billy
Drummond (drums). The success of this record in 1993 earned him the
Django Reinhardt prize, awarded to the best musician of the year. He
then shares his time between Paris and his career as a leader or sideman with Barney Wilen, Aldo Romano and Andre Ceccarelli.
In 1995, Laurent de
Wilde signed with Sony Jazz and recorded “The Back Burner”. In 1996, he
published the book “Monk” (L'Arpenteur / Gallimard) on which he had
worked for a long time, a biography of one of the most famous pianists
and controversial figures in jazz history. The book was an immediate
success, and joined in October 1997 the permanent Folio catalog. He was
also awarded the Charles Delaunay prize in 1996 as “best book about
jazz” and the Pelleas Award. “Monk” has been translated and published in
New York, London, Tokyo, Barcelona and Milan. TBC HERE
No comments:
Post a Comment