Thomas Champagne Random House | New album "Keep it Up"

Hello and thank you for visiting this page! My name is Thomas Champagne and I'm a Belgian saxophonist. I've been touring for over 25 years with The Thomas Champagne Trio, The Sidewinders, GribouJazz (jazz told to children), Al manara, Renato Baccarat & UTZ, Kind of Blue Tribute, Parker's Mood or Desafinado. Thomas Champagne Random House project began in January 2014 ! We released a first album as a Quartet (Sweet Day) in 2017 and then a second record as a Quintet with New York trumpeter Adam O'Farrill, in 2021. After the release of Tide at Flagey in September 2021, I wanted to continue working with the Quintet. With the band members, we wrote a new repertoire and Adam returned for several tours (including the Belgian Jazz Meeting 2022). This project is close to my heart because it's an extraordinary adventure for me. One thing I particularly love about this project is all the colors that are part of it. After many "traditional" jazz projects, Random House is venturing into new playgrounds, a music more inspired by what's been happening in New York since the 2000s: some tracks have a more pop color, others a frankly rock energy, some tracks have a freer structure. Finally, of course, there's the human element. The project celebrates its 10th anniversary in 2024. 10 years of sharing, uncertainties and renewed energy, trust and support, always moving forward... just "Keep it Up". Adam joined us in 2019, bringing his great musicality and incredible creativity. For a saxophonist to improvise and exchange with a trumpeter is always special, like a bass/drum relation. And here, we clicked right from the start. Thomas Champagne (alto saxophone), Adam O'Farrill (trumpet), Guillaume Vierset (guitar), Ruben Lamon (doublebass), Alain Deval (drums) All this makes me feel fulfilled and gives me tenfold energy to carry on together, despite the financial pitfalls. I thought I could count on financial help, but it didn't arrive in full. So I reinvented myself and embarked on a crazy new idea: to set up a label with my friend Renato Baccarat (more on that later!) to release this record. So I need your help to cover the costs of recording and producing the album, and to get it off my hard drive. I now need your help to continue this adventure! The stages of the project End of September to end of October 2023 >> this wonderful Crowdfunding October 2023 >> Shooting of release video clip with Caroline Poisson October 2023 >> end of mixing and mastering November 2023 >> Album production (CD and object) December 2023 >> Release of the video clip announcing the launch of the new Musiques Bleu Dans Vert label February 2024 >> Label launch party and donation of your rewards Between March and June 2024 >> Official release of "Keep it Up" The Team In addition to the band's musicians (whom I will introduce to you every week on all the networks ;-)), here are some of the people involved in this journey : Renato Baccarat | A loyal friend since 1996 (yes, the last century !), Renato is my partner in this adventure. He founds the future Musiques Bleu Dans Vert label, takes care of the graphic design, my new website, my album cover, we make beautiful foldings as download objects, goodies, ... Lots of meetings ahead ! Caroline Poisson | Much-admired talent around here, Caroline has already made the video for the album Tide in 2021. Here, she will be creating not 1 but 2 clips for this release. Rudy Coclet | he's the magician behind the controls. He's already done our "Tide" album. We recorded the "Keep it Up" album with him at Jet Studio, and Rudy is in charge of mixing and mastering the record. Arnaud Ghys | Arnaud is a well-known and much-admired photographer in our part of the world, and is responsible for all the Quintet's press photos. "Bad Date" - Live @ Belgian Jazz Meeting 2022 More about the Band Thomas Champagne Random House is a contemporary jazz quartet formed by the Belgian saxophonist Thomas Champagne. The project start as a Quartet  in 2014, when the Théâtre des Doms offers to the Brussels musician a 5-days residency in Avignon.  
 He surrounds himself with guitarist, arranger and composer Guillaume Vierset, double bassist Ruben Lamon and drummer Alain Deval. The group creates and develops its universe of modern jazz, halfway between the heritage of post bop jazz, free and pop/rock colors. In October 2017, the release of their first album Sweet Day confirms them on this journey and they perform all over Belgium. In March 2019, Thomas gave the band a new direction, inviting one of the most prominent musicians on the New York scene in the recent years, trumpeter Adam O'Farrill, voted #1 Rising Star Trumpet in DownBeat's Critics Poll in 2019 and 2021. They recorded a first quintet album, Tide, released under the Igloo Records label in September 2021 in Flagey (Brussels). In 2022, the quintet is selected to play at the Belgian Jazz Meeting showcase and Random House records the third album Keep it Up with Adam O'Farrill. Cradled by the great names of modern jazz such as Wayne Shorter, John Coltrane, Sonny Rollins or Lee Konitz, Thomas Champagne has also integrated more current colours into the new music of the quintet, immersing himself in what has been happening in New York in recent decades (Mark Turner and Kurt Rosenwinkel, Tim Berne, Nasheet Waits, Ellery Eskelin, Ralph Alessi Quartet, Aron Parks or Ambrose Akinmusire...). About Thomas Champagne Thomas Champagne started playing the saxophone at the age of 8 and discovered jazz at the age of 15 with Nathalie Loriers and Fabien Degryse. He studied with Jeroen Van Herzeele and Steve Houben. He also took lessons with Pierre Vaiana, Bart Defoort, Bo Van Der Werf, Laurent Blondiau, and more recently with Ellery Eskelin, Lucas Pino or Ralph Alessi. From 2001, Thomas Champagne traveled across Belgium with his Trio during 12 years. After a first album in 2008 on Igloo Records (Charon's Boat), Thomas Champagne Trio celebrates a decade of music with special guests (10 Years Project in 2011) and plays in Nicolas Bedos' play, "Promenade de santé " with Tania Garbarsky and Charlie Dupont (2013-2014). In 2009, Thomas started with double bass player Nicholas Yates the hard bop quintet  The Sidewinders (A Little Busy - Igloo Records, 2012). He also played and arranged for the Brazilian pop/rock septet UTZ (project of singer and guitarist Renato Baccarat). From 2013 onwards, Thomas participated in the magnificent Al Manara project, a creation which associates Belgian and Palestinian musicians, around Ramzi Aburedwan and Éloi Baudimont, on texts by Mahmoud Darwich (concerts in Tunisia, Palestine, Belgium, France and Spain). The same year, he set up with Michel Mainil the project Kind of Blue Tribute, a tribute to Miles Davis' mythical album. In January 2014, the birth of Thomas Champagne Random House was an artistic turning point for him. In April 2016, Nicholas Yates and Thomas Champagne took advantage of a residency to set up the band GribouJazz, jazz told to children, a jazz quartet around animated illustrations. The same year, UTZ, which became an Octet, released its second album and won the Sabam Award in World Music (concerts in Esperanzah, Sfinks, ...). Thomas Champagne is also invited by Ramzi Aburedwan to participate in the creation for the opening of the Sacred Music Festival of Fes in Morocco (May 2017). In October 2017, Random House released their debut album "Sweet Day", distributed by Igloo Records. Spring 2019 marks the launch of an ambitious new project for the quartet. Random House invites renowned New York trumpeter Adam O'Farrill on tour and together they record brand new repertoire. The album "Tide" is released in Flagey in June 2021. The Quintet is selected for the Belgian Jazz Meeting 2022. Other projects also emerged in 2020: Desafinado, a tribute to the great names of bossa nova (w/ Eve Beuvens, Boris Schmidt and Jan de Haas), and Parker's Mood, a quartet around the repertoire of Jazz legend Charlie Parker for the 100th anniversary of his birth (w/ Victor Da Costa, Victor Foulon and Armando Luongo). In 2023, Thomas performs as a soloist with the Bruocsella Symphony Orchestra. He performed the Cyber Bird Concerto, composed by Takashi Yoshimatsu, under the direction of David Miller. Always looking for new challenges to express his art, he founds a brand new band in 2023: Crosscurrent, a West Coast pianoless Quartet with trumpet player Adrien Volant and rhythm section Hendrik Vanattenhoven and Jan de Haas. Alongside his projects, Thomas also participates in several projects that mix the arts: composition of music for short films, collaboration with theater and dance. He also teaches at the Gaume Jazz Festival Summer Workshop since 2009, at the British School of Brussels and is curator of the ATOMIUM Jazz concerts.