In 2006, pianist Pierre-François Blanchard and guitar player Rogier Schneemann met by chance in a rehearsal at the Royal Conservatory and felt an immediate musical connection. They teamed up with a talented rhythm section and Azure was born.
The quartet started working on original material. Azure made a first studio recording called 'There Were Stars' in february 2007, and started playing gigs throughout the Netherlands, on festivals like The Hague Jazz, Delft Jazz Festival and Utrecht Jazz Fest. In 2009, they toured through Brasil and Argentina.
Azure is steadily gaining recognition for their unique sound, interplay, lyrical compositions and intense live performances. They released their official debut album 'When She Smiles' in 2009. The album features nine of their original compositions and was recorded and produced by Lauran Jurrius. The album is internationally available on internet and is gaining critical acclaim from the worldwide jazz press.
Pierre-François Blanchard studied classical piano and jazz piano in Nantes and Paris, and played in bands like Sokyzoom, La Belle Vie Trio and the Bonobo Trio. He has received his Bachelor's degree in jazz piano at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague, and is currently studying for the Master's Degree at the Royal Conservatory. Pierre-François was semi-finalist in the YPF Jazz Piano Concours 2009.
Rogier Schneemann started playing guitar at age 11, and enrolled the Royal Conservatory of The Hague in 2004. He has studied with Eef Albers, Toon Roos and Martijn van Iterson, and has performed with Peter Erskine, Benjamin Herman, Peter Beets, Simon Rigter, Rob van Bavel a.o. Rogier represented the Royal Conservatory of the Hague at the IASJ Meeting 2007 in Siena, Italy, hosted by David Liebman.
Rogier graduated Cum Laude for the Bachelor degree and is now in the Master program of the Royal Conservatory.
In addition to playing with Azure, Rogier plays in the Charli Green Big Band.
Luciano Poli was born in Rome in 1978, started studying electric bass in 1996, favouring blues, soul and funk. Driven by a deep passion for jazz music he engaged in the study of double bass in 2001 under the guidance and supervision of S. Cantarano and T. Contrevi (A. Casella Conservatory - Italy). In 2004 he moved to the Netherlands where he attended the 4-year Bachelor Course in Jazz double bass at the Royal Conservatory studying with Hein van de Geyn, Frans van der Hoeven, Roelof Meyer and Uli Glassman. He graduated in June 2008. He has attended many Workshops both in the Netherlands and in Italy given by some of the most famous jazz musicians worldwide. During the last six years he has beem performing around Europe with several different ensembles.
David Barker has toured with the European Youth Jazz Orchestra and has played with musicians like Michael Brecker, Kurt Rosenwinkel and artists such as Rob Van Kreeveld, Bert Joris and Eef Albers. David studied jazz drums at the Royal Conservatory with Erik Ineke and Stefan Kruger (Zuco 103). Davids plays with Thinktank, who have just released Pek Dek, their debut album on the O.A.P label. In 2007, David won the 1st prize at the 29th Jazz Hoeilaart competition as a member of the Pierre Anckaert Trio.
| Rogier Schneemann plays |
David Barker plays |
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