Lionel Belmondo

Lionel.Belmondo

Lionel Belmondo (born August 19, 1963 in Hyères ) is a French jazz saxophonist, clarinetist and hardbop flutist .

Live and act

Lionel Belmondo started out on the piano (his brother Stephane on the accordion) but soon switched to the saxophone. Since 1990 he has been playing with his brother, the trumpeter Stéphane Belmondo , in his own hardbop-oriented quintet since 1993. In 1994 they accompanied Dee Dee Bridgewater on tour. In 1994 her album "For all friends" was released. You played with Andy Emler , Stéphane Grappelli , Michel Legrand , among others .

Currently (2007) the quintet includes Laurent Fickelson on piano and Fender-Rhodes, Paul Imm on bass, Laurent Robin on drums.

In 2004 the brothers won the Les Victoires du Jazz Prize with their successful album “Hymne au Soleil” (2003) and the 2003 Prix ​​Boris Vian . The title piece dates from 1913 and is by Lili Boulanger (1893–1918), a student of Gabriel Fauré . Belmondo was particularly drawn to the harmonious relationship to John Coltrane's “My favorite things”. Lionel Belmondo's solo on “La vieille prière bouddhique” is intended to commemorate Boulanger, who died early at the age of 24. Accordingly, both classical musicians and a jazz quintet play on the album, with pianist Laurent Fickelson, bassist Clovis Nicolas , Philippe Soirat on drums and the Belmondos. In addition to Boulanger, the classical composer and organist Maurice Duruflé (Notre Père 1976) will be performed on the flugelhorn by Stéphane Belmondo (arranged by Laurent Agnès), as well as two pieces by Gabriel Fauré (“Après un Rêve”) and Maurice Ravel .

With Yusef Lateef the brothers recorded the double album "Influence" (B-flat / Al! Ve), with an ensemble of twelve musicians. Lionel Belmondo counts the piece "Morning" ("Jazz Moods" 1957) by Lateef, which is also interpreted here, as one of his formative influences. The arrangements are partly by Christophe Dal Sasso (on the first CD, which contains compositions by Lili Boulanger, dal Sasso and Lionel Belmondo), partly by Lateef (on the second CD, with new compositions by Lateef and old ones arranged by Belmondo and del Sasso Pieces of lateefs). For this they received another Les Victoires du Jazz in 2006 .

In 1994 the brothers received the Prix ​​Django Reinhardt .

Web links

• To the album "Hymn au Soleil"
• To “Influence” with Lateef, German
• Lionel Belmondo at Discogs (English)