August&Walter #3: Ewout Pierreux / Tether Trio

Pianist Ewout Pierreux (°1978) grew up in the Belgian countryside southwest of Brussels and studied at the Jazz department of the Lemmensinstituut in Leuven (now LUCA School Of Arts) during the last five years of the previous millennium.

Ewout is best known for his work with South African singer Tutu Puoane. In addition, he is active as a sideman in various projects, including Rebirth::Collective, WE Big Band, Marjan Van Rompay Group, ... Together with South African trumpet player Marcus Wyatt he leads the Belgian-South African coöperative improvisation project Small World.

As an educator he teaches jazz piano and ensemble at de Kunsthumaniora Antwerp, preparing talented youngsters for music college.

In addition to his concert schedule and his teaching activities, he is the founder and owner of the independant record label SoulFactory Records.

Ewout loves to play solo piano, being able to dive into the instrument at nobody’s pace but his own. He likes to jump into solo gigs as unprepared as possible, and let his meeting with the piano of the day/night decide where the music is going to go.

Theo Bleckmann voice & efx
Timo Vollbrecht saxophone & efx
Harmen Fraanje piano

The Tether Trio is a brand-new, genre-exploding project that brings together three highly acclaimed improvisers: Grammy-nominated vocalist Theo Bleckmann (NY), saxophonist Timo Vollbrecht (NY) and pianist Harmen Fraanje (Amsterdam). Together, they weave intimate and delicated sonic textures that constitute a highly personal trio-sound. Blending jazz harmony with acoustic resonance and electronic live processing, thet allow their music the time required to breathe, unfold, and claim its space. The trio format consisting of voice, saxophone, and piano is both unconventional as it promises an entirely new sound and experience. The Tether Trio derives its name from the intertwining of musical ideas that these three free-thinking musicians merge into one.