Shining Face

Igor Gehenot was born in Liège in 1989. He started playing piano at the age of 6, first studying classical and then jazz. At the age of 19, he attended the Maastricht Conservatory.

Subsequently, he distinguished himself as a sideman in many bands before working on composition: “Road Story” was released in 2012, closely followed by “Motion” in 2014, then ”Delta” in 2017, awarded an Octave de la Musique, and finally “Cursiv” in 2019. This was followed closely by studio and live albums in duo with Amaury Faye,

but also a brand new funk project, No Steam, which he led alongside guitarist Fabrizio Graceffa in a surprisingly different style than we are used to. The band has been on stage since 2022 and released its first EP entitled “BXVI” in September 2023. This live album was already his 8th project as leader or co-leader, a guarantee of the confidence and interest that the public gives to the artist.

“Shining Face” evokes the bright and glowing faces of loved ones, a tribute to blood ties and the more unspoken ones that connect us to others. It has been many years since the pianist demonstrated his qualities as a musician and improviser. He once

again shows us his ability to compose melodies that will run through your head and will surely become the soundtrack of moments when you let yourself go to melancholy and dreams. He is joined this time by a high-flying rhythm section. The emblematic Sal La Rocca, a long-time accomplice, holds the bass end.

With the in-demand Italian Umber to Odone, they offer us all the virtues of jazz as a trio: a good balance between rhythm and groove, but in a meditative atmosphere, intimate. In music as in life, the fire doesn’t always catch. But when the magic works in the studio, it offers a result that can be listened to again and again: carried by the attentive gaze of the son to whom it is dedicated, Igor Gehenot shares with us a beautiful demonstration of the modern jazz trio.