Seppe Gebruers

Seppe Gebruers (1990) is a Belgian pianist, improviser and composer. The homeland music scene is already acquainted with his name, due to his delivered work in the eclectic Jazz septet ‘Ifa y Xango’ (winner of ‘Jong Jazztalent Gent’), the piano duo with Erik Vermeulen, named ‘Antiduo’, Bambi Pang Pang feat. Andrew Cyrille (who played with Cecil Taylor, Coleman Hawkins, John Coltrane and others), the pop project 'Mount Meru' and his solo project.

Ifa y Xango released its debut album ‘Abraham’ in 2012. The album is a ‘stream of music’ – still separate tracks which eventually flow together and tell one story – based on the films of Lars Von Trier and the paintings of Pieter Brueghel and Jeroen Bosch. Ifa y Xango made use of its own invented script and three compositions (by Seppe Gebruers) to structure their improvisations. ‘Abraham’ has recently been selected by the distinguished jazz magazine ‘New York City Jazz Record’ (US), by praising and entitling the album to be one of the ‘Best Debut Releases 2013’. It was considered a big success by the Belgian press as well:

“(…) Ifa y Xango succeeded in composing an album that combines a ceaseless creativity with the required anchoring structure. Its maturity is striking and so is the added witty architectural graph, serving as a visual reconstruction. Trite comments, such as ‘Keep an eye out for them’ does not suffice here, for Ifa Y Xango has already been delivering a very statement” (G. Peters, Enola)

Antiduo, a piano duo with Erik Vermeulen, made its debut album public this year (El Negocito Records) and is the result of several improvisation sessions - throughout two years - and reflection of a work in progress, including self-evaluation concerning musical techniques and meaning.

“Erik Vermeulen, counterpart of Seppe Gebruers in Antiduo, considers this album as ‘one of his best in his career’. Not at all bad, since ‘the recluse of the Belgian jazz’ stands for challenging and intelligent playing on a high level. (…)” (F. Goossens, Focus Knack)

Seppe Gebruers graduated – Summa cum laude – from Antwerp conservatorium, where he enjoyed a jazz education (with a.o. Erik Vermeulen as his teacher), as well as a classical schooling (tutored by a.o. Levente Kende).

He won the the 'Sabam awards' in 2014. The last five years, he wrote accompanying music for plays (with strong musical accents), such as ‘Omtrent Othello’ (Concerning Othello), ‘Wanneer de paarden sterven’ (When the horses pass away) and ‘4:3’ from TIBALDUS and ‘The Piano’ from DE MAAN; the latter in cooperation with Jef Neve (One of his first piano tutors). Since the age of twelve, Seppe Gebruers plays at home and abroad. Starting with his piano trio, ‘Jazzfact’ (together with Nathan Wouters and Jakob Warmenbol) and later he performed with musicians such as Jim Black (US), Andrew D’angelo (US), Teun Verbruggen, Robin Verheyen, Joachim Badenhorst, Johan Graden (SE), Jasper Stadhouders (NL) and many others.