Édouard Ferlet is a

pianist A pianist ( , ) is an individual musician who plays the piano. Since most forms of Western music can make use of the piano, pianists have a wide repertoire and a wide variety of styles to choose from, among them traditional classical music, ja ...

of the French

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

scene.

Early years

Ferlet began playing

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

at the age of 7 and studied classical music at l’ École Normale de Musique de Paris, and later on at the Conservatoire regional. In the late eighties, he moved to

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

, US, and studied piano under renowned teachers: Herb Pomeroy,

Hal Crook Hal Crook (born 28 July 1950 in Providence, Rhode Island) is a jazz trombonist. He has a degree from the Berklee College of Music and is considered to be a leading teacher and author in the field of jazz improvisation. Hal was a professor at Berk ...

Ed Tomassi Ed, ed or ED may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Ed'' (film), a 1996 film starring Matt LeBlanc * Ed (''Fullmetal Alchemist'') or Edward Elric, a character in ''Fullmetal Alchemist'' media * ''Ed'' (TV series), a TV series that ran fro ...

, Ray Santisi, Ed Bedner. In 1992, he graduated from the

Berklee College of Music Berklee College of Music is a private music college in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the largest independent college of contemporary music in the world. Known for the study of jazz and modern American music, it also offers college-level cours ...

in Jazz Composition and was awarded the Berklee jazz performance award.

Career

Back in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

, he worked as a composer for a variety of TV programs and gained a sound experience in the field thanks to the diversity of the commissions he had to face. He rapidly recorded two albums under his name: ''Escale'' and ''Zazimut'' featuring key artists of the new European jazz generation:

Médéric Collignon Médéric Collignon (born 6 July 1970 in Villers-Semeuse, Ardennes) is a French people, French jazz vocalist, cornettist and saxhorn player. He learnt to play the trumpet at the age of five, became a pupil at the Conservatoire de Charleville-Mé ...

Christophe Monniot Christophe may refer to: People * Christophe (given name), list of people with this name * Christophe (singer) (1945–2020), French singer * Cristophe (hairstylist) (born 1958), Belgian hairstylist * Georges Colomb (1856–1945), French comic str ...

Simon Spang-Hanssen Simon may refer to: People * Simon (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the given name Simon * Simon (surname), including a list of people with the surname Simon * Eugène Simon, French naturalist and the genu ...

, Claus Stotter, François Verly, Gary Brunton. In 2000, he met the bassist Jean-Philippe Viret with whom he recorded three albums in 6 years (''Considérations'', ''Étant Donnés'' and ''L’Indicible''), as well as a DVD and a CD distributed exclusively in Japan. In a few years, this trio, under the label Sketch, was nominated for the Django d'or, les Victoires de la Musique (French Grammy Awards) and obtained great critiques in the media. At the same time, he continued to play with singers from various backgrounds: Mark Murphy in Jazz, Manda Djin in Gospel, Geoffrey Oryema in World Music and Lambert Wilson in cabaret. He successfully conducted the musical direction for Julia Migenes' show ''Alter Ego''. This allowed him to tour all over the world: China, Canada, Germany, Spain, France. He received praise for his sensitivity and his artistic commitment during musical interludes.

Melisse

In 2006 Édouard Ferlet and Benjamin Gratton founded Melisse, a French contemporary jazz label. The label supports Ferlet's and other innovative jazzmen's works who share the same musical vision, and has produced albums by Issam Krimi, the Jean-Philippe Viret Trio, François Raulin /Stéphan Oliva, as well as Édouard Ferlet himself.

Discography

*''Réflections'' (1996), with Marc Buronfosse *''Escale'' (1997) *''Zazimut'' (1999) *''Considérations'' (2000), with Jean-Philippe Viret and Antoine Banville *''French Cricket'' (2002), with Brunt'Off ( Gary Brunton's band) *''Étant Donnés'' (2002), with Jean-Philippe Viret and Antoine Banville *''Par Tous Les Temps'' (2004) *''L'Écharpe d'Iris'' (2007) *''Think Bach'' (2012) *''Think Bach Op.2'' (2017)

Notes

External links

Ferlet's official website

Ferlet's LastFM page

Melisse. Retrieved 8 March 2009 {{DEFAULTSORT:Ferlet, Edouard French jazz pianists French jazz composers Male jazz composers 20th-century French musicians École Normale de Musique de Paris alumni 1972 births Living people Chevaliers of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres 21st-century pianists 20th-century French male musicians 21st-century French male musicians French male jazz pianists