A Musical Spark
The story of Azure starts when pianist Pierre-François Blanchard and guitar player Rogier Schneemann meet at a spontaneous jam session. They immediately sense a musical spark and decide to collaborate. After finding a matching rhythm section, the band lines up the first gigs an call themselves Azure.
A First Success
The band records a demo and sends it out to a few festivals. In december 2007 they receive a call: The Hague Jazz. The first big show is coming! They decide to work on their debut album.
When She Smiles
After The Hague Jazz, the quartet records their debut album When She Smiles in june 2008. It has nine original pieces, inspired by love. They self-release the album and receive wide critical acclaim from the US (notably AllAboutJazz and Jazzreview) as well as from their country, the Netherlands. Especially their compositions, the unexpected mix of chamber jazz, pop, funk and latin, and their unique sound, built from a seamless blending of piano and guitar sounds, get a lot of praise.
Azure presents their album at The Hague Jazz 2009 and do a tour of some major Dutch summer festivals.
South America
Bass player Luciano Poli and drummer David Barker join the band. After the Dutch summer shows it's time for the first tour abroad: South America. The band tours Brazil and Argentina for three weeks and plays on stages like MASP São Paulo and Teatro Paiol. Their music, which sounds quite exotic to their South American listeners, receives a warm welcome.
Azure Hiptronics
In 2011 the band decides to work towards a second album. This time, they radically change their music. Instead of playing live jazz in quartet line-up, Azure collaborates with producer/guitar player Driftkikker and starts creating a hypermodern jazz/pop sound incorporating electronics, loops, samples and beats. The project is dubbed Azure Hiptronics and they aim to release the new album in 2012.
In the summer the band receives word that they are one of three finalists for a competition called Get Your Jazz On Stage. The goal is to book a big gig on a reknowned pop stage, promote the gig in a compelling way, and play the roof of the house in december 2011...
Biografie in het Nederlands...
UPCOMING CONCERTS:
AZURE HIPTRONICS feat. Rik Mol & L4, may 27, 2012:
Jazz in Duketown, 18.00 hrs
AZURE HIPTRONICS, Festival tour 2012:
dates TBA