Jeroen Pek European Quartet, live in France
This brand new international quartet led by jazz flautist Jeroen Pek contains musicians who belong to the cream of the crop of the French- and Dutch jazz scene. Each with a vast individual track record, they easily found a mutual click and chemistry for an eclectic, energetic and adventurous approach of (jazz-)music. It almost goes without saying that all members of the Quartet are contributing to the repertoire.
Internationally renowned for his joyful energetic power play, great pallet of dynamics and a personal sound, Jeroen Pek has been touring and recording for over three decades with a wide array of projects. Both with his own and as a sideman he toured in Europe, North Africa and the USA.
His most striking groups today are multi-national line ups, such as Jeroen Pek Invites feat. Christian Doepke, Joris Teepe, Owen Hart Jr. (NL/USA/D), Flute Flight feat. Stefan Bracaval, Ewout Pierreux (NL/B), Pitch Plot 4 feat. Ahmad Jamal bass player James Cammack, Christian Pabst/Tony Roe, Onno Witte (NL/USA/D) and 6 Spoons-1 Kitchen feat. Oleg Fateev, Nabil Khemir, Ahmed Nazmi, Simone Sou, Onno Witte (NL/MOL/BRA/EG/TUN).
Notable bands earlier are Jeroen Pek Band, Jeroen Pek Quartet and the jazz-rock format PitchWhiteStorm and PitchWhiteStorm Exchange. He played with the finest musicians of the International (jazz-)scene like Jasper van ‘t Hof, Rob van den Broeck, Pierre Courbois, Grammy Award winner Fathy Salama (EG), Nuevo Manteca, Afework Nigussie (ETH), Bohemian Groove Orchestra, Onno Witte’s Wild Card, Sandro Schneebelli (CH), Gerard Pansanel (F) and Giullia Valle (SP).
Jeroen was twice nominated for the composition contest of the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz (Washington D.C./USA). He is the principal flute teacher at the jazz department of the ArtEZ conservatory in Arnhem (NL) and gave many master classes (f.i. the Liszt Conservatory in Budapest (H), Flute Festival in Gland (CH) and the Flute Convention in Milano (I).
Serge Lazarevitch picked up the guitar at the age of 13. After high school he left France to study at the prestigious Berklee College of Music in Boston (USA). He studied f.i. with Mike Stern. During that period he met and played Pat Metheny and replaced Bill Frisell in the band Mauve Traffic. In the late ‘70’s he returns to Europe. Living in Liege (B) he becomes part of the Belgium jazz scene playing with musicians like Michel Herr and Jacques Pelzer. His European reputation grew and by the time he moved back to France he became the guitarist of l’Orchestre National de Jazz in Paris. Next to extensive tours and recordings with his own projects, he played with international names such as Ricardo del Fra, John Ruocco, Joe Lovano and Enrico Rava. As an eductator Serge has a vast reputation as well. Apart from running the jazz department of the conservatory in Montpellier (F) he is teaches guitar on the same school as well. Next to that he gives master classes internationaly.
Jean-Luc Lehr started his musical career studying classical music on piano between 1980 and 1989. klassiek piano. Soon after that he was under the spell of the bass. He perfected his musical studies on bass-guitar, double bass and composition at the Paris Conservatory.
Today he works with the projects of French based flautist Magic Malik and the Belgium based group Octurn. He played with an impressive list of international arists such as Steve Coleman, Greg Osby, Louis Winsberg, Pierre de Bethmann, Toots Thielmans, François Jeanneau, Louis Sclavis, Stéphane Galland en Marc Ducret. He toured with a wide array of bands in Europe, Asia, Canada, USA and South America.
Jean-Luc is bass teacher at the conservatory in Perpignan (F) and runs the jazz department of the same school. He is a much sought-after educator and gives international master-classes (f.i. The Royal Academy of Music in Londen (GB) and the Conservatoire supérieur de musique de Liège (B).
Dutch drummer Onno Witte is known as a musical omnivore with a vast international track record. He toured in Europe, Africa, North- and South America with a wide range of projects such as the Batucade percussion group Medicamento, Randal Corsen’s Cross Curents, jazz-rock bands like PitchWhiteStorm, Bohemian Groove Orchestra en Alter Ego, acoustic jazz such as his own WO IV, Jeroen Pek Quartet, ethnic jazz like 6 Spoons-1 Kitchen and the Nabil Khemir Group. Onno Witte is part of Pitch Plot 4 (feat. James Cammack). His even remarkable as memorable jazz-rock project Onno Witte’s Wild Card, pops up regularly with guest players such as German saxophonist Volker Winck. The same goes for the experimental music project he runs with his father Frank Witte, Black Business.