Eve Beuvens
Eve Beuvens first wanted to play the double bass then, at 13, she preferred to play the piano because it seemed to require less strength! She was directly attracted to jazz. She then took classes with Nathalie Loriers.
After a degree in philosophy, she entered the Koninklijk Conservatorium van Brussel. She took lessons from Diederik Wissels, John Ruocco, Kris Defoort, Garrett List and John Taylor (as an Erasmus student in Cologne). She graduated from the conservatory in 2005.
She released her first disc “Noordzee” as a quartet with Joachim Badenhorst, Yannick Peeters and Lionel Beuvens on the Igloo label in 2009. Her first opus highlighted a composer without clichés as well as a pianist with multiple facets. Her music surprised critics with its freshness and fluidity, and it seduced the public with its poetry and intensity. It was with her group that she participated in a Jazz Tour des Lundis d’Hortense in 2009, at the “12 points” festival in Norway in 2010, a Jazz Lab tour and “Jazz Ahead” in Germany in 2011. After having played with her trio and her quartet, Eve has participated in projects of very different styles (Ceza-ruisz Gadzina Quartet, Sidewinders, Alex Beaurain Quintet, etc.). These experiences made Eve an increasingly complete, determined and convincing pianist.
In 2013, on the occasion of carte blanche for the Gaume Jazz Festival, she created the septet Hepta-tomic. Group which brings together Laurent Blondiau, Grégoire Tirtiaux, Sylvain Debaisieux, Benjamin Sauzereau, Manolo Cabras and Lionel Beuvens around an original repertoire written to measure. The album “Heptatomic” was released in September 2015 on the Igloo label. The group then played in the most important venues in the country (Bijloke Gent, Concertgebouw Brugge, Flagey Brussels, etc.) and participated in several international festivals in Belgium (Jazz à Liège, Tournai Jazz Festival, etc.) as well as in France, in Avignon (AJMI) and in Cannes (Festival “Jazz sous les Bi-garadiers”). The release of the record in France in 2017 was highly appreciated by critics.
She has been collaborating with Swedish saxophonist Mikael Godée since 2010. First as a duo, then as a quartet. The band has toured Sweden and Belgium numerous times. They released “MEQ” on the Spookhuis label in 2013. Their second quartet disc “Looking Forward” was released in February 2019 on the Igloo label during a Jazz Tour des Lundis d’Hortense. The group also participated in the Belgian Jazz Meeting, which opened a few doors abroad: Morocco, Italy, France….
In August 2018, Eve received the “commission” from the Gaume Jazz Festival for a solo concert for the following year. She walked around her piano seven times and agreed to take on the challenge! She then immersed herself in the solo piano records that had influenced her since her adolescence: Herbie Hancock “The Piano”, Thelonious Monk “Solo Monk”, Keith Jarrett “Live in Rio” but also those of Myra Melford, Paul Bley, Masabumi Kikuchi or Dollar Brand. Then she started to compose. Since the beginning of her life as a pianist, Eve has always composed, for her trio, for her quartet, for her septet but never for herself alone! It was with joy that she explored the richness of the sound palettes offered by this orchestral instrument that is the piano. In her compositions, Eve seeks a harmony of contrasts: thunderous bursts of bright colors but also melodies that warm the heart. Her first solo record will be released in September 2021 on the Igloo label and is called “Inner Geography”
