Part of the EFG London Jazz Festival
Belgium’s Igloo Records in partnership with MusicLX and The Vortex present three generations of Jazzmen. A night of exclusive collaborations, with Philip Catherine & John Etheridge; exciting new talent to emerge from the Belgian scene – Igor Gehenot with his piano trio; and the vibes and reeds duo of Pascal Schumacher & Sylvain Rifflet.
Philip Catherine // John Etheridge DUO : Exclusive project
Philip Catherine has been on the forefront of the European jazz scene since the sixties. He has worked with great artists like Lou Bennett, Billy Brooks, Edgar Bateman, John Lee, Gerry Brown, Jean Luc Ponty, Larry Coryell, Alphonse Mouzon, Charlie Mariano, Niels Henning Orsted Pedersen, Kenny Drew, Dexter Gordon, Toots Thielemans, Stéphane Grappelli, Charles Mingus, Chet Baker, Tom Harrell, the rock group Focus. His unique approach and sound, his dedication to music and, above all, the highly emotional lyricism of expression in his playing and in his music, have been important and influential.
Philip Catherine was born in London in 1942. Coming from a musical family (his grandfather was first violin with the London Symphony Orchestra), he developed a musical ear from an early age. He took up the guitar after having heard George Brassens, and then started listening to all the great jazzmen of the period. Very soon he had the opportunity to meet some of them, and often play with them when they were performing in Belgium where his family had moved to by then.
Philip Catherine helped establish Igloo through recordings with Chet Baker and the album “Oscar”. He will present a new project with Britain’s legendary John Etheridge. Vibraphone-player Pascal Schumacher’s duo with French sax and clarinet player Sylvain Rifflet will bring two Django d’Or award winners together on stage!
Igor Gehenot TRIO
At just 23 years of age pianist Igor Gehenot has produced a simply magnificent trio work with Sam Gerstmans on bass and Teun Verbruggen on drums. This is a harmonic delight. If you like piano trios, if you like the trios of Mehldau and Jarrett, don’t miss this.
JAZZWISE said about Igor Gehenot (1st time in the UK): “Gehenot already has it all, touch, taste, technique, a masterful understanding of harmony, rhythmic drive but most of all a melodic lyricism that makes everything he does sound special.”
Pascal Schumacher // Sylvain Rifflet Duo
Luxembourg born vibes player and composer Pascal Schumacher is a musician who is gradually building an international reputation. In 2005, Pascal received the Belgium Jazz Trophy Django d’Or in the category “New Talent”. His innovative blend of elements of modern classical composition, jazz and rock makes for a highly distinctive sound and places the vibes, often seen as something of an archaic instrument, into a thoroughly modern context. Trained as a classical percussionist, already popular in Europe, Schumacher works in a duo with Belgian pianist Jef Neve as well as leading the regular working quartet.
IGLOO Records has the chance to record the third first albums of the PSQ. His duo with Sylvain Rifflet is a new project both musicians present for the first time with a strong will to pursue it in the future. The French saxophonist, clarinettist and multi-reed player Sylvain Rifflet came to wider public attention with the album Rockingchair fronted by himself and trumpeter Airelle Besson, a critically praised début recording which received the Django d’Or 2008.
