Pascal Niggenkemper, a german-french bassist, was born in 1978. He played the piano and the violin from an early age. He discovered the power of improvised music at the age of 17 and began playing the double bass. He moved to Cologne in 1999, where he studied jazz doublebass under Prof. Dieter maderscheid and classical doublebass under Prof. VeitPeter Schussler from the Hochschule fur Musik. He is known for the audio visual dance project Turbo Pascale (www.turbopascale.de). Mixing elements of dance music with folk and free improvised songs creates a new form of music. This group includes two VJ’s, who interact with the music and project their visual expressions on the screen. This group toured Germany and France, Kazakhstan, Czech Republic and Slovenia. They also appeared at festivals such as Jazz festival Moers, Jazzmesse “Jazzahead Bremen”, and “WDR Jazznight” which featured live radio broadcasts on WDR Radio. Trio Sence was Pascal Niggenkemper’s piano trio. They were in the top ten on the jazz charts for more than ten months, with the CD “Away for a while” (Mons Records). He was a member of the German Youth Jazz Orchestra (Bujazzo), and he performed the 25-year anniversary tour of “Deutsche Musikrat” under the direction of Gunther Schuller. He was a member of the Group Jalg and accompanied Siiri Sisask, an Estonian singer. The group recorded the CD “Teine Jalg” (Finetones Records). 2005 saw Pascal Niggenkemper receive a DAAD Award by the German government. He was able to continue his studies at Jay Anderson’s Manhattan School of Music in New York, where he received a Masters Diploma of Music Performance. Pascal was a member the Henry Mancini Institut Los Angeles in 2006 and played with many musicians, including Vince Mendoza (Mariah Schneider), Bert Turetzky, Gonzalo rubalcaba (Merlin), Bert Turetzky, Bert Turetzky, and Vince Mendoza. Pascal recorded Elevation, a grammy-nominated song with the Henry Mancini Institute Big Band that featured Eddie Daniels and Tom Scott. He was a member of the international Mizo band, which plays greek-influenced jazz music. They recorded a CD together with Lionel Loueke, and toured France, Belgium and Luxembourg in 2009. Pascal toured Korea in 2007 with Vian. They recorded the CD Ordinary Days. Pascal Niggenkemper Trio was formed in New York by Robin Verheyen, Tyshawn Sorey, and Pascal. The CD pasapas was recorded by the trio for Konnex. The Pascal Niggenkemper Trio performed at the Jazzcologne Festival in Belgium, Germany and Switzerland. They were recorded for both the WDR (Radio Deutsche Rundfunk) and the BR Radio. Pascal was awarded second place in the BMW Welt Jazz Competition, March 2009. He was accompanied by Minsarah. Pascal?s Newfield was formed by Scott Dubois, guitarist, and Jeff Davis, drummer. It explores the intersection of postmodern jazz, rock music, contemporary classic music, and modern jazz aesthetics. The ensemble toured Europe in December 2009. He has performed with many groups at venues such as Cornelia Street Cafe and Smalls, Barbes. Fat Cat, Brooklyn Lyceum. 5C Cafe. Bowery Poetry Club. The Stone, Irridium. Le Grand Dakkar. Bar4. Listen Space. Pascal has performed with many musicians, including Louis Sclavis and Wolfgang Puschnig. Claudio Puntin. Frank Gratkowski. Rudi Mahall. Rudi Mahall. Terrence N?Gassa. Arve Henriksen. Hans Ludemann. Billy Harper. Eddie Daniels. Jean-Paul Dessy. Maria Schneider. Vince Mendoza. Steve Slagle. Lionel Loueke. Tyshawn Sorey. from www.kennedy-center.org
