Édouard Ferlet is a

pianist A pianist ( , ) is a musician who plays the piano. A pianist's repertoire may include music from a diverse variety of styles, such as traditional classical music, jazz piano, jazz, blues piano, blues, and popular music, including rock music, ...

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. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

scene.

Early years

Ferlet began playing

piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

at the age of 7 and studied classical music at l’

École Normale de Musique de Paris The École Normale de Musique de Paris "Alfred Cortot" (ENMP) is a leading conservatoire located in the 17th arrondissement of Paris. The school was founded in 1919 by Auguste Mangeot and Alfred Cortot. The term ''école normale'' (English: no ...

, and later on at the Conservatoire regional. In the late eighties, he moved to

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

, US, and studied piano under renowned teachers:

Herb Pomeroy Irving Herbert Pomeroy III (April 15, 1930 – August 11, 2007) was an American jazz trumpeter, teacher, and the founder of the MIT Festival Jazz Ensemble. Early life Pomeroy was born in Gloucester, Massachusetts, United States. He began playing ...

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,

Ray Santisi Ray Santisi (1 February 1933 – 28 October 2014) was an American jazz pianist, composer, arranger, recording artist and educator. Santisi has played as a featured soloist with Charlie Parker, Stan Getz, Dexter Gordon, Mel Torme, Irene Kral, He ...

, Ed Bedner. In 1992, he graduated from the

Berklee College of Music Berklee College of Music () is a Private university, private music college in Boston, Boston, Massachusetts. It is the largest independent college of contemporary music in the world. Known for the study of jazz and modern Music of the United ...

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

Career

Back in

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

, 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, Christophe Monniot, Simon Spang-Hanssen,

Claus Stotter Claus (sometimes Clas) is both a given name and a German, Danish, and Dutch surname. Notable people with the name include: Given name *Claus von Amsberg, Prince Claus of the Netherlands, Jonkheer van Amsberg (1926–2002) * Claus-Casimir of Oran ...

, 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 Geoffrey Oryema (16 April 1953 – 22 June 2018) was a Ugandan musician. In 1977 after the murder of his father, Erinayo Wilson Oryema, who was a cabinet minister in the government of Idi Amin, he began his life in exile. At the age of 24, and a ...

in World Music and

Lambert Wilson Lambert Nicolas Wilson (; né Willson, 3 August 1958) is a French actor and theatre director. He is a seven-time Cesar Award nominee, four for César Award for Best Actor, Best Actor and three for César Award for Best Supporting Actor, Best Sup ...

in cabaret. He successfully conducted the musical direction for

Julia Migenes Julia Migenes (born March 13, 1949) is an American soprano working primarily in musical theatre repertoire. She was born on the Lower East Side of Manhattan to Juan and Julia Migenes, parents of Puerto Rican and Irish descent, respectively. (He ...

' 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 pianists 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