Baptiste Trotignon was born near Paris in 1974. He grew up in the Loire, just outside Saumur. When he was six years old, his parents taught him how to play the violin. Two years later, he switched to (what else?) He now plays the piano! He began his classical training at nine years old. A few years later, he joined Nantes Conservatory where he was awarded prizes for composition and piano. He began learning jazz and improvisation as a teenager. His first concert was at the tender age of 16. He was an actor and musician in Alain Corneau’s 1994 film “Le Nouveau Monde”, and he decided to move to Paris in the next year. He formed his trio in 1998 with Clovis Nicolas (double basse) and Tony Rabeson (“drums”), which gave him invaluable experience as a leader. His debut album Fluide, which was released in June 2000, showed him to be one of the most impressive, wide-ranging, and fascinating pianists his generation. In March 2001, the album won a Django d’Or award for best first record. He released Sightseeing, his second album, with the same musicians later in 2001. Jazzman called it the shock of the decade and the Jazz Academy gave him the Prix Django Reinhardt award, which is an annual award to the best jazz musician of the year. He started to perform less as a sideman and instead performed with his trio at more international jazz festivals like Jazz in Marciac and Montreal. In October 2002, he won the Grand Prix de la Ville de Paris at the Martial Solal Interna tional Jazz Contest. A few months later, he was awarded the Victoires du Jazz 2003 Newcomer Award. Baptiste Trotignon released a new album in spring 2003, as a solo piano player performing his original compositions. It was widely praised by the media (fff» Telerama, shock and the year» Jazz Magazine), the public (more than 15,000 copies sold), and concert-goers (La Roque d’Antheron Festival in Paris, Piano aux Jacobins, Toulouse, Salle Pleyel, and many other). http://nextbop.com
