Erik Vermeulen (born 15 October 1959 in
Ypres, Belgium
Ypres ( , ; nl, Ieper ; vls, Yper; german: Ypern ) is a Belgian city and municipality in the province of West Flanders. Though
the Dutch name is the official one, the city's French name is most commonly used in English. The municipality co ...
) is a
Belgian jazz pianist. He entered the Belgian jazz scene when he was 22 with his
trio. At the time, it featured
Heyn Van de Geyn on
bass and
Dré Pallemaerts on drums. Soon after that, he started performing with different jazz bands and musicians including the
Frank Vaganée Quartet,
Erwin Vann Quartet and
Peter Hertmans.
He performed with international stars like
Slide Hampton,
Clark Terry,
Joe Lovano
Joseph Salvatore Lovano (born December 29, 1952)"Joe Lovano." ''Contemporary Musicians''. Vol. 13. Farmington Hills, MI: Gale, 1994. Retrieved via ''Biography in Context'' database, May 5, 2017. is an American jazz saxophonist, alto clarin ...
,
Steve Grossman,
David Schnitter,
Art Farmer,
Bob Mover
Bob Mover (born March 22, 1952) is an alto, tenor and soprano jazz saxophonist and a vocalist. His father was a musician who played professionally including stints with the Charlie Spivak orchestra. He started playing the alto saxophone at age ...
,
Teddy Edwards
Theodore Marcus Edwards (April 26, 1924 – April 20, 2003) was an American jazz tenor saxophonist.
Biography
Edwards was born in Jackson, Mississippi, United States. He learned to play at a very early age, first on alto saxophone and the ...
,
Toots Thielemans
Jean-Baptiste Frédéric Isidor, Baron Thielemans (29 April 1922 – 22 August 2016), known professionally as Toots Thielemans, was a Belgian jazz musician. He was mostly known for his chromatic harmonica playing, as well as his guitar and whistl ...
,
Philip Catherine
Philip Catherine (born 27 October 1942) is a Belgian jazz guitarist.
Biography
Philip Catherine was born in London, England, to an English mother and Belgian father, and was raised in Brussels, Belgium. His grandfather was a violinist in the ...
,
Michael Moore and
Barre Phillips
Barre Phillips (born October 27, 1934, in San Francisco, California, United States) is an American jazz bassist. A professional musician since 1960, he moved to New York City in 1962, then to Europe in 1967. Since 1972, he has been based in sout ...
.
He was often a
soloist with the
BRT
BRT may refer to:
Transportation
* Block register territory, a method for dispatching trains
* British Rail Telecommunications
* Brookhaven Rail Terminal
* Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company, a former transit holding company in New York City
* Bro ...
jazz orchestra. In 1998, he represented Belgium in the
European Radio Union Big Band in Stockholm.
During his career, the musicians from his trio have changed:
Jean-Louis Rassinfosse and
Félix Simtaine, then
Philippe Aerts and
Dré Pallemaerts,
Otti Van Der Werf and
Eric Thielemans.
Since 1995, Erik has toured and recorded with the following bands:
Bart Defoort Quartet,
Ben Sluijs Quartet,
Manu Hermia Quartet and
Marta Mus.
Since 1995, he has been a member of the Ben Sluijs Quartet, with whom he recorded four CDs. The last one, ''Flying Circles'', is part of the CD box "The Finest in Belgian Jazz" (released on
De Werf).
In 1997, he recorded a CD with his band
Icarus Consort (consisting of
Erwin Vann,
Pierre Bernard,
Nicolas Thys
Nicolas Thys (born 27 August 1968) is a Belgian bassist. He graduated in 1994 from the Hilversum Conservatory (in the Netherlands), where he also taught bass and double bass. Thys took private lessons with Dave Holland, Marc Helias and Mar ...
and
Stéphane Galland). The project emphasis is on
improvisation.
Performing solo or in
duo with Pierre Bernard,
Daniel Stokart or Eric Thielemans, led to the founding of the "Groundwork" collective (2000).
In 2001, he recorded his CD "
Songs of Minutes" with
Salvatore La Rocca and
Jan De Haas. In the same year, he recorded the album ''Stones'' with
Ben Sluijs and made recordings with the project "Rrauw" of Eric Thielemans, with Barre Philips and
Jean-Yves Evrard.
In 2002, he got to know
Eric Surmenian (double bass) and
Marek Patrman (drums). With this trio, he recorded ''Inner City'' from the CD box "The Finest in Belgian Jazz".
These days, Erik Vermeulen is teaching jazz piano at the
Antwerp and
Ghent
Ghent ( nl, Gent ; french: Gand ; traditional English: Gaunt) is a city and a municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of the East Flanders province, and the third largest in the country, exceeded i ...
conservatories.
In November 2003, he received the Belgian
Golden Django for musician of the year.
Discographie
Erik Vermeulen Trio
*''Live Chroma'' (W.E.R.F., 2009)
*''Inner City'' (W.E.R.F., 2002)
*''
Songs of Minutes'' (W.E.R.F., 2000)
Ben Sluijs and Erik Vermeulen Duo
*''Decades'' (W.E.R.F., 2014)
*''Parity'' (W.E.R.F., 2010)
*''Stones'' (W.E.R.F., 2010)
References
Jazz in Belgium biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vermeulen, Erik
1959 births
Living people
Musicians from Ypres
Belgian jazz pianists
21st-century pianists