Grand Pianoramax
Encyclopedia
Grand Pianoramax is an experimental keyboard/drums project conceived by keyboardist Leo Tardin. The line up consists of Tardin and Dominik Burkhalter
featuring various guests, often including Mike Ladd
and Black Cracker.
(and two tracks with Ferenc Nemeth
on drums). Grand Pianoramax's second release The Biggest Piano In Town employs the likes of drummers Deantoni Parks
and Adam Deitch
and expanded personnel to include guest vocals, raps and spoken word from Mike Ladd
, Black Cracker, Invincible, and Spleen.
At the same time as the album The Biggest Piano In Town was commercially released in the USA and Canada, Grand Pianoramax went on a 10-city tour in the US opening for Maceo Parker
and then moved on to perform at several major festivals in Europe (most notably at a showcase night featuring the Andy Milne & Gregoire Maret duo, and Grand Pianoramax with Spleen & Bleubird
at the 2008 Montreux Jazz Festival
). Zurich-based Dominik Burkhalter
had become the official drummer for the band.
Grand Pianoramax’s third album, Smooth Danger, was recorded and mixed between Mumbai, Berlin, Paris and Bristol (and mastered by Shawn Joseph, collaborator of Portishead). It was released in Europe and the USA in October 2010, to be supported by a European release-tour in November-December. Various guests appeared on the album, including Grand Pianoramax long-time collaborators Mike Ladd
, Black Cracker and for the first time Karsh Kale
on tabla
.
, Switzerland, won the first Montreux Jazz Festival International Solo Piano Competition in 1999. He graduated from New School University in 2000 and spent 10 years in New York
; he relocated to Berlin
in 2009 for the production of his third album. He has performed with musicians like Roy Ayers
, Frank Morgan
, Toots Thielemans
, Charles Tolliver
, Dave Liebman
, Enrico Rava
, Maria João
, Erik Truffaz
, Gregoire Maret
and Paula Oliveira.
Dominik Burkhalter
Dominik Burkhalter is a Swiss bandleader, composer and drummer.-Life:He started playing the drums in 1982, and began his studies at the Jazz School Lucerne in 1995, where he majored in drums in 1999....
featuring various guests, often including Mike Ladd
Mike Ladd
Mike Ladd is a hip-hop MC and producer. As an MC, he practices spoken-word and is known for his poetic lyrics. As a producer, he is known as the owner of the Likemadd label.-Biography:...
and Black Cracker.
Biography
The 2005 self-titled debut release features Tardin with drummer Jojo MayerJojo Mayer
Jojo Mayer is a highly acclaimed Swiss drummer born in Zurich and currently resides in New York City.Mayer is the son of a touring musician and began his career as a drummer at an early age, receiving his first drum set at the age of two...
(and two tracks with Ferenc Nemeth
Ferenc Nemeth
-Biography:Nemeth was born in Keszthely, Hungary. At 14 he left home to study classical percussion at the Richter János Conservatory in Győr. He also attended the Franz Liszt Academy of Music and received a scholarship to the Berklee College of Music. He later studied at the New England...
on drums). Grand Pianoramax's second release The Biggest Piano In Town employs the likes of drummers Deantoni Parks
Deantoni Parks
Deantoni Parks is a new wave/avant-garde/experimental drummer, songwriter, film director, actor and record producer born in Newnan, Georgia. He is the founder; producer and drummer of the New York band, KUDU, and one-half of the writing duo, Dark Angels with producer and keyboardist Nick Kasper,...
and Adam Deitch
Adam Deitch
Adam Deitch is an American producer and drummer based in New York City. He has been nominated for a Grammy Award. He has worked with artists in the Hip Hop, Funk, Electro, Pop, and Jazz music worlds including Def Jam MC Wax and Verve Records' soul and jazz singer, Ledisi. He is a founding member of...
and expanded personnel to include guest vocals, raps and spoken word from Mike Ladd
Mike Ladd
Mike Ladd is a hip-hop MC and producer. As an MC, he practices spoken-word and is known for his poetic lyrics. As a producer, he is known as the owner of the Likemadd label.-Biography:...
, Black Cracker, Invincible, and Spleen.
At the same time as the album The Biggest Piano In Town was commercially released in the USA and Canada, Grand Pianoramax went on a 10-city tour in the US opening for Maceo Parker
Maceo Parker
Maceo Parker is an American funk and soul jazz saxophonist, best known for his work with James Brown in the 1960s, as well as Parliament-Funkadelic in the 1970s. Parker was a prominent soloist on many of Brown's hit recordings, and a key part of his band, playing alto, tenor and baritone saxophones...
and then moved on to perform at several major festivals in Europe (most notably at a showcase night featuring the Andy Milne & Gregoire Maret duo, and Grand Pianoramax with Spleen & Bleubird
Bleubird
Jacques Bruna , better known by his stage name Bleubird. is an American rapper originally from Fort Lauderdale, Florida. He is known for his rapid-fire delivery, comic relief, lyrical wit, and freestyle ability....
at the 2008 Montreux Jazz Festival
Montreux Jazz Festival
The Montreux Jazz Festival is the best-known music festival in Switzerland and one of the most prestigious in Europe; it is held annually in early July in Montreux on the shores of Lake Geneva...
). Zurich-based Dominik Burkhalter
Dominik Burkhalter
Dominik Burkhalter is a Swiss bandleader, composer and drummer.-Life:He started playing the drums in 1982, and began his studies at the Jazz School Lucerne in 1995, where he majored in drums in 1999....
had become the official drummer for the band.
Grand Pianoramax’s third album, Smooth Danger, was recorded and mixed between Mumbai, Berlin, Paris and Bristol (and mastered by Shawn Joseph, collaborator of Portishead). It was released in Europe and the USA in October 2010, to be supported by a European release-tour in November-December. Various guests appeared on the album, including Grand Pianoramax long-time collaborators Mike Ladd
Mike Ladd
Mike Ladd is a hip-hop MC and producer. As an MC, he practices spoken-word and is known for his poetic lyrics. As a producer, he is known as the owner of the Likemadd label.-Biography:...
, Black Cracker and for the first time Karsh Kale
Karsh Kale
Karsh Kale is an Indian American musician, producer and composer, and is considered one of the pioneering figures in defining the Asian Underground genre by mixing disparate genres of music such as Indian classical and folk with electronica, rock, pop and ambient music...
on tabla
Tabla
The tabla is a popular Indian percussion instrument used in Hindustani classical music and in popular and devotional music of the Indian subcontinent. The instrument consists of a pair of hand drums of contrasting sizes and timbres...
.
Leo Tardin
Leo Tardin, a native of GenevaGeneva
Geneva In the national languages of Switzerland the city is known as Genf , Ginevra and Genevra is the second-most-populous city in Switzerland and is the most populous city of Romandie, the French-speaking part of Switzerland...
, Switzerland, won the first Montreux Jazz Festival International Solo Piano Competition in 1999. He graduated from New School University in 2000 and spent 10 years in New York
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
; he relocated to Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
in 2009 for the production of his third album. He has performed with musicians like Roy Ayers
Roy Ayers
Roy Ayers is an American funk, soul, and jazz composer and vibraphone player. Ayers began his career as a post-bop jazz artist, releasing several albums with Atlantic Records, before his tenure at Polydor Records beginning in the 1970s, during which he helped pioneer jazz-funk .- Biography :Ayers...
, Frank Morgan
Frank Morgan
Frank Morgan was an American actor. He was best known for his portrayal of the title character in the film The Wizard of Oz.-Early life:...
, Toots Thielemans
Toots Thielemans
Jean-Baptiste Frédéric Isidor, Baron Thielemans , known as Toots Thielemans, is a Belgian jazz musician well known for his guitar and harmonica playing as well as his whistling. Thielemans is credited as one of the greatest harmonica players of the 20th century...
, Charles Tolliver
Charles Tolliver
Charles Tolliver is an American jazz trumpeter and composer. Tolliver was born in Jacksonville, Florida, where, as a child, he received his first trumpet as a gift from his grandmother. He attended Howard University in the early 1960s as a pharmacy student, when he decided to pursue music as a...
, Dave Liebman
Dave Liebman
Dave Liebman is an American saxophonist and flautist. In June 2010, he received a NEA Jazz Masters lifetime achievement award from the National Endowment for the Arts.-Biography:...
, Enrico Rava
Enrico Rava
Enrico Rava , is a prolific jazz trumpeter and arguably one of the best known Italian jazz musicians. He originally played trombone, changing to the trumpet after hearing Miles Davis. His first commercial work was as a member of Gato Barbieri's Italian quintet in the mid-1960s; in the late 1960s...
, Maria João
Maria João
Maria João is a Portuguese jazz singer.She is known for her vocal flexibility and improvisational skills. While normally considered a jazz singer, her music incorporates a mix of folk/ethnic music, modern jazz, and the avant-garde...
, Erik Truffaz
Erik Truffaz
Erik Truffaz is a Swiss-born French jazz trumpeter, infusing elements of hip hop, rock and roll and dance music into his compositions. He signed with the French EMI label in 1996. Truffaz gained international attention with his second album on Blue Note, The Dawn, produced together with Pat...
, Gregoire Maret
Gregoire Maret
Grégoire Maret was born in 1975 in Geneva, Switzerland. He began playing the harmonica at the age of 17. He graduated from high school in 1994....
and Paula Oliveira.
Discography
- Grand Pianoramax, ObliqSound (2005), Leo Tardin - keyboards, Jojo Mayer - drums, Ferenc Nemeth - drums
- Starlite 12" Single, ObliqSound (2005), Leo Tardin - keyboards, Jojo Mayer - drums, Nuspirit Helsinki & Domu - Remixers
- The Biggest Piano In Town, ObliqSound (2008), Leo Tardin - keyboards, Deantoni Parks - drums, Adam Deitch - drums, Mike Ladd - vocals, Celena Glenn - vocals, Invincible - vocals, Spleen - vocals
- The Hook (Remixes) digital single, ObliqSound (2008), Grand Pianoramax remixed by DJ Spinna and Stefan Rogall - m.path.iq
- The Hook (Remixes) 12" vinyl single, ObliqSound (2009), Grand Pianoramax remixed by DJ Spinna and Stefan Rogall - m.path.iq
- Smooth Danger, ObliqSound (2010), Leo Tardin - keyboards, Dominik Burkhalter - drums, Mike Ladd - vocals, Black Cracker - vocals, Karsh Kale - tabla
External links
- Official Website
- Grand Pianoramax at ObliqSoundObliqSoundObliqSound is an independent record label based in New York City, Paris and Hamburg.It provides a home for artists around the globe interested in creating music that crosses the boundaries of traditional music labeling. Dedicated to both an instrumental and vocal series, ObliqSound endeavors to...
- Bandcamp