Thomas Grimmonprez

Thomas Grimmonprez has recorded around fifteen albums as a sideman with Patrice Caratini Jazz Ensemble, Martial Solal Decaband, Laurent Cugny Big Band Lumière, Franck Avitabile, Stéphane Kerecki Trio, Nicolas Folmer, the Gueorgui Kornazof Quintet, and the Geoffroy Tamisier Sextet. He also performs with ensembles such as the Paris Jazz Big Band, the Bruxelles Jazz Orchestra, and the NDR in Hamburg, and alongside musicians including Riccardo Del Fra, Dominique Di Piazza, Manuel Rocheman, Louis Petrucciani, Baptiste Trotignon, Albert Mangelsdorf, Kenny Wheeler, Bobo Stenson, and Michel Legrand. In September 2009, he released his first CD as a leader, titled Bleu, at the head of his own trio. A professor at the Conservatoire à Rayonnement Régional de Douai since 2006, he has also been teaching jazz drums at the Conservatoire Royal de Bruxelles since 2010. After studying jazz drums at the Conservatoire à Rayonnement Régional de Lille, where he was awarded a gold medal in 1994, he obtained the Jazz Drums Prize in 1997 and the Diplôme de Formation Supérieure in Jazz Improvisation in 1999 at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris. That same year, he received a special mention from the jury at the Concours National de Jazz de La Défense.