Maria Palatine
"My Voice is My Plea"
GAM 1701
Loos/Prins/Walnier
"Avant un Rêve"
GAM 920
Judy Niemack
"Jazz Singer's Practice Session"
GAM 919
Steve DAVIS - Jeanfrançois PRINS
"LIGHT"
GAM 918
Jean-Pierre GEBLER
"MEGGIE"
GAM 917
Jeanfrançois PRINS + Judy NIEMACK & Fred Hersch
"Beauty & the Prince"
GAM 916
Lee KONITZ + Jeanfrançois PRINS trio
"LIVE"
GAM 915
Putter SMITH Quintet
"Night Song"
GAM 914
Richard ROUSSELET
"Waiting for You"
GAM 913
Mary Kay (& guest Toots Thielemans)
"Make Someone Happy"
GAM 912
Jeanfrançois PRINS Quintet
"N.Y. STORIES"
GAM 911
Jean-Noël Hamal
"Judith Triumphans" Oratorio
GAM 1101
Collegium Vocale Gent, Philippe Herreweghe
"Motetti"
GAM 1102
Happy Birthday"
GAG 001
April 23, 2018

GAM Records proudly announces its new release "My Voice is my Plea" (GAM 1701) from vocalist/harpiste extraordinaire Maria Palatine.

Welcome to Maria Palatine's unique musical universe, where her crystal clear voice and virtuoso harp playing are the paint brushes she uses effortlessly to convey her take on our world, its utter beauty and desolation, where humans experience extreme joys and heartbreaking pains, and where her love for mother earth is shared by her: a strong voice of 21st century womankind - without compromise or corruption. Like her music: pure and universal.
My Voice is My Plea is the soundtrack of today's realities and emotions.

"My Voice is My Plea is somewhere between jazz, Chamber music, Peter Gabriel, and Sting!"

Bastien Gilson, sound engineer

Note: This is the first production on GAM Records which does not fit neatly into the jazz or classical genres. We have therefore created a new reference number series (the 1700s), which will encompass world music, singer-songwriter, country, pop, chanson, etc.

March 20, 2018

GAM Records proudly announces its new release "Avant un Rêve" (GAM 920) from the trio Loos/Prins/Walnier.

Three stellar Belgian musicians from both the jazz and classical scene form this unique "chamber jazz" constellation (piano, guitar, and cello), to offer us an original repertoire full of heart-stirring melodies, entrancing soundscapes, and interactive and highly dynamic improvisations.

"…journeying from introspective to extroverted, from high-flying to deeply rooted, but always searching for melodic and harmonic beauty. This is a beautiful trip, in mutual respect, complicity, lyricism, and sometimes with a hint of mystery."

Michel Herr pianist, composer, arranger
























































Fred HERSCH – piano (USA) featured on:
GAM 916 Jeanfrançois Prins + Guests Judy Niemack and Fred Hersch "Beauty & the Prince"

Photo © Mark Niskanen
Fred Hersch
Charles LOOS – piano (Belgium) featured on:
GAM 920 Loos/Prins/Walnier "Avant un Rêve"

After formal classical piano training, Charles LOOS left, in 1972, to study jazz composition and orchestration at the Berklee School of Music in Boston.
Back in Europe, he accompanied numerous soloists : Toots THIELEMANS, Chet BAKER, Philip CATHERINE, Johnny GRIFFIN, MAURANE etc...
He also took part in more experimental groups such as "Abraxis" and "Julverne".
He founded and recorded two albums with the LOOS-LAZAREVITCH International Quintet (with Serge LAZAREVITCH, Riccardo DEL FRA, John RUOCCO).

Charles LOOS particularly likes playing intimate solo gigs and recording alone: solos include: "Egotriste" "Tout Seul" duos include: "Comptines" with Steve HOUBEN "Summer Winds" with Jean-Pierre CATOUL (released Sept. '97) "Sad Hopes" with Jean-Pierre CATOUL (released Jan. 2001) "O Sonho e o Sorriso" (released Sept. 2001) Trios include: "HLM" with Steve HOUBEN and MAURANE (IGLOO - IGL043), "Vagabondages" with Steve HOUBEN and Ali RYERSON (IGLOO - IGL093). "En Public, au Travers" with Philippe AERTS (b) Félix SIMTAINE (drs) (Igloo Igl 062) "Lust for Jazz" with Bas COOYMANS and Dré PALLEMAERTS, Lyrae (LY 9704009) (June '97) "Secret Laughs" with Ricardo Del Fra and Félix Simtaine (B.Sharp cds 096) His most jazzy album (according to Charles) French Graces released November 2003 (also released in Japan as French Kiss) Quartet etc... : "Unknown Mallow" with André DONNI (Philippe AERTS - b, Rick HOLLANDER - d) (IGLOO IGL126), '96 "Chou'our Moutabadila" with André DONNI and the AISSAWAS of Rabat (Igloo IGL 135) (1997). "The Sweet Substitutes" "Parfum Latin" "Just One of those things" with André DONNI (Dec. 2002)

He usually plays his own compositions, inspired by serious music, folklore as well as jazz of yesterday and today. These various styles have taken him around the world.
In December 1966, together with bassist Philippe AERTS and drummer Félix SIMTAINE, they joined an official delegation to China, where during one week they played in Shanghai, representing Belgian jazz. Teaching and writing for theatre ("Les poètes du jazz", "Antigone", "Salut Lenny") and ballet ("No Wall No War", California 1991, available on the B. Sharp label) fill his time.

He received the "Sax Prize" for the best concert of the year 1988 The "Prize for the Jazz Rallye's most creative concert" in 1990. DJANGO D'OR in 1997.
On his recording are played original compositions mainly by Charles LOOS but also by other composers or members of his group.
Charles Loos can only be described as poetical inspiration made sound... He acts as a painter, enamoured with tonalities, aware of their magical power. The compositions have in common a certain bareness, an inexpressible purity...

Photo © Jacky Lepage
Lee KONITZ – alto sax (USA) featured on:
GAM 915 Lee Konitz & Jeanfrançois Prins Trio "Live"

Lee Konitz is one of the most original and distinctive alto saxophonists in the history of jazz. With Sonny Rollins, Max Roach, and a few others, he is one of the surviving master improvisers of the bebop generation.
But his apprenticeship to bebop was indirect, and he has carved out an uncompromising solo career guided by a singular artistic vision. He seeks out challenging situations and strives for perfection in the momentary art of improvisation. He is unerringly self-critical and always stretches himself to do the best work possible.
Though Konitz is a highly respective musician, what he plays is intuitive, the product of an intensely emotional sensibility. It’s striking how ingenious Konitz has been in creating novel contexts for the tradi- tional approach of “theme and variations” that he follows. In albums such as Peacemeal or Duets from the 1960s, the solo album Lone-Lee from the 1970s, right up to the recent duo album with drummer Matt Wilson, Gong With Wind, the saxophonist has been concerned to develop new formats for improvisation.

Konitz was born on October 13, 1927, in Chicago, of Austrian/Russian Jewish parents. At the age of eleven he picked up his first instrument, the clarinet, on which he received classical lessons before switching to tenor and then alto saxophone.
In 1943 he met the decisive personal and musical influence of his life, the blind teacher and pianist Lennie Tristano. He joined Claude Thornhill’s orchestra (1947–48) and made his first recordings with them. The band, which employed Gil Evans as arranger, was an important precursor of Miles Davis’s Nonet, later known as the Birth of the Cool band (1948–50), which Konitz went on to join. It is the latter association for which he remains best known, and he is generally regarded, with Tristano and Miles Davis, as one of the architects of the “cool” style in modern jazz.

Konitz’s greatest influence was his still-neglected teacher Lennie Tristano, but he also thoroughly assimilated the heritage of saxophonists Charlie Parker and Lester Young. Konitz’s partnerships with Tristano, and with his fellow pupil, the totally individual tenor saxophonist Warne Marsh, were the defining ones of his career. But although Lennie Tristano was a formative influence on Konitz, one shouldn’t assume that he was working on a tabula rasa. Although immature by his later standards, Konitz’s earliest commercially recorded solos, with the Thornhill Orchestra in 1947, illustrate that he was already developing a unique jazz style, characterized by a highly original tone with a purity unusual in jazz.

An excellent example of Konitz’s early style is the solo on the 1949 recording of “Subconscious-Lee” with Tristano — an original Konitz line on the chord changes to “What Is This Thing Called Love?” Tristano often had his students write original lines over standards, but the education also included experiments in free jazz. As leader, Konitz recorded with Warne Marsh (1949), and he worked with the Lennie Tristano quartet (1954–55), recording at the Sing Song Room of the Confucius Restaurant in New York.
A period in Stan Kenton’s band, 1952–53, extended his experience and range of playing contexts, and periodically he has returned to larger ensembles. But his most original and challenging work has been in smaller groups where improvisational freedom can be given full rein.

Konitz is the spontaneous improviser par excellence, constantly finding inspiration in the Tin Pan Alley songs, later known as “standards,” that since the 1920s have continued to attract jazz musicians. Throughout his career Konitz has composed, often but not always on the chords of standards.
Konitz’s career was at its lowest ebb commercially—though not artistically— in the early 1960s, when he lived in California. In 1961, however, he recorded Motion, with John Coltrane’s drummer Elvin Jones—one of his finest albums.
After his spell in California he returned to New York in 1964 to appear at the Half Note with Tristano. At a memorial concert to Charlie Parker in Carnegie Hall in 1965 he performed a remarkable solo tribute, “Blues For Bird.” In 1967 he recorded his Duets album, a series of duos with Joe Henderson, Richie Kamuca, Jim Hall, Ray Nance, Elvin Jones, and others, a format that later became a speciality.

Later duos were with Sal Mosca (1971), Red Mitchell, Hal Galper (1974–75), Jimmy Giuffre, Martial Solal (1978, 1980), Karl Berger (1979), Michel Petrucciani (1982), and Harold Danko (1984).
In the 1970s Konitz was sometimes reunited with Warne Marsh, and in 1975 he returned to the nonet format, which was compared, somewhat inaccurately, with the Birth of the Cool band. For much of the time since the mid-1960s, Konitz has lived and worked in Europe; he also became popular in Japan.
He recorded in Germany with Attila Zoller and Albert Mangelsdorff (1968), and in Italy with Martial Solal (1968) and Enrico Rava (1968). He can be heard on Mingus at Town Hall (1972). He recorded with Dave Brubeck and Anthony Braxton, with Andrew Hill, and with Warne Marsh and Bill Evans (1977). He devoted an album to the tenor (1977), played with Paul Bley, and appeared in Europe with Shelly Manne.
He rejoined Charles Mingus, with whom he had worked in the 1950s, in 1978, and played in a duo with Gil Evans in 1980, eventually releasing two albums, Heroes and Anti-Heroes.

In recent years he has again played more in the United States, and achieved further recognition there. In 1992, he won the prestigious Jazzpar Prize. He kept a busy release schedule throughout the '90s and dabbled in the world of classical music with 2000's French Impressionist Music from the Turn of the Twentieth Century. The Mark Masters Ensemble joined him for 2004's One Day with Lee, and in 2007 he recorded Portology with the Ohad Talmor Big Band. He has recorded on soprano and tenor but has mostly stuck to his distinctive alto.

Konitz keeps an apartment in New York, but in 1997 he married a native of Cologne, and since then he has lived there most of the time, in a flat near the city center.
As he moves into his later seventies, Konitz is working with much younger players such as Matt Wilson, Joey Baron, Judy Niemack, Dan Tepfer, and Greg Cohen, as well as many European players such as Jeanfrançois Prins, Florian Weber, Andreas Schmidt .

In 2011, he released his own trio album Knowinglee and appeared on the live ECM date Live at Birdland (recorded in 2009) with pianist Brad Mehldau, bassist Charlie Haden, and drummer Paul Motian. Three years later, he joined Dan Tepfer, Michael Janisch, and Jeff Williams for First Meeting: Live in London, Vol. 1. In 2017, Konitz delivered the quartet date Frescalalto, featuring pianist Kenny Barron, bassist Peter Washington, and drummer Kenny Washington. In his artistic Indian summer, as a nonagerian, Konitz’s achievement is becoming more widely recognized.

press.umich.edu/pdf/9780472115877-bio.pdf
allmusic.com/artist/lee-konitz-mn0000227776/biography
Jeanfrançois PRINS – guitar (Belgium) featured on:
GAM 911 Jeanfrançois Prins Quintet "N.Y. Stories"
GAM 912 Mary Kay + Guest Toots Thielemans "Make Someone Happy"
GAM 913 Richard Rousselet "Waitin' for You"
GAM 915 Lee Konitz & Jeanfrançois Prins Trio "Live"
GAM 916 Jeanfrançois Prins + Guests Judy Niemack and Fred Hersch "Beauty & the Prince"
GAM 918 Steve Davis & Jeanfrançois Prins "Light"
GAM 920 Loos/Prins/Walnier "Avant un Rêve"
GAM 1701 Maria Palatine "My Voice is My Plea"

“A real voice on the guitar with a warmth that’s all his own.” JOE LOVANO
“Jeanfrançois Prins plays directly from the heart…” FRED HERSCH
“There is a great Jazz Guitar tradition in Belgium, represented successively by Django Reinhardt, René Thomas, Toots Thielemans, Philip Catherine, and now by Jeanfrançois Prins.” KNACK – DE MORGEN

Jeanfrançois Prins has become Belgium's most international jazz guitarist (he spent most of his career between New York City and Berlin, until recently moving back to his roots: Brussels, and has performed and recorded all over Europe, the U.S., Latin America and Asia). His music is poetic and passionate. One can hear him in a large variety of styles, from solo to big-band with orchestra. He enjoys risktaking improvisation and organic interaction.
His lyrical fusion of romance and hard-swinging guitar is influenced by his encounters with World Music, Latin Jazz, French Chanson, Contemporary Classical music, Avant-Garde and Pop.

Son of record-store owners, grand-son of a jazz producer (Django Reinhard recordings in 1942 among many others), Jeanfrançois Prins has spent his adult life as a professional musician, composer, arranger and producer, performing, recording and collaborating with many of today’s Jazz giants.
He has been teaching private instrument lessons and classes in Berlin’s Music Universities, where he lead the Jazz Guitar Departments for over a decade, and at the ARTEZ Jazz University in Enschede, Holland for a year. He gives workshops and master-classes internationally, communicating with enthusiasm his passion for this expansive music to the next generations of players.

Jeanfrançois has several current projects as a leader. His “Rio de Jazzeiro” is his love declaration to Brazilian music. “All Strings Attached” features his trio plus a classical string quartet, performing his original compositions and arrangements. “Colliding Universes” is a 6tet which features 2 tenor saxophones, a fluegelhorn, bass and drums. “Blade Runner” features his arrangements and compositions in the thrilling atmosphere of a “film noir” of the 21st century, with cello and a groovy quartet with rhodes and electronics. Other personal projects include “Road Movie”, and “Wayne, Monk, & moi”. He also co-leads a trio with Belgian piano legend Charles Loos and classical cellist Sébastien Walnier (solo cellist with the orchestra of the "Monnaie" opera house), a 4tet with american saxophonist Andy Middleton, as well as a Belgian All Stars quintet “Tribute to Miles Davis” with trumpeter Richard Rousselet. He is also one of the founding members of the Berlin Jazz Orchestra led by Marc Secara and directed by Jiggs Whigham, as the leader of the rhythm section and with which he still records and tours since 17 years. Jeanfrançois is very much in demand as a guest soloist, and is the musical director for several projects as well.
His sixth CD as a leader “El Gaucho”, featuring his trio with Joris Teepe on bass and Victor Lewis on drums, plus guest Rich Perry on tenor saxophone was released internationally on Challenge Records in 2012. He has toured Europe in late 2014, and early 2015 with saxophonist Ulli Jünemann’s NYC quartet feat. master bassist Jay Anderson, and drummers extraordinaire Adam Nussbaum and Gene Jackson.

Jeanfrançois has released 6 CDs as a leader. One can hear him as a guest soloist or sideman on more than 50 other CDs. Jeanfrançois Prins’ compositions are often performed and recorded, not only by his own bands, but by several other European and American musicians. Jeanfrançois also writes original music for movie soundtracks as well as television (for example for the Discovery Channel in 2000, and the short-film “Coriolis” in 2008). In 2015, Jeanfrançois was commissioned by O’Celli, a belgian cello octet to compose, arrange, and then perform several pieces with them.
As a guitarist, Jeanfrançois Prins has performed/recorded as a leader and/or as a sideman with such artists as
Toots Thielemans, Lee Konitz, Judy Niemack, Kenny Wheeler, Bud Shank, Lew Tabackin, Gary Bartz, Jaleel Shaw, Andy Middleton, Gary Foster, John Ruocco, Bill Evans, Julian Priester, Jiggs Whigham, Randy Brecker, Gerard Presencer, Tim Hagans, Till Brönner, Jim Mc Neely, Kirk Lightsey, Dan Haerle, Fred Hersch, Kenny Werner, Michel Herr, Walter Norris, Mal Waldron, Bruce Barth, Stephen Scott, Danny Grissett, Kelvin Sholar, Alan Broadbent, Dan Tepfer, Jasper Soffers, Mike Richmond, Eddie Gomez, Putter Smith, Jay Anderson, Scott Colley, Rufus Reid, Ingmar Heller, Hein Van de Geyn, Ricardo del Fra, John Goldsby, Ratzo Harris, Cameron Brown, Steve Rodby, Bart Denolf, Bruno Castellucci, Steve Davis, Adam Nussbaum, Joe La Barbera, Jerry Granelli, Billy Hart, Victor Lewis, John Betsch, Al “Tootie” Heath, Eric Vaughn, Gene Jackson, John Riley, Café, Luis Ribeiro, Pandit Sankha Chatterjee, Quincy Jones, Peter Herbolzheimer, Jay Clayton, Sheila Jordan, Norma Winstone, Darmon Meader, Theo Bleckmann, Bob Dorrough, Janice Borla, Sangeeta Bandyopadhyay, Erwin Schrott, Beethova Obas, Lisa Werlinder, Ivan Lins, Michel Legrand, Henri Salvador, the New York Voices, Patti Austin, … in Europe, the U.S.A., Asia and South America.
Jeanfrançois Prins is featured in the book “The Great Jazz Guitarists – The Ultimate Guide” (Scott Yanow © 2013)

Photo © Neda Navae
Toots THIELEMANS – harmonica, guitar (Belgium/USA) featured on:
GAM 912 Mary Kay + Guest Toots Thielemans "Make Someone Happy"

Photo © Jos Knaepen
Toots Thielemans
Bruno CASTELLUCCI - drums (Italy/Belgium) featured on:
GAM 915 Lee Konitz & Jeanfrançois Prins Trio "Live"
GAM 916 Jeanfrançois Prins + Guests Judy Niemack and Fred Hersch "Beauty & the Prince" GAM 917 Jean-Pierre Gebler "Meggie"

Photo © Philippe Fresco
jazzinbelgium.com/person/bruno.castellucci
Judy NIEMACK – vocals (USA) featured on:
GAM 916 Jeanfrançois Prins + Guests Judy Niemack and Fred Hersch "Beauty & the Prince"
GAM 919 Judy Niemack "Jazz Singer's Practice Session"

"If you want to know what real jazz singing can be (but rarely is), listen to Judy Niemack...She is a musician in the truest sense, having mastered her instrument (a beautiful one), and her chosen language and crafted her own style”
Dan Morgenstern

Throughout her career, Judy Niemack has accomplished a great deal as a singer, educator, lyricist, composer, and inspiration to younger jazz vocalists.
Yet with all that she has done thus far, one gets the impression that the best is yet to come. “I love standards and have performed them all of my life but this is a new era and it is time to create new music,” she says. “I’m open to all forms of vocal improvisation; I’m interested in the lifelong task of mastering the art of music making, and in pushing the vocal art form forward to new places.”

Born and raised in Pasadena, California, Judy gained her early experience singing in her church choir. She first heard jazz through her mother’s Nancy Wilson records, and discovered that she could easily sing harmonies when she and her sister sang background vocals behind her brother, who played guitar and sang lead.
As a child and as a teenager, she sang in a wide variety of settings including musical theater, rock bands, with bluegrass groups and in a jazz vocal quartet. Judy studied classical singing and was encouraged to make it her focus, but the turning point in her young career was when she met the great tenor-saxophonist Warne Marsh, who followed in the footsteps of his teacher pianist Lennie Tristano by becoming an important jazz educator.

“I became Warne’s first vocal student. He treated me like a horn player. He assigned me solos by Charlie Parker, Roy Eldridge and others to learn. I learned about improvising from him. He called it instant composition.”
Judy attended Pasadena City College where she had lessons with alto saxophonist Gary Foster, and studied classical singing at the New England Conservatory and the Cleveland Institute Of Music. When she returned to the Los Angeles area, she continued studying with Marsh and, after moving to New York in 1977, her first important gig was performing at the Village Vanguard for a week with Marsh.
She made her recording debut, leading the first of her ten CDs, "By Heart" for the Sea Breeze label in 1978, which documented her association with the saxophonist.

“During that period, I was strictly an improviser, with little thought given to entertaining or paying attention to the audience. But eventually I started focusing on the lyrics, and how to communicate them, and then I grew as a singer.”
Starting in the late 1970s, Judy became a talented composer and a lyricist who wrote words to such pieces as Clifford Brown’s “Daahoud,” Thelonious Monk’s “Misterioso,” Bill Evans’ “Interplay,” Richie Powell’s “Time” and Duke Jordan’s “Jordu,” and songs by the likes of Lee Konitz, Pat Metheny, Dexter Gordon, Gigi Gryce, Kenny Dorham, Curtis Fuller, Bob Brookmeyer, Richie Beirach, Don Grolnick, Steve Slagle, Mike Stern, Jeanfrançois Prins, Kirk Nurock, Johnny Griffin and many others.

One of the driving forces behind her writing is the desire to have lyrics that are more modern and relevant than many that are part of the famous but overly familiar songs of the 1930s and ‘40s.
Due to her beautiful voice, fearless improvising, impressive musicianship and versatility, Judy Niemack has since worked with many of the "who’s who" of jazz, including pianists Fred Hersch, Kenny Werner, Cedar Walton, Kenny Barron, Jim McNeely, Steve Kuhn, and Kirk Lightsey, saxophonists Lee Konitz, Joe Lovano and James Moody, the great harmonica player Toots Thielemans, flugelhornist Clark Terry, bassists Ray Drummond and Eddie Gomez, drummers Billy Higgins, Joey Baron, Billy Hart and Adam Nussbaum, the New York Voices, and Danish Radio and WDR Big Bands.

As a performer, Judy has thus far recorded 11 albums as a leader including her debut By Heart (seabreeze) with Warne Marsh, Blue Bop (Freelance) with Cedar Walton, Long As You’re Living (Freelance), Heart’s Desire (Stash), a set of duets with pianist Kenny Barron, Straight Up (Freelance) with Kenny Werner, duets with pianist Mal Waldron called Mingus, Monk and Mal (Freelance), Night And The Music (Freelance), About Time (Sony Jazz) with Lee Konitz and Jeanfrançois Prins, What’s Going On (Temps), Blue Nights (Blujazz) with Gary Bartz and Jim McNeely, In the Sundance (BluJazz), and in 2017, Listening to You (Sunnyside) with pianist Dan Tepfer.

“Blue Nights shows off my mainstream traditional side. I recorded it to share a modern take on some of my favorite songs, which I have long loved. In the Sundance celebrates my favorite season: Summer. And Listening to You is an improvised, in-themoment exploration of songs; just voice and piano, creating something new from something old...".

Judy Niemack started teaching jazz singing and vocal improvisation in the late 1970s. She has since become one of the most influential educators in jazz, and a pioneer of vocal jazz education in Europe. She has taught at the New School, William Patterson University, Long Island University, and New York City College and was on the staff of the Janice Borla Vocal Jazz Camp for 20 years.
After moving to Europe in 1992, she joined the jazz faculties at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels and Antwerp in Belgium and the Royal Conservatory of Den Hague in Holland. Two years later she became the first Professor of Vocal Jazz in Germany.
For 13 years she's taught at Musikene Conservatory in San Sebastian, Spain, and now leads the department at the Jazz Institut Berlin, giving masterclasses throughout the world.

“Our generation is probably the first to pass on information to younger singers willingly and very openly. What I love about teaching is being surrounded by music all day long, every day. I love being with singers and helping out younger vocalists, leading people onto the path towards where they want to go.”

Judy’s vocal improvisation method book and CD “Hear It And Sing It! – Exploring Modal Jazz” was published by Second Floor Music in 2004, and her “Pro-Vocal Jazz Standards” was published by Hal Leonard in 2008. About her latest book, Judy says,
"My third book, “Hear It And Sing It! – Exploring the Blues” includes performances not only by me, but also by Sheila Jordan, Mark Murphy and Darmon Meader. I think it will help to raise the bar in vocal jazz education. In general, I hope to continue doing what I’m doing: performing, teaching, writing lyrics, working on new collaborations, and always creating new and interesting music.”

Judy Niemack looks forward to the future with optimism and enthusiasm. Whatever the future holds, one can be certain that Judy Niemack’s future projects will be inventive, stimulating and full of joyful surprises.

Photo © Jos Knaepen
Richard ROUSSELET – trumpet, fluegelhorn (Belgium) featured on:
GAM 913 Richard Rousselet "Waitin' for You"
GAG 001 "Happy Birthday"
GAM 1701 Maria Palatine "My Voice is My Plea"

Self taught, Richard ROUSSELET discovers jazz at the age of 15. On the Belgian scene, he plays with numerous bands and wins a number of prizes as soloist:
1963, Prix Django REINHARDT, 1964, Prix de la maison de la Radio (LAUSANNE) 1969, participates in Festival de MONTREUX and plays with the International Festival Big Band, led by Clark TERRY and Ernie WILKINS.
He worked, for a long period, with pianist/composer Marc MOULIN in his various bands:
PLACEBO, SAM SUFFY and more recently, PICNIC.

With PLACEBO, he wins, at the Festival of MONTREUX in 1971, the prize for best horn playing soloist, awarded by the International Press.
Thereafter, he is associated with pianist/composer Michel HERR, a.o. in SOLIS LACUS. When the occasion presents itself, he plays with American soloists, who come through Belgium : Hal SINGER, Benny BAILEY, Pepper ADAMS, Cecil PAYNE, Lou BENNETT, Ernie WILKINS, Johnny GRIFFIN, Al and Stella LEVITT, ... Highly appreciated soloist, Richard ROUSSELET is a member of ACT Big Band, the group LILITH, group SAX NO END of Jean WARLAND, in the old style band SWEET SUBSTITUTES with Charles LOOS, the group JAZZPIRINE assembled by Phil ABRAHAM.

He also worked with the Flemish radio (BRT) Big Band. He appears, as leader, in a quartet as well as in quintet with guitarist Jean-François PRINS (CD "Waitin' for You" GAM 913). He also created in '98 the ECAROH Quintet, a band which pays tribute to the music of Horace SILVER.
In '99, 100th aniversary of Duke ELLINGTON, he played in Jean WARLAND's A TRAIN Sextet. Since January 1989, he leads the jazz big band " WEST MUSIC CLUB". Appreciated teacher, he gives classes in numerous seminars. Since October 1988, he teaches at the Brussels Royal Conservatory (retiring in June 2005). He can be heard in some twenty albums.

In July 1994, the "Commission du patrimoine" awarded him with the DARCHE FRERES prize, which is given to a musician "who has devoted a life time, with honour and devotion, to the service of musical art".

Photo © Jean-Luc Goffinet
Putter SMITH - bass (USA) featured on:
GAM 914 Putter Smith "Night Song"

Patrick Verne "Putter" Smith (born January 19, 1941) is an American jazz bassist, music teacher, author, and actor.
Smith was born in Bell, California, and began playing the bass at the age of eight, inspired by his older brother Carson Smith. He made his performing début aged 13 at the Compton Community Center. He went on to perform with Thelonious Monk, Art Blakey, Duke Ellington, Billy Eckstine, Diane Schuur, Lee Konitz, Bruce Forman, Jackie and Roy, Carmen McRae, Gary Foster, Art Farmer, Blue Mitchell, Erroll Garner, Gerry Mulligan, Art Pepper, Mason Williams, Percy Faith, Alan Broadbent, Walter Norris, Burt Bacharach, Ray Charles, The Manhattan Transfer, and Johnny Mathis.

He also works as a session musician, playing on recordings by Sonny and Cher, The Beach Boys, The Righteous Brothers and many others.
Smith has also taught at the Musician's Institute, and at the California Institute of the Arts.
Smith was playing with Monk at the Los Angeles jazz club Shelly's Manne-Hole when he was spotted by director Guy Hamilton, who cast him as the assassin "Mr. Kidd" (alongside Bruce Glover as "Mr. Wint") in the 1971 James Bond film Diamonds Are Forever. He went on to have several other minor acting roles on film and television.
Joey BARON – drums (USA) featured on:
GAM 914 Putter Smith "Night Song"

Photo © Antonio Porcar
Joey Baron
Collegium Vocale Gent – choir (Belgium) featured on:
GAM 1102 Collegium Vocale Gent, Philippe Herreweghe "Motetti"
Collegium Vocale Gent
Maria PALATINE - voice, harp, piano (Germany/Belgium) featured on:
GAM 1701 Maria Palatine "My Voice is My Plea"

German vocalist and harpist Maria Palatine was blessed with extraordinary creativity
. The third generation of harpists in her family, and the rightful heir of her grandmother, a traveling theater director, Maria left the orchestra pit right after her classical studies of the harp,
piano and composition in Mannheim, to perform her original repertoire of compositions, singing, playing, and dancing with her own band in Europe, Russia and the US.

Her music has been defined as "a soundtrack composed by Björk, Kate Bush and Loreena McKennit" (GTB Agenda Brussels)
or "Sounds with a feline elegance steering an extremely original course where moments of enchantment and excentricity alternate"
and "in Maria Palatine's hands, the harp sounds mysterious, dynamic, erotic, radiant as if it had been invented for her only" (Hildesheimer Algemeine Zeitung).

She is a socially conscious artist, deeply committed to be a voice for all women of all ages, conditions, beliefs, and ethnic backgrounds.
She shares her unshakable love for mother earth, mankind, poetry, world peace and beauty with a wide variety of emotions (from deep sorrow to jumping joy to simmering rage),
styles (she is at home with world music, classical, singer-songwriter, pop, country folk, jazz, spoken word, É), and even expressions (singing, playing the harp and piano, dancing, poetry, composing, and painting).
Having set many great poets' work to music, she also wrote many pieces inspired by existing women (both famous and unknown), and by social situations or events.

Maria was the recipient of the "music award for young song-poets" by the Hanns-Seidl-Stiftung and Bayerischer Rundfunk
(German radio) in 2005, and then went on to many radio and television appearances, eventually reaching international recognition.
She was chosen to represent Belgium's French-speaking community at the 2008 Expo in Saragossa, and created there her original composition "Water Celebration" for choir, narrator and a jazz ensemble.

Based in Saint-Gilles (Brussels), she established the "Harp Center Brussels" 10 years ago, where she shares her passion for her instrument with international students.
Besides teaching there and in several renowned masterclasses, she keeps performing internationally.

Maria Palatine was awarded the 2017 Brukmer Golden Artistic Award of the Female Artist of the Year
for the ensemble of her artistic career, from the hands of Ms. Maria Arena, a member of the European Parliament.
Scott COLLEY - bass (USA) featured on:
GAM 919 Judy Niemack "Jazz Singers Practice Session" Scott Colley
Steve DAVIS (USA) featured on:
GAM 918 Steve Davis & Jeanfrançois Prins "Light"

Jazz drummer Steve Davis was born in Santa Barbara, California in 1958.
With Shelly Manne as his godfather, he became interested in the drums at a young age. Following the advice of drumset teacher Alan Dawson, Steve moved to New York City in the early 1980s to begin his career as a jazz drummer.
Soon after he met the jazz educator Jamey Aebersold, and in 1982 joined the Aebersold clinic faculty, of which he has been a member ever since.
Throughout the 1980s Steve built up a reputation in the New York scene, playing and recording with many big names. During this period he also studied privately with Joe Morello. Steve is now most widely known as a member of the Lynne Arriale trio. Pianist Arriale met Steve at a jam session soon after she herself moved to New York in 1991. There was an immediate musical rapport and they decided to work together.
Steve has since appeared on 10 recordings with Arriale, and has toured worldwide with the trio for the last 15 years.
Having performed together several times in New York City, and then for extended periods of time in Berlin, Germany, Steve Davis and Jeanfrançois Prins recorded their trio CD "Light" feat. bassist Larry Kohut, a mere 10 days after the terrorist attack on New York on September 11, 2001. They dedicated this very pure and "live" jazz recording to the victims, their families, and the numerous heroes who rescued so many others.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Davis_(American_drummer)
Jean-Pierre GEBLER – baritone sax (Belgium) featured on:
GAM 917 Jean-Pierre Gebler "Meggie"

Jean-Pierre GEBLER makes his first acquaintance with the saxophone at age 14. A year later, he becomes student of Jack SELS.
In 1956/57 he wins, twice, first prize of the BELGIAN HOT CLUB competition.
Very much impressed by Gerry MULLIGAN and Lars GULLIN, he decided to tackle the baritone sax.
In 1958 he joins the band of Jacques PELZER and Benoît QUERSIN, with whom he appears on the historical LP "JAZZ IN LITTLE BELGIUM" with Milou STRUVAY (tp), Joel VAN DROGENBROEK (piano) and Vivi MARDENS (drs). During that period he also recorded the music of a Belgian film (Venice prize) by Luc DE HEUSCH and meets his friend and accomplice Marc DANVAL, who stars in the movie.

End 1958 he moves to Paris, where he plays a.o. with Chet BAKER, Barney WILEN, René URTREGER, Allen EAGER.
In 1959 he decided to settle down in Portugal and with local musicians founded the first Portuguese jazz orchestra, performing on a regular basis, in quartet, at the Hot-Club of Portugal.
In 1960 he tours Spain, with Chuck ISRAELS, Tete MONTOLIU, Arnie WISE, Jon MAYER and Perry ROBINSON.
In 1962, he participated, with Milou STRUVAY, in the creation of the soundtrack of the first movie of the Portuguese new wave, "O Balarmino", by Fernando LOPES.
In 1963, leading the Hot-club of Portugal quartet, he appears at the festival of Comblain-la-Tour (Belgium). On return to Portugal he plays with Gerry MULLIGAN, Dexter GORDON and Pony POINDEXTER.
In 1967 he returns to Belgium and for economical reasons decides to drop his musical activities.

He picks up his saxophone again in 1982 and appears with Jacques PELZER and Jacques PIROTTON at the Cascais Jazz Festival (Portugal).
In 1984 he records, with Jacques PELZER, Al and Stella LEVITT, Michel HERR, Richard ROUSSELET, Freddie DERONDE the album "JEANPIERRE GEBLER AND FRIENDS" (LP on LDH records).
In 1985 he is again at the Cascais Festival with Jon EARDLEY.
In 1986 he founds a quintet with Michael BLASS (p), Jacques PIROTTON (gt), Philippe AERTS (b) and Jan DE HAAS (d), and Jeanfrançois Prins (gt) as a guest with whom he recorded, in 1988, "J.P. GEBLER QUINTET" (IGLOO). Another Igloo CD appears in 1993 "BALLADES... OU PRESQUE"(Igloo), this time with Michel HERR, Philippe AERTS, Jacques PIROTTON.

December 2001 sees the release of a new album, Jean-Pierre GEBLER Belgian All Stars "MEGGIE" (Gam 917), arranged for nonet by Michel HERR, with Steve HOUBEN, Gino LATTUCA, Fabrice ALLEMAN, Phil ABRAHAM, Jacques PIROTTON, Sal LA ROCCA and Bruno CASTELLUCCI. The band appeared in Cascais (Portugal).

Jean-Pierre Gebler died on Dec. 27, 2006, from a heart failure, at the age of 68.
Sébastien WALNIER – cello (Belgium) featured on:
GAM 920 Loos/Prins/Walnier "Avant un Rêve"
GAM 1701 Maria Palatine "My Voice is My Plea"

Sébastien Walnier likes to use all the opportunities of 21st century and had many experiences to enrich himself with different musical styles.
He is Principal Cello of the Opera de la Monnaie in Brussels. He has been exposed to chamber music from a very early age. This ever growing passion has led him to perform with musicians of international renown, such as Roland Pidoux, Jean-Claude Pennetier, Lorenzo Gatto, Jean-Claude Vanden Eyden, Liviu Prunaru, Boris Belkin, Gaby Van Riet … Sebastien Walnier started playing the cello at a very early age with Laurent Chantraine.

He won a first prize at the Conservatoire Royal de Liège (Belgium) at the age of 13, and obtained post-graduate diplomas in cello (with Maryse Douin) and in chamber music (with Cécile Evrard) four years later.
He taught chamber music at that same conservatory from 2001 till 2008. He also studied with Edmond Carlier, a disciple of André Navarra. His meeting with Roland Pidoux at CNSM in Paris has had a decisive influence on his career. He has also benefited from Daria Hovora’s and Michaël Hentz counsels/directions. He's a founding member of Trio Talweg (Alexander Gurning, piano and Sebastien Surel, violin) and makes arrangements for his Cello Octet, Ô-Celli.
In addition, for several years he has been playing jazz on stage with Andre Klenes (double-bass) and the group Moonly Delights, and has founded the jazz-fusion group named Blade Runner with Jeanfrançois Prins (guitar).

Sébastien Walnier was awarded "Musician of the Year 2012" by the Belgian Musical Press Union. He's playing on a cello by Giovanni Grancino from 1699.

Photo © Jean-Luc Goffinet
Patrice RUSHEN – piano (USA) featured on:
GAM 914 Putter Smith "Night Song"

Patrice Rushen
Michel HERR – piano, arrangements (Belgium) featured on:
GAM 913 Richard Rousselet "Waitin' for You"
GAM 917 Jean-Pierre Gebler "Meggie"

Photo © Jacky Lepage
michelherr.com/en/pages/biography.html"
Dave FRISHBERG – piano (USA) featured on:
GAM 914 Putter Smith "Night Song"

Dave Frishberg
Philippe HERREWEGHE – conductor (Belgium) featured on:
GAM 1102 Collegium Vocale Gent, Philippe Herreweghe "Motetti"

Photo © Michiel Hendryckx
Philippe HERREWEGHE
Félix SIMTAINE – drums (Belgium) featured on:
GAM 911 Jeanfrançois Prins Quintet "N.Y. Stories"

Photo © Jeanpierre Prins
Felix Simtaine
Gary FOSTER – alto sax, soprano sax (USA) featured on:
GAM 914 Putter Smith "Night Song"

Photo © keepitswingin
Gary FOSTER
Nathalie LORIERS – piano (Belgium) featured on:
GAM 911 Jeanfrançois Prins Quintet "N.Y. Stories"
GAM 912 Mary Kay + Guest Toots Thielemans "Make Someone Happy"

Photo © Jacky Lepage
Nathalie LORIERS
Hein Van de GEYN – bass (the Netherlands) featured on:
GAM 916 Jeanfrançois Prins + Guests Judy Niemack and Fred Hersch "Beauty & the Prince"

Hein van de Geyn
Vardan Hovanissian - duduk (Armenia/Belgium) featured on:
GAM 1701 Maria Palatine "My Voice is My Plea"
Photo © Lieve Boussauw

Jean-Louis RASSINFOSSE – bass (Belgium) featured on:
GAM 913 Richard Rousselet "Waitin' for You"

Photo © Jean-Luc Goffinet
Jean-Louis RASSINFOSSE
Mary KAY – vocals (Belgium) featured on:
GAM 912 Mary Kay + Guest Toots Thielemans "Make Someone Happy"
Larry KOHUT – bass (USA) featured on:
GAM 918 Steve Davis & Jeanfrançois Prins "Light"

Photo © Andrea Canter
Jules BASTIN – bass (voice) (Belgium) featured on:
GAM 1101 Jean-Noël Hamal "Judith Triumphans" Oratorio

Jules Bastin
Bodek JANKE - percussion (Poland/Germany) featured on:
GAM 1701 Maria Palatine "My Voice is My Plea"www.bodekjanke.de

www.bodekjanke.de
Stefan ENGELMANN - electric bass (Germany) featured on:
GAM 1701 Maria Palatine "My Voice is My Plea"
Photo © JM Laffitau

www.stefanengelmann.com
Anne-Sophie PRINS - voice (Germany/Belgium) featured on:
GAM 1701 Maria Palatine "My Voice is My Plea"
Photo © Luise Maier

Stéphane MERCIER - alto sax (Belgium) featured on:
GAM 1701 Maria Palatine "My Voice is My Plea"
Photo © JC Thibaut

www.stephanemercier.net
John GROSS tenor sax, soprano sax (USA) featured on:
GAM 914 Putter Smith "Night Song"

John Gross
André KLENES - bass (Belgium) featured on:
GAM 1701 Maria Palatine "My Voice is My Plea"
Photo © Goldo

www.andreklenes.com
Peter DONALD – drums (USA) featured on:
GAM 914 Putter Smith "Night Song"

Peter Donald
Jean-Louis BAUDOIN - bass (Belgium) featured on:
GAM 911 Jeanfrançois Prins Quintet "N.Y. Stories"

Jean-Louis BAUDOIN
Phil ABRAHAM – trombone (Belgium) featured on:
GAG 001 "Happy Birthday" GAM 917 Jean-Pierre Gebler "Meggie"

Phil Abraham
Pierre BERNARD – flute (Belgium) featured on:
GAG 001 "Happy Birthday"

Photo © Jacky Lepage
Pierre Bernard
Jean WARLAND – bass (Belgium/Germany) featured on:
GAM 912 Mary Kay + Guest Toots Thielemans "Make Someone Happy"

Photo © Jos Knaepen
Jean WARLAND
Erwin VANN – tenor sax, soprano sax (Belgium) featured on:
GAM 911 Jeanfrançois Prins Quintet "N.Y. Stories"

Erwin Vann
Erwin VANN – tenor sax, soprano sax (Belgium) featured on:
GAM 911 Jeanfrançois Prins Quintet "N.Y. Stories"

Erwin Vann
Fabrice ALLEMAN - saxes (Belgium) featured on:
GAM 917 Jean-Pierre Gebler "Meggie"

Photo © Jacky Lepage
Fabrice Alleman

Etienne Coulon

Jacques PIROTTON – guitar (Belgium) featured on:
GAM 917 Jean-Pierre Gebler "Meggie"

Photo © Jean-Luc Goffinet
Jacques PIROTTON
Sal LA ROCCA – bass (Belgium) featured on:
GAM 915 Lee Konitz & Jeanfrançois Prins Trio "Live" GAM 917 Jean-Pierre Gebler "Meggie"

Photo © S. Barthod
Sal la Rocca

Stephane Galland

Steve HOUBEN – alto sax, flute (Belgium) featured on:
GAM 917 Jean-Pierre Gebler "Meggie"

Photo © Jacky Lepage
Steve Houben
Frédéric JACQUEMIN – drums (Belgium/France) featured on:
GAM 913 Richard Rousselet "Waitin' for You"

Frédéric JACQUEMIN
Dré PALLEMAERTS – drums (Belgium) featured on:
GAM 912 Mary Kay + Guest Toots Thielemans "Make Someone Happy"

Dré PALLEMAERTS

Vicky Down

Gino LATTUCCA – trumpet (Belgium) featured on:
GAM 917 Jean-Pierre Gebler "Meggie"

Photo © Jean-Luc Goffinet
Gino Lattuca
Charles Henry BOLAND - voice/choir direction (Belgium) featured on:
GAM 1701 Maria Palatine "My Voice is My Plea"

Charles Henry Boland
Frédéric ANSPACH – conductor (Belgium) featured on:
GAM 1101 Jean-Noël Hamal "Judith Triumphans" Oratorio

Frédéric ANSPACH
When What Where
May 12,2018 Jeanfrançois Prins
“Rio de Jazzeiro” 		Bruxelles, The Music Village Bruxelles, The Music Village
8:30pm "Rio De Jazzeiro" The Music Village - Jazz Club
Rue des Pierres, 50
1000 Bruxelles – Belgium
+32 2 513 13 45
themusicvillage@skynet.be
May 05,2018 Loos/Prins/Walnier,
Catharsis trio & Bart Defoort quintet 		Bruxelles, MuseBoosting/The Blue Flamingo Jazz
7:30pm Tour Lundis d'Hortense Weekend Jazz Tour @ Château du Karreveld Château du Karreveld
avenue Jean de la Hoese
1080 Bruxelles – Belgium
+32 493 02 30 80
info@museboosting.be
May 04,2018 Maria Palatine,
“My Voice is My Plea” CD-release concert 		Bruxelles, Harp Center Brussels
8pm “My Voice is My Plea” CD-release concert Maria Palatine voice, harp, piano
Anne-Sophie back-up vocals
Jeanfrançois Prins guitar
André Klenes bass
+ guests: Richard Rousselet flugelhorn, Vardan Hovanissian duduk and Sébastien Walnier cello
Harp Center Brussels, Rue Theodore Verhaegen 188,
1080 Bruxelles – Belgium
office@mariapaltine.com
April 20,2018 Loos/Prins/Walnier Jazz Bas-Warneton, Open Music @ Salle "Du côté de chez nous"
9pm Tour Lundis d'Hortense Place saint-Martin, 16
7784 Bas-Warneton – Belgium
+32 (0)56 55 60 59
openmusic.comines@gmail.com
April 17,2018 Loos/Prins/Walnier Jazz Louvain-la-Neuve, Midzik @ Ferme du Biéreau
1pm Tour Lundis d'Hortense Avenue du Jardin Botanique
(Place Polyvalente)
1348 Louvain-la-Neuve
Belgium
+32 (0)70 22 15 00
info@fermedubiereau.be
April 14,2018 Loos/Prins/Walnier Jazz Eupen, KKE @ Jünglingshaus
8:30pm Tour Lundis d'Hortense Neustraße 86
4700 Eupen – Belgium
+32 (0)87 / 55 23 73
s.scheppers@kultkom.be
April 10,2018 Loos/Prins/Walnier Jazz Bruxelles, au Jazz @ Jazz Station
8:30pm Tour Lundis d'Hortense Chaussée de Louvain 193
1210 Bruxelles – Belgium
+32 (0)2 733 13 78
info@jazzstation.be
April 06,2018 Loos/Prins/Walnier Jazz Ans, Centre Culturel
20:30h Tour Lundis d'Hortense Rue Cardinal Mercier 1-38
4430 Ans – Belgium
+32 (0)4 247 73 36
centreculturelans@skynet.be
March 25,2018 Loos/Prins/Walnier Jazz Ittre, Heptone
5pm Tour Lundis d'Hortense rue Haute, 7
1460 Ittre – Belgium
+32 (0)488 476 905
asbl.heptone@gmail.com
March 24,2018 Loos/Prins/Walnier Jazz
Mazy, Jazz9 @ Zy’Coop
9pm Tour Lundis d'Hortense Zy'Coop
rue de l'Usine, 9A
5032 Mazy - Belgium
+32 (0)81 75 11 18
hello@jazz9-mazy.org
Since the 1930s, the Prins family has sold and produced Jazz recordings, mixing passion with pride in bringing only the highest quality music to the public.
In 1942, Jeanpierre Prins was in the studio during his father Ward Prins’ production of a Django Reinhardt recording session. In 1991, he and his wife, Annemarie Prins, who owned the renowned record store MUSIC INN in Brussels, continued the tradition by launching GAM Records, a label dedicated to jazz and classical music.
Their son, Jeanfrançois Prins, a Jazz guitarist dividing his time between Berlin and New York City, was then the label’s artistic director and has now taken over the general direction.

GAM Records, created in 1991, is an independent label dedicated to the production of quality modern Jazz, and original interpretations of classical compositions. The label presents music embodying two of the most essential qualities of music: emotion and energy. Knowing and respecting the Jazz tradition, GAM Records supports original voices, both famous and as yet unknown, in their artistic endeavors, and isn’t interested in creating clones of the past masters.

GAM Records respects the artists’ vision, giving them the freedom to create at their best, and using today’s most advanced technology in recording techniques in order to capture the quality of the sound without interfering with the creation of the music. Even the studio recordings retain the magic of a live performance. Back to Brussels in 2017, Jeanfrançois decided to revive GAM Records, and bring it further with new exciting productions, and opening it up to other styles, e.g. world music and cross-over.

GAM Records recording artists are now performing all around the globe, sharing their powerful music live with their audiences. We hope you will enjoy listening to our productions as much as we have enjoyed producing them and working with these marvelous musicians.
Newsletter

Stay up to date with all concerts and releases.
For all questions,inquiries and orders,
please contact:

Jeanfrancois Prins - managing director
jfprins@gam-music.com

Design Jan Cafuk - Development Finn Meier / Ramin Khoshbin