Géraldine Laurent

Géraldine Laurent (* 1975 in Niort ) is a French jazz musician ( alto saxophone ).

Géraldine Laurent; 2006

Live and act

Laurent began playing classical piano at an early age as the daughter of a music teacher and began learning the saxophone at the age of 13. She attended the conservatory in Niort and master classes a. a. with Jean-Marc Padovani and Jean-Louis Chautemps , but also studied with the Dutch pianist Floris Nico Bunink . After graduating with a DEM in jazz and music, she started her own quartet in 1999 with Yoni Zelnik (bass), David Georgelet (drums), Marc Lesyeux (piano). In 2000 she played with “TC Spectacle” and with the quartet of pianist Christophe Joneau , with whom she recorded two records (“Lavaud Gélade” 2003, “Ici & maintenant”). She also played in the quintet of the drummer Charles Bellonzi . She played with the singer Romeyn Adams Nesbitt at the Olympia in Paris and at the Enghien-les-Bains Jazz Festival .

Since 2005 she has led her Time Out Trio with Zelnik and drummer Laurent Bataille and also played in the Géraldine Laurent Trio with Hélène Labarrière (bass) and Eric Groleau (drums). She also worked with Antoine Hervier's quartet and with Aldo Romano (album Just Jazz 2008 with Henri Texier , Romano, Laurent, Mauro Negri and Complete Communion to Don Cherry 2010 with Romano, Texier, Fabrizio Bosso). She was also involved in various ballets by Régine Chopinot . It is now very well known in France (it was even featured on the cover of the New York Times in January 2007 ).

Prizes and awards

In 2006 she received the Django d´Or as the best young talent (and won the Prix Révélation at the Jazz Festival in Antibes ) and in 2008 the Prix ​​Django Reinhardt and the award for the best young talent at Les Victoires du Jazz . Her album Around Gigi (Dreyfus Jazz) received the 2010 Academie du Jazz award for best album (with compositions by Gigi Gryce , Art Farmer , Thelonious Monk ). In 2015 she received the Academie's best French album award for her album At Work .

Discography

• Time Out Trio , Dreyfus Jazz / Sony BMG 2007
• Around Gigi , Dreyfus Jazz 2010, with Pierre de Bethmann , Yoni Zelnick, Franck Agulhon
• Looking for Parker , Bee Jazz 2013, with Manu Codjia , Christophe Marguet
• At Work , Gazebo / L'autre distribution 2015, with Yoni Zelnik, Donald Kontomanou , Paul Lay

Web links

• Short biography of Géraldine Laurent ( Memento from September 29, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
• Géraldine Laurent - There is never enough fever in jazz. Interview with Hans-Jürgen Schaal , at Jazzthetik
• Review of the CD Around Gigi . By Hans-Jürgen Schaal, at HiFiStatement.Net
• Interview with Géraldine Laurent at Les Dernières Nouvelles du Jazz (French)
• Biography at the Winter Jazzfest 2007 (English)
• Géraldine Laurent, une saxophoniste qui séduit sans esbroufe , Le Parisien , January 20, 2016

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Awards of the Academie du Jazz 2010
2. ↑ Awards of the Academie du Jazz 2015
3. ↑ Interview (France Inter 2016)