Grégory Privat with Linley Marthe & Tilo Bertholo
Biographie Grégory Privat with Linley Marthe & Tilo Bertholo
Grégory Privat
is a French jazz pianist who was born in Martinique (French West Indies) in 1984. His earliest musical influence was his father, José Privat who was the pianist of the famous Caribbean band Malavoi. José Privat who was a self-taught pianist encouraged Grégory to take piano lessons. In this way, Grégory began to play the piano at the age of six with a private teacher. He studied classical music for ten years and at barely 16 years old, he began composing music for the section of his high school where he became one of the most active members. He dropped out of classical music and moved to jazz and improvisations.
A few years later, Grégory moved to Toulouse (France) to attend an engineering school. While studying, he began performing in solo and sometimes with a trio at jam sessions in local clubs. After graduating from his engineering school, he moved to Paris and founded the trio “Trioka”, playing a mixture of jazz, and Caribbean melodies. Despite strong performances, the band dissolved a year later. In the years that followed, Grégory had the opportunity to meet other valuable musicians including: Orlando “Maraca” Valle, Jacques Schwarz-Bart, Stéphane Huchard, Dominique Di Piazza, Rémi Vignolo, Catia Werneck, Sonny Troupé, Guillaume Perret, Stéphane Belmondo and worked with them as a sideman.
The desire to excel and progress in his music encouraged him to enter several international piano competitions and in July 2008 he is rewarded with a place to the Semifinal Jazz Piano Competition at the “Montreux Jazz Festival,” and in 2010 at the “Martial Solal International Jazz Piano Competition” in Paris. Soon after, Grégory creates a new more personal band that leads him to play his compositions at major jazz clubs in Paris. Thanks to this, in 2011 he releases his first album called “Ki Koté”.
After “Ki Koté” which has been pointed out by the media and the public in 2013, Grégory releases his second album “Tales of Cyparis”, on the record label “Plus Loin / Abeille Musique.” “Tales of Cyparis” is an illustration of the story of Louis-Auguste Cyparis, a former sailor and one of the rare survivors of the tragic eruption of Mount Pelée that destroyed Saint-Pierre, former capital of Martinique in 1902. This album takes Grégory among the most prominent musicians of the new Jazz scene.
On January 26, 2015 this status is strengthened when he records his third studio album: “Luminescence” on the record label “Jazz Family.” In this one Grégory teams up to form a duo with his friend Sonny Troupé, drummer, percussionist and great master of “Gwo Ka” (Traditional music from Guadeloupe based on a percussion called “Ka”). This album is the result of the perfect chemistry between the two musicians and at the same time a real poetry between the piano and the ka.
