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The world’s most prestigious competition for jazz trumpeters comes for the first time in Europe to Belgium at Namur Concert Hall, le Grand Manège.
Carmine Caruso was one of the world’s greatest brass teachers. It is to this man and his work that the 2023 Carmine Caruso International Jazz Trumpet Solo Competition is dedicated. All of Saturday’s events are open to the public and will be held at Namur Concert Hall, Le Grand Manège, Rue Rogier 82, 5000 Namur, Belgium, on October 21st, 2023.
Carmine Caruso was a renowned trumpet player, teacher, and author. Born in New York City in 1948, Caruso began playing the trumpet at a young age and quickly developed a passion for music. He studied at the Manhattan School of Music and later at the Juilliard School, where he earned a degree in trumpet performance.
Throughout his career, Caruso performed with some of the most prominent orchestras and bands in the world, including the New York Philharmonic, the Metropolitan Opera, and the Woody Herman Orchestra. He also had a successful solo career, recording several albums and performing at major venues around the world.
In addition to his performance career, Caruso was also a highly respected trumpet teacher. He authored several books on trumpet technique and pedagogy, including « The Caruso Method » and « The Physical Approach to Early Trumpet Playing », which are still widely used today. He also taught at several universities and music schools, including the Manhattan School of Music and the Juilliard School, where he was a faculty member for over 30 years.
Caruso was also known for his dedication to advancing the trumpet. He invented the ‘Caruso Tuning Device’ and developed the ‘Caruso Embouchure Method’, which are both widely used by trumpet players today. He passed away in 1993 but his legacy continues to inspire and influence trumpet players around the world.
Carmine Caruso was not just a trumpet player but also, a teacher, an innovator, a mentor and an author. He dedicated his life to music and to helping others to improve their skills, and his influence can still be felt today.
https://www.trumpetguild.org/news/member-announcements/2133-2021-carmine-caruso-competition
Trumpeter, composer and arranger, Airelle Besson has made a name for herself on the European jazz scene with her clear and powerful playing. Virtuoso but never too demonstrative, her sound centres on emotion and musicality. Trained in both classical and jazz fields, her major influences are Bach and Keith Jarrett. Winner of the Django-Reinhardt prize of the Académie du Jazz and awarded the Victoires du Jazz in the “French Instrumental Revelation of the Year” category, Airelle Besson is as much a sought-after side-woman as well as a leader and an established composer.
A precocious talent
Born in Paris on March 23, 1978, Airelle Besson had a passion for the trumpet from the age of four, and began playing when she was seven. As a teenager she chose to be homeschooled, with her father’s support music was central in her education. In addition to the trumpet, she began learning the violin at nine and followed her studies in both jazz and classical music. After attending a number of conservatories, she studied musicology at the Sorbonne in Paris before entering the prestigious Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris, from which she graduates with the first prize in jazz in 2002. Her turning point towards jazz had come during a workshop at the Cluny Jazz Festival with trumpet player Jean-François Canape.
Between electronic and acoustic
After graduating from the conservatoire, Airelle Besson teamed up with saxophonist Sylvain Rifflet to form and co-direct Rockingchair, a quintet with a rock and electronic leaning. The band released two albums, Rockingchair (2007) and 1:1 (2011). In 2013, Airelle, the group’s trumpet player, was propelled to the forefront of the European jazz scene when selected to take part in the “Take 5: Europe” programme, which opened doors to the continent’s biggest festivals (North Sea Jazz Festival, Molde Jazz Festival, Banlieues Bleues, London Jazz Festival etc). The following year, Airelle Besson transformed her longstanding friendship and collaboration with guitarist Nelson Veras into a poetic, acoustic duo in the album Prélude (Naïve Records). The album was a huge success, and the two musicians toured the international scene for several years.
Between small ensembles and large orchestras
In 2014, Airelle Besson created her own quartet with Isabel Sörling (voice), Benjamin Moussay (keyboards) and Fabrice Moreau (drums). Widely acclaimed by both the press and the public, their first album (Radio One, Naïve) is a tour de force in equilibrium and lucidity. All the melodic power of Airelle Besson’s compositions, as well as her talent for harmonisation, are elegantly displayed. Their second album, TRY! will be released on February 5, 2021. Airelle Besson increasingly devotes time to composing and arranging. In 2014, the English group Metronomy approached her for an arrangement on their album, Love Letters. Currently, 2020/21, she is artist-in-residence at the Cité musicale-Metz, where she is creating a new classical-jazz program with the Orchestre National de Metz. She will also be working with the Big Band de l’Union de Woippy on an upcoming project.
Throughout her career, Airelle Besson has been a valued member of various groups led by prestigious artists, notably in Charlie Haden and Carla Bley’s Liberation Music Orchestra in 2006. Other notable reference points are her work in duo with Vincent Ségal and Lionel Suarez, her trio formed alongside the German musicians Sebastien Sternal and Jonas Burgwinkel, and as a member of Lionel Suarez’s Quarteto Gardel with Vincent Segal and Minino Garay. In all these ensembles, as in her own groups, Airelle Besson stands out for her capacity to say a lot with a few notes. In her playing, lightness and delicacy predominate over and above her classical rigour and sheer virtuosity. Her style which embodies precision and the clarity of her message is among the best French jazz has to offer.
The village marching band and the most important international awards, the Sardinian countryside and the albums, discovering jazz and his many collaborations, his love of small things and Paris. There are not many people capable of putting together such a diverse array of elements and turn it into such an incredible and fast stylistic growth.
Paolo Fresu succeeded in a country like Italy where, for too long, jazz was famous just like Shakespeare or Matisse paintings, Armstrong was little more than a freak show and Miles Davis was acknowledged well after his creative peak. The magic lies in the spontaneous way in which he managed to convey the deepest meanings and magic of his native land with the most precious of the arts.
At this stage of his successful and long career there is no need to list recordings, awards and experiences that have made Fresu an international star, his music loved by many. Inside his trumpet sound runs the sap that has illuminated the European jazz nouvelle vague, the depth of a thought that doesn’t limit itself to music, his generosity that sees him in the right place at the right time and most of all the unending passion that always leads him.
(born Hyères, Var, July 8, 1967) is a French jazz trumpeter, flugelhornist, and drummer. Including recordings made with his brother Lionel Belmondo and Yusef Lateef,[1] he won the best French album category (L’Album français de l’année) in 2003, 2004 and 2005, and the best artist award (L’Artiste ou la Formation instrumentale française de l’année) in 2003 and 2004.[2] in the French Victoires du Jazz awards.[3] Along with his brother, he is noted for tribute albums that involve the musicians being honored.[4]
The Belmondo family say music came naturally to Stephane, before he could even speak. His father, Yvan, was proud of his son, but inflexible when it came down to his musical education. As a former professional saxophonist, he understood the necessity of discipline and practicing music requires. He was able to instill these values into his son from an early age and Belmondo quickly adopted these principles. He first started with drums and percussion instruments at the age of 6, accordion at 8, and took up the trumpet at age 10. He studied accordion and cornet at the Aix-en-Provence Conservatory of Music, before being admitted to the trumpet class of the Marseille Conservatory at 16. Belmondo was 14 when he finally took the stage with his accordion joining the big band led by his father and brother Lionel who played saxophone. When he and his brother started a quintet, Belmondo was 15 years old.
When Belmondo arrived in Paris to pursue his career, he met pianist René Urtreger, who gave him many opportunities to share the stage, notably with famed double-bassist Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen. He also worked with Pierre Michelot and Al Levitt, among many others.
In 1987, shortly after his arrival in Paris, he joined Laurent Cugny’s big band, Lumière. Cugny had convinced arranger Gil Evans to come to France and work on the orchestra’s repertoire. The collaboration resulted in two albums Rhythm-A-Ning and a European tour where Belmondo also recorded and performed with.[5]
From 1987 to 1990, he played with pianist Kirk Lightsey‘s quartet and bassist Pierre Boussaguet’s quintet, which also featured his brother and Jacky Terrasson. Working with Boussaguet led to the release of an album called Jazz aux Remparts featuring one of Belmondo’s idols, the American trumpeter Tom Harrell.
Belmondo joined Michel Legrand’s big orchestra and took part in 1992 concert at the Olympia, where Legrand and Stéphane Grappelli appeared together for the first time. In 1992, he participated in the album Legrand/Grappelli with Legrand and Grapelli. He toured with them around the world. In 1994, Belmondo played in Dee Dee Bridgewater‘s trio and recorded the album Love and Peace with them in 1995, which featured Jimmy Smith.
In the same year, Belmondo moved to New York City. He continued touring with Dee Dee Bridgewater in the US, including shows at the Newport Festival and the Carnegie Hall. During his stay in New York, he played with many musicians, including Al Foster, Mark Turner, Lew Tabackin, Donald Brown, and Franck Amsallem. He recorded with pianist Donald Brown and his quartet performed at the Blue Note.
In 2002, in celebration of the fifteenth anniversary of Chet Baker‘s death, Belmondo performed with Jean-Louis Rassinfosse and Philip Catherine, two of Baker’s former partners.
Returning to Paris, he recorded his first solo album Wonderland in 2004, interpreting a collection of Stevie Wonder songs. This album won Belmondo two Victoires du Jazz awards in France, in 2005.[6]
Belmondo met the saxophone and flute player Yusef Lateef and they together made an album called Influence (2005). Shortly after this, his group, including Lateef, toured Europe and around the world until 2008.
In 2008, Belmondo recorded with the great Brazilian singer, Milton Nascimento and they toured together.
Belmondo was also part of the development of new bugle and trumpet models which are marketed under the name « Concept TT » by the instrument maker Selmer.
Trumpeter/Arranger/Composer
35 years of teaching at the CRR of Chambéry
(Trumpet / Harmony / Arrgt in the JAZZ department)
Currently playing with:
– the Jazz Ensemble of Patrice Caratini since 1996
– The Brussels Jazz Orchestra since 2001
and also Stéphane Guillaume Project, Karim Maurice Quintet etc…
– since 2004 founded the “Pierre Drevet Quintet”
http://pierredrevet.com//Pierre_Drevet_Quintet.html
– and “the European Jazz Trumpets” 2012 and 1st Prize 2016 with the European Jazz Trumpet’s at
international competition of the « Made in New York Jazz Competition ».
http://pierredrevet.com////European_Jazz_Trumpets.html.
– the “Lilananda Jazz Quintet” 2015
http://pierredrevet.com//////Lilananda_Jazz_Quintet.html
and the new Bossa2.0 project of the Lilananda Jazz Quintet 2017
– some videos….
https://www.youtube.com/user/PierreDrevet/videos?view_as=subscriber
– Some discs:
PIERRE DREVET QUARTET (septembre 1991 Distrib. MELODIE )
OMBRE ET LUZ (L.Pluton/P.Berne/A.Ceccarelli ,Ombre et Luz 1993 )
GRAINS DE FOLIE ( Juin94 : Pierre DREVET BIG-BAND)
INSIEME ( Novembre 1996-Distribution Mélodie)
ONJ Laurent Cugny (Merci,merci,merci Verve Mars 1997) JAZZNAVOUR ( Oct 1998)
GUILLAUME DE CHASSY QUINTET (Dec 98)
CARATINI JAZZ ENSEMBLE (Darling Nellie Gray Fev 2000)
AROUND THE SOMETIME SUITE ( Lilananda 2009 ) Stéphane GUILLAUME Windmills
Chronicles 2009
BRUSSELS JAZZ ORCHESTRA ( Janvier 2005 Dreyfus Jazz, Countermove Avril 2006 Werf,
Philip Catherine 2006, David Linx 2007, Michel Herr 2008, Richard Galliano Milan Records
2008, Bert Joris 2011, 2015 et 2017…)
DANCING JOY Lilalanada Jazz Quintet CD Live 2016 ( Inouïe distr.)
BOSSA2.0 CD Live 2018 ( Inouïe distr.)
ECHANGE CD Live Nov 2019 ( Inouïe distr.)
PHARES ( LilanandaJazz Quintet 2021) ( Inouïe distr.)
ESPACES PARTAGES (Duo B.Revel, P.Drevet 2021)( Inouïe distr.)
He began his musical studies in 1983, at the Santa Cecilia de Sedaví Musical Association. Since then, he has been a student of the excellent trumpeter and pedagogue Manuel López, with whom he has acquired endless technical and practical knowledge in the study of the trumpet; both in its classical and modern training.
He has acted and recorded with artists such as Presuntos Implicados, Sole Giménez, Michael Bubble, Armando Manzanero, Celia Cruz, Lucrecia, Martirio, Miguel Poveda, Santiago Auserón, Seguridad Social, Lolita, Jaime Urrutia or Fundación Tony Manero.
He frequently collaborates with jazz musicians in Spain: Perico Sambeat, Ximo Tebar, Mario Rossy, Eladio Reinón, Joan Soler, Jordi Vilá, Fabio Miano, Sedajazz Big Band … and he has also played with international artists such as: Clark Terry, Chris Cheek , Mike Mossman, Steve Marcus, Richie Cole, Jack Walrath, Dennis Rowland, Paquito D ‘Rivera, Frank Wess, Bobby Shew, Slide Hampton, Pat Metheny, Bob Mintzer, Danilo Pérez, Giovanni Hidalgo or Donald Harrison, among many others.
His multi-faceted training leads him to play in countless groups and formations such as the National Chamber Orchestra of Moldova, Grup de Metalls of the CSMM of Barcelona, JerezTexas, Sedajazz Latin Ensemble or Thessaloniki Symphony Orchestra.
His outstanding role as an instrumentalist makes him a benchmark for trumpeters in both modern music and the world of classical and bands. Thus, it actively collaborates with various musical associations and with important orchestras such as the OBC (Symphony Orchestra of Barcelona and National of Catalonia) or the Orchestra of Valencia.
He has participated in movie soundtracks such as El nom (music Xavier Capellas), La Librería (music Alfonso de Vilallonga), És a l’aire (music David Pastor).
He has played in such prestigious jazz festivals as Montreal (Canada), Montreux (Switzerland), Eurojazz (Mexico), Cully (Switzerland), Salvador de Bahia Cultural Market (Brazil), Cancun International Music Festival (Mexico), San Sebastián, San Javier, Terrassa, Madrid, Barcelona …
As an outstanding recording, it is worth mentioning the one made in April 97 in Lausanne (Switzerland) for the BMG with the group Solar Sides, with which he participated in a world tour playing in the most outstanding jazz and electronic music festivals.
He has also participated in the recording of a monographic LP by Maurice Ravel with the Gran Canaria Philharmonic Orchestra.
He is currently a professor at the Escola Superior d’Estudis Musicals Barcelona Music Workshop and director of the « Original Jazz Orchestra » of the Music Workshop. He is also a professor at the Jazz Training Workshop and Director of the UJI Big Band.
Effort has given me the luck of being able to do what I like. I have always searched to grow, to expand, to learn. I have been linked to my instrument for 37 years and I have known life through it.
Although many musical genres are close to him, he does not close his activities to any of them. He plays solo and together with bands belonging to the leading Polish improvised music groups – Maciej Fortuna Trio (Solar Ring, Sahjia, At Home, Jazz), the multiple award-winning Maciej Fortuna Quartet or the duo Fortuna/Dys, which has released two albums – Tropy (FM, 2013) and Maciejewski Variations (DUX, 2014). He performs music combining jazz with electronics – both solo and in duet with An On Bast (albums 1, Live and Electronic Transcription of Film Music by Krzysztof Penderecki). His Slavic project based on Kolberg’s collections (Kolberg Fortuny; later Maciej Fortuna Słowiański) was exceptionally successful. He has performed at many international festivals, including Jarasum International Jazz Festival, Heineken Jazzaldia (San Sebastián Jazz Festival), and Fringe Festival.
In 2016 he performed the first-ever jazz concert inside the volcano. In 2017 he reactivated the Poznań Fifteen Orchestra. A year later, he conducted the premiere of his composition for 100 trumpets and percussion. Since 2019, the Poznań Komeda Marathon has been held under the artistic direction of Maciej Fortuna. Jerzy Milian dedicated his last composition to him, which was released at the turn of 2019 and 2020. In 2021 he resumed the activities of his trio, with whom he recorded the album “Baltic”. At that time, he began meditations for the trumpet solo, a series of interactions recorded in abandoned places and among nature in Poland and Spain.
He creates his own language of musical expression and expands the sound palette of his instrument, experimenting with combining different genres of art. He creates and directs multimedia concerts and video productions.
Maciej Fortuna is a doctor-habilitated assistant professor of jazz trumpet at the Academy of Music in Poznań. He runs his own music publishing house, Fortuna Music, and leads the Jazz Poznań Association (2015). Privately, father of two.
Born in Charleroi on 07/09/1984, he entered the Conservatoire in 2002 and perfected his skills alongside professionals such as Bruno Castellucci and Gilles Ansciaux.
He holds a degree in classical percussion from the Royal Conservatory of Mons, a degree in jazz drums from the Royal Conservatory of Brussels and an aggregation in music. He has been teaching percussion and jazz drums since 2007 in several music academies in the French Community. Since 2023, he has also been teaching drums at the Royal Higher Institute of Music and Pedagogy in Namur (IMEP).
For many years now, he has been playing in a multitude of formations that have taken him to a wide variety of musical universes such as jazz (Alexandre Cavalière 4tet, Manu Bonetti trio, Natacha Wuyts 4tet etc.), world music (Astoria, Pape de la Kora, Izvora etc.), Hip Hop (Akro, Rue des Pêcheries, in the show Meet The Band de Tarmac on RTBF), orchestral music (Singin’ in the rain with the Candide orchestra conducted by Patrick Leterme) or French song (Antoine Armedan, Muriel D’ailleurs).
His projects have led him to perform on the Belgian scene but also abroad (France, Russia, Turkey, England, Germany, Morocco, Spain etc.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SX7YyArmBuQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHFHoAhbFEs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJ4yAN9YLLk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9MGOAjayu0&t=373s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIrMj_TT2a0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HiRYn20kqQg
Installed in the Belgian and European jazz scene, I am a double bass player and guitarist. I began to discover music as a teenager thanks to my grandfather who taught me my first Bossa-Nova chords. Very quickly passionate, in 2008 I entered the corridors of the Royal Conservatory of Brussels where I studied with Victor Da Costa, Fabien Degryse and Jean Louis Rassinfosse among others. I had the pleasure of recording records with Diederik Wissels, Olivier Colette (feat Bert Joris), Jérémy Dumont, God Save the Swing (feat Célia Kameni), Tom Bourgeois (Rumeurs) and Thomas Grimmonprez trio. In 2021, I joined the orchestra of the musical Singin’ in the Rain directed by Patrick Leterme.
You also had the opportunity to see me on stage with Bob Mover (US), Hamilton Di Hollanda (BR), Grégoire Maret (CH), David Linx, Dmitry Baevsky (RUS), Steve and Greg Houben, Quentin Liégois, Pascal Mohy, Phil Abraham, Chrystel Wautier, Bart Defoort, Victor Da Costa, Fabrice Alleman…
Mathieu De Wit begins the piano at the age of 6 in an academy where he will follow all the classical curriculum. At 18 he went to a jazz formation by returning to the JazzStudio in Antwerp, then to the Koninklijk Conservatorium in Brussels and finally to the Lemmensinstituut in Leuven. During his studies, he took jazz piano lessons with many renowned teachers such as Diederik Wissels, Ewout Pierreux, Ron Van Rossum and Erik Vermeulen. Mathieu De Wit has participated and still participates in many musical projects such as Symmetrio, Radicant, the Swingalicious Big Band, Belch’ Quartet, Sack O’Woe, Oscar Trio and many others…
Rue Rogier 82, 5000 Namur
Belgium
Namur Concert Hall and Auditorium Rogier
Entrance to the final competition is free (10.00 am to 12.30 pm)/ l’entrée à la finale du Concours est libre (10.00 à 12.30)
Get your ticket for the Gala concert here/ Réservez vos places pour le concert de gala ici:
