| Laurent de Wilde |
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 Pianist Laurent de Wilde was born in Washington, D.C. in 1960. In 1964, he moved to France, where he spent the rest of his childhood. He studied philosophy at the Ecole Normale Supérieure in 1981. Upon winning a music scholarship, he left for New York in 1983 to study at the Brooklyn campus of Long Island University. After six months when his scholarship finished, he decided to remain in New York.With the advice and encouragement of such pianists as Jim McNeely, Kirk Lightsey, and Mulgrew Miller, he began playing with Reggie Workman, Ralph Moore, and Greg Osby, and joined trumpet player Eddie Henderson's regular group. In 1987, Laurent recorded the first in a series of four albums for Ida Records: "Off the Boat", with Eddie Henderson and Ralph Moore, accompanied by Ira Coleman on bass and Billy Hart on drums. The next album in 1989 was "Odd and Blue", again with Coleman but with Jack DeJohnette on drums. Released in 1990, "Colors of Manhattan", with Coleman, Henderson and the drummer Lewis Nash. Laurent then moved back to Paris but returned to New York in 1992 to record the trio album "Open Changes" with Coleman and Billy Drummond on drums. This project earned him the Django Reinhardt french prize in 1993, an award which essentially named him musician of the year and placed him among the ranks of his older peers, such as Martial Solal, Eddy Louiss, Jean-Luc Ponty, Michel Portal, Henri Texier and Michel Petrucciani.  Based in Paris, Laurent de Wilde divided his time between leading his own group and accompanying such artists as Barney Wilen, Joshua Redman, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Aldo Romano, André Ceccarelli, Harold Land and Tom Harrell. In 1994, he signed a worldwide contract with Sony Jazz France and recorded "The Back Burner" (with Coleman, Drummond, Henderson and Antonio Hart, sax) for Columbia in 1995. The album, while representing a new start for Laurent in France, was also widely acclaimed internationally, with releases in Japan, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, the UK and the USA.The year 1996 saw the release in France of a book on which Laurent had been working for a long time - a biography on one of the best-known and most controversial pianists in the history of jazz: "Monk", published in France by l'Arpenteur/Gallimard. The author's alert, lively writing style reveals a new, down-to-earth, personal dimension to jazz literature. The book was an overnight success (four re-prints in one year) and will be added to the Gallimard's permanent collection in October 1997. It also won the Charles Delaunay award for best Jazz Book of The Year and was translated into English and published in November 1997 through Marlowe Press in New York. Laurent de Wilde's next album, "Spoon-a-rhythm", was recorded live to two tracks (a technique which accentuates the spontaneity and authenticity of the music, especially when the incomparable James Farber is at the mixing board), in November 1996, at the Clinton Studios in New York City. With the exception of Ira Coleman (who has appeared on all of Laurent's albums), his musical universe is comprised of all new rhythmic partners: drummers Dion Parson and Bobby Thomas, Jr. Dion, a native of St. Thomas in the Caribbean Islands, has made his mark with the likes of other young, brilliant contemporaries (Stephen Scott, Marc Cary). The percussionist Bobby Thomas in the wake of his stints with Miles Davis and Weather Report, needs no introduction! These three remarkable musicians have known and appreciated each other since their collaboration in the orchestra of pianist Monty Alexander. Thus it goes without saying that Laurent would adopt such a top-notch rhythm section. Spoonerism is the manipulation of letters and syllables in a sentence to create a new and unexpected meaning. This playful, literary term provided Laurent with the perfect musical springboard. Through the complicity of his musicians, the pianist reminded us that jazz is essentially "group" music, where playful exchanges, glances and suggestions are equally important. Plays on words, plays on notes: what could be more natural than to call the album "Spoon-a-rhythm"? In 1998, this CD brought him a "Victoire de la Musique" as the best jazz album of the year. In 2001, he released "Time 4 Change" (Warner Jazz), a long lasting project on the encountering of jazz and electronic musics which came as a complete surprise. But Laurent himself had been reflecting for a long while on this new form of jazz, that exports jazz into electronic music. "Acoustic jazz has become over referenced, over determined and it is very difficult to have a personal voice, to be different from the others, when so many things have happened since the birth of jazz … Everything that is happening in electronic is really creative and new, as far as sound and rhythms are concerned. When I heard Amon Tobin, the DJ from Brighton, I found myself confronted to a world I knew nothing about. A world I found totaly open, truly original, very promising, and where I felt a jazz musician had its place. So I took interest in this music, I collected records, and I went on a tour with a drum'n'bass band, "Cosmik Connection", with whom I played for one year, and learned a lot on stage, and also on how to play, to conceive this music. And the more I go forward and and the more I find things to discover … It is very exciting to enter a domain without rules or standards, where everything can be invented. Everyone plays the music like he hears it, and this in my opinion, is a rejuvenating experience for jazz." In November 99, he had spent two days with Gaël Horellou (sax), Flavio Boltro (trumpet), Paul Imm (bass), Stéphane Huchard and Philippe Garcia (drums) in the Ferber Studios for the recordings of the acoustic sounds. And then he had been working for months in his home studio, arranging, programming, assorting samples and beats - hip-hop, jungle, techno, reggae etc. In December 2001, he returned to a studio with the same group and his new album will be released in February 2003. One month later Laurent de Wilde's latest project will be featured in the new concert series "Visions of Jazz". (credit photos © Faustine Cornette) Social network 
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