Robin Verheyen
Belgium? Check. France? Check. New York? Check. Few young jazz musicians play with such self-confidence, feel and creativity as saxophonist Robin Verheyen (°1983), and even fewer plan their careers as meticulously.
You do hear echoes of Steve Coleman and John Coltrane in his performance, but you hear increasingly more of Robin Verheyen in his trio Orvalectiq and his saxophone quartet Saxkartel, with which he won the “Grand Prix du Jury” at the Tremplin Jazz Festival in Avignon, in 2006. His Narcissus Quartet performs only original compositions, which show similarities with Wayne Shorter and Magic Malik.
In 2006, the ambitious Verheyen, not one to let a jam session pass him by, moved to Paris. There, he performed at the much-coveted ‘Meeting in Paris’, with the Giovanni Falzone European Ensemble. After about six months, he did what every jazz musician dreams of: he moved to New York. He participated in the recording of the Roy Assaf/Eddy Khaimovich Quartet's CD, along with Roy Hargrove and Ronen Itzik and also managed to create a new ‘International Quartet’, with no other than Bill Carrothers on the piano, Remi Vignolo on bass and Dré Pallemaerts on drums.
(c) Bart Cornand for Flanders Music Centre
Artists and performers
Flanders Arts Institute
Expertise centre for performing arts, music and visual arts.