#2

Laurent Blondiau trumpet & bugle
Fabian Fiorini piano
Bart Maris trumpet & bugle
Jean-Paul Estiévenart trumpet
Adrien Lambinet trombone & trombone basse
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Pascal Rousseau bass tuba
Guillaume Orti saxophones
Jeroen Van Herzeele saxophones
Bo Van der Werf saxophones
Grégoire Tirtiaux saxophones
Pierre Bernard flutes
Quentin Manfroy flutes
Yann Lecollaire clarinet
Nathan Wouters contrebasse
Samuel Ber drum
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About

MikMâäk is not just any old big band: it brings together 16 musicians of incredible character around a repertoire composed as a collective where the sheet music leaves lots of room for free – sometimes experimental - improvisation. The result is uncommon jazz recorded live at the W:halll in January 2019.

Directed by Laurent Blondiau (European revelation 2009 of the Académie du Jazz de France and winner of the Sabam Jazz Award 2015) and Fabian Fiorini (pianist and composer that has worked with the Ictus Ensemble, Aka Moon, Anna Teresa De Keersmaeker, TG Stan and Kris Defoort amongst others), Mik¬Mâäk takes a new look at the idea of a big band. It is one of the craziest projects from Mâäk, the collective that Blondiau created more than 20 ago. It brings together 16 exceptional musicians that made a name for themselves in jazz, remarkable improvisers that are very different but complementary and that demonstrate incredible musical eclectism. In this big band unlike any other, each musician composes and brings a personal touch. The result is organised chaos cut with smart interventions that blend organically into liberating compositions, all done with a touch of disarming humor.

With #2, MikMâäk offers the long-awaited follow-up of the first self-titled album (released by De Werf in 2015). The original compositions are by drummer Samuel Ber, clarinetist Yann Lecollaire and tuba player Pascal Rousseau. The icing on the cake are previously unreleased titles by the two artistic directors, Laurent Blondiau and Fabian Fiorini. The album was recorded in January 2019 during a residence at the W:Hall and was mixed by the engineer Vincent De Bast. A radio edit of “Yaçin’s Tune” exists, beautifully filmed for a video clip to be released on September 13.