BIOGRAPHY

 

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CAREER:​

 

                        

• After Jef Neve graduated “cum laude” in 2001 for piano in both the classical and jazz departments, as well as for chamber music, at the Lemmens Institute in Leuven, he soon made his first jazz albums with the Jef Neve Trio. Since 2006 he signed with the major record label Universal Music and his career took an international turn.
• With the 'Jef Neve Trio' he makes successful tours, from Denmark to Australia, from Canada to Japan.
• The collaboration with Gabriel Rios and Kobe Proesmans resulted in a series of great performances during 2008. Rios again asked Jef Neve to collaborate on compositions for his CD “The Dangerous Return” which was released at the end of 2010.
• In 2009 he toured through Flanders with his first piano concerto, with the Brussels Philharmonic, conducted by Michel Tabachnik.
• The CD “Face to Face” of the Duo with vibraphonist Pascal Schumacher was released in January 2010 on Enja Records. The duo made a 'Rising Star Tour' along a dozen important European venues. Jef Neve also contributed to Pascal Schumacher's albums.
• Also in 2010 he made the album “For all we know” together with the American singer José James, and the Impulse label was restarted especially for this album. This album took them to just about every major jazz festival worldwide, from Japan, Canada and America, to all of Europe.
• Jef Neve was asked by the National Belgian Radio VRT-Klara to make a weekly jazz program. Between January 2008 and August 2010, the program "Neve" was recorded live and broadcast every Friday night.
• In February 2012, Neve wrote the music for the theater production 'De Tocht van de Olifant' by Stefan Perseval with the actors Sien Eggers and Marc van Eeghem.
• In 2012, 2014, 2016 and 2018, Jef Neve is the curator of the 'Neve Festival' in the Warande at the cultural center de Warande in Turnhout, where he was given carte blanche to program the whole weekend.
• In 2012 he toured through Flanders with his 2nd piano concerto, accompanied by the Brussels Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Dirk Brossé.
• During the 2014 edition of Leuven Jazz, Jef Neve was still the great trendsetter with a unique occasional combo including Richard Galliano and Dré Pallemaerts. Neve was also present in the 2015 edition.
• Jamie Cullum, England's best-known and most talented jazz artist, invited Jef Neve to play music together at the North Sea Jazz Club in Amsterdam on 24 November 2014.
• Jamie also took the time to interview Jef extensively for his radio show, on which Jef also brought his film crew to interview Jamie for Café Corsari, where he was a guest during the 2014-2015 season.

• 'Piano meets hip-hop': In 2016, 2017 and 2018 Jef already played several concerts with the famous Dutch rapper Typhoon. The Tour with Typhoon and Amsterdam Sinfonietta at the end of 2017 and spring 2018 was a resounding success. 
• Spirit Control: this album was presented in 2017, this time with an extensive band. Jens Bouttery on drums, Lennart Heyndels on bass and a string quartet join Jef Neve on stage.

 

• Jef Neve conducted his own orchestra at Pukkelpop 2018 and played 'The 4 Seasons', adapted by Max Richter at Pukkelpop, the Nevefestival 2018 and ‘Lekker Klassiek’ 2018, of which he was the artistic director.
• Since 2019, Jef has been playing in duo with the famous trumpeter Teus Nobel, in Kenya, Canada, Japan, Czech Republic, Latvia. In 2022 the concerts were a homage to Toots Thielemans with the subtitle 100 years Toots, , which he would have turned 100 years old on 29/04/2022. In February 2023 they were guests in Hungary
• duo concerts with the Dutch top trumpeter Teus Nobel, at home and abroad.
• In recent years, Jef has also focused more and more on composing. In 2021 he wrote 3 piano books: “Start”, “2” and “Play for the 3 different degrees in the music academies. There is also a deluxe edition, “Sharing Life Stories”: a collection of the 3 books, in combination with illustrations by Oswald Cromheecke. All compositions are 2x on Youtube, 1x in the "concert version" played by Jef, 1x in a "tutorial version" where Jef explains the difficulties per song. There is the accompanying solo album on Spotify, Sharing Life Stories.
• In 2022 he again composed 2 piano books: "Reflections in Black and Reflections in White", in addition to the previous 3 books. These new books will be fully presented by Jef in the various music schools in the spring of 23.
• Jef Neve composed the next album “Mysterium”, which was released in August 2020. It was supposed to be released in March 2020, but the lockdown due to the corona pandemic decided otherwise.
• During the 2020 corona year, Jef Neve focused on live streaming from his own studio. He delivered no less than 150 live streamed concerts, first on Facebook, then on his own new subscriber website, www.jefneve-live.com, where people could register per series of 10 concerts. This continued until spring 2021.
• In the summer of 2020 and the summer of 2021 he performed “Ochtendglorenconcerten”, with soprano Hanne Roos, saxophonist Andy Dhondt and a string quintet. Neo-classical and minimalist music performed outdoors at dawn.
• In the autumn and winter of 2021, Jef played several concerts: “Jef Neve plays with you”, in which Jef improvised on stories that the audience provided.
• The “Mysterium tour” was finally kicked off with a headliner concert at Gent Jazz in July 2021, before touring throughout Flanders and the Netherlands from September to the end of December 2022.
• First months of 2023: presentation of 2 new piano books, “Reflections in Black & White”
• In March 2023: release of the documentary film “Rebound”, the story of Sebastien Bellin, the former basketball player who was seriously injured in the attack on the airport on March 22, 2016.
• April 21, 2023: release of his new album “That Old Feeling” an album on which Jef invites 8 international singers to sing a song with him, featuring Madeleine Peyroux, Sam Sparro, Robin McKelle, Monique Harcum, Sam Merrick, Typhoon, Trijntje Oosterhuis and Johnny Manuel. Release tour in Belgium and The Netherlands, followed by a large theater tour that went on in 2024. Several festival stages like Amersfoort Jazz (NL), Buxton International Festival (UK),…
• 2025: first album of Neve – Nobel, the duo of Jef Neve with Teus Nobel. International release in Spring 2025

• TOUR HISTORY:

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  • The Jef Neve Trio performed with the album 'Soul In A Picture' at festivals in the Netherlands and abroad.

• In 2008 the trio received great acclaim at Bremen JazzAhead, 
• The concerts of the album 'Imaginary Road' in Belgium and the Netherlands drew full houses. The Trio also presented the album in Canada and Australia with great success, after the first concert in Wangaratta (Australia) the CDs were sold out and a reviewer wrote after their performance: "The guy is unbelievable, as a self-confessed atheist his concert was a religious experience”.
• Also in Germany, France (Paris), In Japan, in the famous Cotton Club of Tokyo as well as in Osaka.
• The concert in Brussels with the American singer Jose James in 2008 resulted in a collaboration for an r project “Facing East – the music of John Coltrane' with which they gave four sublime concerts in September 2009 in the AB/Brussels, Paradiso/Amsterdam , Ronnie Scott's/London and New Morning/Paris.The duo toured the USA, Canada and European summer festivals in 2010 with the album “For All We Know”.
• The release concerts of the album 'Sons of the New World' in 2012 and the tour through the many cultural centers in Flanders in the spring of 2014 ensured that more than 15,000 spectators attended the concerts.
• Jef Neve also formed a duo with pianist Liebrecht Vanbeckevoort in a 'classical & jazz' project. The duo toured in 2012-13 with the program “If Mozart and Monk were Brothers.
• In 2013, Jef Neve made successful tours in Thailand, China, South Korea, Japan, Kenya, Australia, Denmark, where he performed successful jazz concerts in many sold-out halls, both solo and with the Jef Neve Trio, as well as with local musicians. Jazz pianist Jef Neve has been active in Japan and China for several years. In June 2013 he made the first contacts at a showcase festival in Ghuangzhou, in October that year he returned and played at various festivals.
• Japan, Brazil and China were scheduled for 2014.
• In January 2015, Jef Neve went on tour to Thailand again. Following this, the tour went to Australia where Jef played together with Maria Schneider (with the Jazzgroove Mothership Orchestra) and presented his solo album ONE in all major cities Down Under. In the same year he was a guest in South America (Chile, Argentina and Brazil), as well as in Canada
• From October 2014 to spring 2016, most performances were part of Jef Neve's solo album.
• In February 2016 he was a guest at the Safaricom international Jazz festival in Kenya. Jef shared the stage with Branford Marsalis, among others.
• In April 2016 there were several concerts in New Zealand, the most important of which was the performance of the music of 'In Vlaamse Velden', in Auckland, with the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra, in memory of WWI.
• In May 2016 Jef Neve played his 2nd piano concerto in Bangkok with the Thai Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by maestro Delta David Gier. In addition, he had (for the third time) a duo performance with the famous saxophonist Koh Mr. Saxman
• In November 2016, Jef played in a sold-out Opera in Ho Chi Minh (Vietnam), with the Vietnamese star Tuan Manh Tran on saxophone as special guest.
• In the second part of 2016, concerts followed in Canada, Japan, Vietnam, Malaysia, Rwanda, Uganda.
• In 2017, the album Spirit Control was presented in Belgium and the Netherlands, also in New Zealand and Australia, France.
• In 2018, many concerts with the Spirit Control program were played in Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Poland, Burkina Faso, Croatia, Bangkok, Australia, Canada. It was a great success everywhere.
• In 2019 the tour through Flanders started by Jef with Natalia: “Jef Neve meets Natalia in concert”. All shows were sold out. The show coninued in 2021
• Since May 2019 there was a concert tour by Jef Neve in duo with the Dutch top trumpeter Teus Nobel, both in Belgium and abroad, such as Canada, Bangkok, Australia). This duo will continue touring in 2023
• 2021: Mysterium tour through Flanders and the Netherlands
• 2022: resumption of Mysterium tour in Flanders, foreign tours with Neve-Nobel (Canada, Japan, Estonia/Latvia, Kenya)
• 2023: Performances with Teus Nobel in Hungary
• 2023: presentation of the 2 new piano books 'Reflections in Black and Reflections in White' in various music schools in Flanders
• 2023: release new album That Old Feeling
• Duo tour with Teus Nobel in Hungary, february 2023
• October 2023: Cairo Jazz Festival
• November 2023: solo concerts and collabs during Semana Belga in Cuba, as well as a tour in Kenya, working at Ghetto Classics, his project in the slums of Nairobi
• February 2024: solo concert tour in India, 4 shows in Delhi
• Spring 2024: solo concerts in 23 different living rooms, fundraising for the project in Nairobi

• FESTIVALS, (MAIN) STAGES:      

  Jef Neve performed on a large range of stages and festivals, a short list: 

• Rock Werchter, Pukkelpop, Gent Jazz, Jazz Middelheim, Jazz a Juan-Les-Pins, Paris Jazz Festival, Nice Jazz festival, Jazz au fil de l’Oise, Jazz sous les Pommiers, North Sea Jazz, Amersfoort Jazz Festival, Jazz in Duketown, Veneto Jazz, Perugia Jazz festival, Cairo Jazz festival, London Jazz Festival, Melbourne Jazz Festival, Sydney Festival, Ottawa, Montréal, Vancouver, Toronto, Rimouski Jazz festivals, Safaricom Jazz Festival Nairobi, Jazz à Ouaga, Shenzhen, Hangzhou, Changsha, Guangzhou, Shanghai jazz festivals, Mexico Eurojazz, Athens Eurojazz
• Stages and clubs:  L’Olympia, De Roma, Ancienne Belgique, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Sydney Opera House, Opera House of Ghent, Angels Hall Sydney, Unterfahrt Munich, Duc des Lombards Paris, Jamboree Barcelona, Café Central Madrid, Bimhuis, Dizzy’s Coca Cola Club (NY), Charlie Parker Club Chicago, Bennet’s Lane Melbourne, Cotton Club Tokyo, Motion Blue Yokohama, The Piano Man New Delhi, Bongo Club Capetown, Creative Jazz Club Auckland , Bangkok Mahidol Concert Hall, ,…..

• ALBUMS​

• The first album of the Jef Neve Trio, ‘Blue Saga’ (Contour, 2003), was immediately a bestseller. 

• The second “It’s Gone” (Contour, Nov 2004) was a jazz album in Belgium.  It received the prestigious Radio Klara prize for ‘Best International Jazz Album 2005’ and unanimous acclaim in the international press

•  In 2004 the album Witches Dance was released with the Frederic Delplanc Quartet.

• Jef Neve signed with Universal Music Belgium in 2006. “Nobody is Illegal” (Universal/Emarcy) was again a best-selling jazz album in Belgium.

• The album “Soul In a Picture” was released in May 2008 on Universal Music Belgium followed by world wide release in 24 countries.

• With the band ‘Groove Thing’, with the world-famous guitarist James Muller, Nicolas Kummert on sax, Nic Thys on bass and Lieven Venken on drums, Jef goes back to his first love, the Hammond B3 organ. The band performed at Jazz Middelheim ‘08 with great success and recorded a live-album at two sold-out concerts in Brussels’ Ancienne Belgique :  «The Love Album » (Prova Records,  May 2010)

• In 2010, Jef Neve recorded the duo album with American singer José James « For All We Know » (in one studio day!) which was released on the especially resurrected Impulse label. 

• The album Jef Neve Soundtracks – De Helaasheid der Dingen – Dagen Zonder Lief (two movies by Felix van Groeningen) was recorded in the Music Centre De Bijloke, Ghent, and was released by EMI Music Publishing Belgium.

• Jef Neve’s trio album “Imaginary Road” (September 2010, Universal/Emarcy), was recorded with his long-time companion Teun Verbruggen on drums and a great young bass player: Ruben Samama, from Dutch origin living in NY. 

• Jef Neve’s album Sons of the New World was written for his trio with added woodwinds and horns. He dedicated this album to the changes in the world today and recent developments in the Arabic world, and was released end October 2012 on Universal/Emarcy.

• At the same time, he made a first jazz video-clip surrounded by a bunch of young talented artists. 

• His Second Piano concerto was recorded in 2013 with Jef Neve on the piano, together with the orchestra Il Novecento conducted by Dirk Brossé. This album was released in 2014.

• In Flanders Fields, the soundtrack to the prestigious TV series 'In Vlaamse Velden' was released in March 2014.

• In October 2014, Jef Neve's first Solo Album ONE has been released. The long-awaited album was recorded in London's Abbey Road Studios and is released all over the world.

• Jef Neve re-recorded his second piano concerto in May 2016, in Bangkok, with the Thai Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by maestro Delta David Gier.

• In March 2017, the album Spirit Control was released, meanwhile 75 national and international concerts of Spirit Control have been held.

• The album “Sharing Life Stories” was released in May 2019, a solo-album containing a selection of compositions for the piano books “Start”, “2” and “Play”.

• March 2020: Release of the newest album Mysterium, in a septet without drums: bass (Jasper Høiby), trumpet ( Teus Nobel), 3 x tenor saxophones (Nicolas Kummert, Bruno Van der Haegen), bass trombone (Pieter Kindt).

• April 2023: That Old Feeling. The new album by Jef Neve, with 8 different guest singers, such as Madeleine Peyroux, Sam Sparro, Johnny Manuel, Robin McKelle, Sam Merrick, Trijntje Oosterhuis, Typhoon, Monique Harcum. Jens Bouttery on drums, Nathan Wouters on bass, Teus Nobel on trumpet.

SOUND TRACKS :

• Jef Neve wrote the sound track for the film ‘Dagen Zonder Lief’ (2007) by Belgian film director Felix Van Groeningen. Jef was invited to perform extracts from the score at the “World Soundtrack Awards 2007”, in an arrangement for orchestra and piano. The film was also shortlisted for the European Film Awards in Berlin.

• He composed the sound track for the film ‘The Misfortunates’ by Van Groeningen, premiering in October 2009. 

• Neve also wrote the music for the documentary; ‘Verdwaald in het Geheugenpaleis’ from Klara Van Es (2010), for the theatre production 'De tocht van de Olifant' (2012) etc.

• Together with the Brussels Philharmonic Jef Neve participated as pianist in the sound-track of Michel Havanicius’s film « The Artist », for which the composer Ludovic Bource received an Oscar and a Golden Globe.

• Some pieces of the soundtrack of multi-awarded “The Broken Circle Breakdown” (2012), by Felix Van Groeningen are again composed by Jef.

• Together with Isolde Lasoen he composed and played the soundtrack in 2013 for an animated film ‘Rapsodie en Rose’ by Bram Mondy.

• In 2013 he composed the music for the Flemish Television's prestigious fiction series about WW1, called ‘In Flanders Fields’. The soundtrack was released separately in 2014.

• His second collaboration with Klara van Es, resulted in the soundtrack of the docu-film “Carnotstraat 17”, released in 2015.

• In 2016, Jef wrote the soundtrack for a TV-series for the Dutch television. The series is called “De Maatschap” and was directed by Michiel van Jaarsveld.

• Also in 2016, he composed the soundtrack for the movie Sprakeloos by Hilde Van Mieghem (to the book of Tom Lanoye).

• He composed the soundtrack for the film ‘Zie mij doen’ made by Klara Van Es, in 2017. The film won the first prize on the Docville film Festival in Leuven, March 2018, and is now touring the world.

• He is composing for the docu-film “From Kobe to Kona”, the story of Sebastien Bellin, former basketball player, who was heavily wounded during the Belgian airport attacks on March 22^nd 2016.
  
  Release spring 2023.

• The docu-films “t(w)o work/Weg naar Werk” are released in April 2022.

• March 2023: release of the docu-film “Rebound”, the story of Sebastien Bellin, the former basketball player seriously injured in the airport attack on March 22, 2016.

OTHER RECENT COMPOSITIONS:

 

• A composition “De Grote Schijn” for a sound and lightshow in Antwerp was written in 2018.

• Jef Neve composed a hymn for the “Landloperskolonie” (a vagabond colony), in Merksplas and Wortel (Belgium), who are competing to become Unesco world inheritance.

• The world premiere for ‘Fantasy for piano solo, violin solo and string orchestra’ was played in the basilisk of Tongeren in April 2018. This is a piece by Jef Neve for and with Lorenzo Gatto, for the B-Classic Festival in Flanders.

• Recently Jef Neve has released three piano books: “Start”, “2” and “Play”.

• Jef Neve wrote and arranged several charts for his tour with Flemish singer Natalia.

• He wrote a 45 minutes long composition for Bozar, in particular for the majestic organ in the big hall, to be accompanied by piano, strings- and wind-ensemble.

• Composition for the Brass-Aux-Saxes fanfare orchestra.

• Composition for string ensemble and accordeon, for the Bachfestival in Dordrecht, The Netherlands (20210.

• He wrote a “Frank Sinatra Concerto”, piano concerto in the style of Frank Sinatra with elements of his music integrated in the piece. Commissioned by Casco Phil chamber orchestra

• The Ghent Festival/Festival van Vlaanderen comissioned Jef to write the “Rain Requiem”, a 50-minutes composition for the bad condition of our planet, for orchestra, choir and 2 soloists, with lyrics by writer David Van Reybrouck. Creation in June 2022.

• January 2024: concerto for piano, string orchestra and violin solo, premiered in a sold out Bozar in Brussels on January 5th

AWARDS :

Jef Neve was the recipient of several prizes:

2004: Klara price for Best Jazz (It's Gone)

2005: Culture Prize Capilla Flamenca

2005: ZAMU Awards Best Artist; Best international Jazz-album of the year (Jef Neve Trio)

2006: Prix Choc in France for the album “Nobody is Illegal”

2007: ZAMU Awards Jazz.

2008: Music Industry Awards (MIA) Best Musician

2009: MIA Best Musician

2010: Edison Award for the album “For all we know”

2010: MIA Best Composer

2012: MIA Best Composer and Best Musician;

2012: award of the best resident of Ghent as musician.

2016: Honorary Citizen of his home city Geel

2016: United Humans Award for mutual respect

2017: October: World Soundtrack award for the Best Original Score for a Belgian Production

2017 for the film ‘Sprakeloos’ (‘Speechless’) by Hilde Van Mieghem. 

DISCOGRAPHY