I was born in 1978 in Halle, near Brussels in Belgium and studied piano in the last five years of the previous millennium at the jazz department of the Lemmensinstituut (now LUCA School Of Arts) in Leuven with some of the very best musicians on the Belgian and European scene – Ron Van Rossum, Bert Joris, Frank Vaganée, Dré Pallemaerts, Philippe Aerts a.o.
I play and write music, mostly in jazz and jazz-related surroundings, and I do sideman work for several (mostly Belgian based) projects. Most important people or bands I work with are Tutu Puoane, Rebirth::Collective, Jelle Van Giel’s ‘Close Distance’, Marjan van Rompay, Hnita Big Band & Small World (= a coöperation project with South African trumpet player Marcus Wyatt). I spent a few years playing keys (and singing some backing vocals) in Flemish pop singer Eva De Roovere’s live band.
I write songs and arrangements, and am getting more and more into general music production and booking.
As an educator I teach jazz piano and ensemble at De Kunsthumaniora, an arts high school in Antwerp, preparing talented youngsters for music college.
Together with Tutu, I own our company SoulFactory, which houses an independent booking platform and record label dedicated to jazz and improvised music. Within this structure I take care of the general management, bookings and production of our music and some external projects we love and try to support.
Most of my hobbies are also music-related: I like to fool around and experiment with audio recording/mixing, and I’ve been teaching myself to tune pianos. No commercial ambition in both those fields by the way – but if you need help/advice in one of those areas, don’t hesitate to ask. 🙂 Outside of music I like sports (football, swimming, …), good food and great wine, and I am and will probably always be a car nut. Driving electric these days, but still dreaming of my own (old-timer) 911. One day. 🙂