Pierre Vaiana

Pierre Vaiana (* 14. October 1955 in Waterschei ) is a Belgian jazz - saxophonist (soprano and tenor saxophone) and music teacher.

Live and act

Vaiana studied music at the Conservatory in Liège with Jacques Pelzer and received a scholarship to study at Long Island University in New York City, where he studied with Joe Lovano from 1986 to 1990 and obtained a Bachelor of Arts . In New York he played with Butch Morris , Michael Formanek and Tito Puente, among others . After his return to Europe, the album El Dorado was created with musicians from the formation Trio Bravo ; He also worked in the jazz scene in Brussels , including with the avant-garde jazz group Aka Moon and Pierre Van Dormael , with whom he founded the formation Un Poco Loco . In 1992 he stayed in New York again and recorded the album Chakra with Salvatore Bonafede , Mike Formanek and Jeff Hirshfield , which was released on the French label CELP. On his return he founded the trio L'Ame des poètes with Pierre Van Dormael , to which Fabien Degryse and Jean-Louis Rassinfosse later belonged. They recorded three albums in which they played jazz interpretations of French chansons , such as Jacques Brel ( L'Ame des poètes joue Brel ). With this formation Vaiana appeared in 1997 in West Africa and Québec.

In the 1990s he lived in Burkina Faso for a few years , where he taught and played in various groups; his recordings of this time appeared on the album Foofango . Vaiana also taught at the Amay Music Academy , in the Antwerp Jazz Studio and held numerous workshops at the Académie Internationale de Wallonie in Libramont . He ran a music school in Senegal ; He is currently working in Ouagadougou , Burkina Faso, on behalf of the APEFE (Association pour la Promotion de l'Enseignement et de la Formation à l'Etranger), where he organizes workshops and concerts with foreign artists.

Prizes and awards

In 2009 he was awarded the Belgian Django d'Or in the category of established musicians.

literature

• Richard Cook , Brian Morton : The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings . 8th edition. Penguin, London 2006, ISBN 0-141-02327-9 .

Web links

• Jazz in Belgium (English)