THOMAS CHAMPAGNE

Random House

Thomas Champagne - alto saxophone
Adam O'Farrill - trumpet
Guillaume Vierset - guitar
Ruben Lamon - double bass
Alain Deval - drums

Thomas Champagne Random House is a contemporary jazz Quintet formed by Belgian saxophonist Thomas Champagne.
The project began as a Quartet in 2014, when the Théâtre des Doms offered the Brussels musician a 5-day residency in Avignon.
He joined forces with guitarist, arranger and composer Guillaume Vierset, double bassist Ruben Lamon and drummer Alain Deval. The group creates and develops its modern jazz universe, halfway between post-bop jazz heritage, free jazz and pop/rock colours.

In October 2017, the acclaimed release of their debut album Sweet Day confirmed them on this journey, and they performed 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 recent years, trumpeter Adam O'Farrill, voted #1 Rising Star Trumpet in DownBeat's Critics Poll in 2019 and 2021.

They record their first quintet album, Tide, released on Igloo Records 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 which will be released in 2024.

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, drawing on the New York scene of recent decades (Mark Turner and Kurt Rosenwinkel, Tim Berne, Nasheet Waits, Ellery Eskelin, Ralph Alessi Quartet, Aaron Parks and Ambrose Akinmusire).

Photo: Arnaud Ghys