François LINDEMANN

François Lindemann was born in Lausanne-Switzerland on September 17- 1950.
After some years spended in his teenage at the Lausanne Conservatory he then followed as an autodidact. He discovered improvisation and jazz music by listening to Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers, Clifford Brown and the John Coltrane Quartet in the sixties.

He realized that these musicians played their own music and decided to form his own group and to write his own compositions. Very interested in the "free jazz movement" of the late sixties, he lived and played that way in clubs of his native country. Than he founded CM4, a quartet with more elaborated forms with which he played clubs and festivals in France and Switzerland between 1974 and 1981.

Composer and leader of all the groups he formed as the F.Lindemann QUINTET (1985), the OCTET (1989), with, among others, the trumpet player Matthieu Michel and trombonist Robin Eubanks. Added with an Alpine-horn quartet since 1991, this group played during 4 years in many festivals and theatres of Switzerland, France, Belgium and USA.

Beside these jazz groups, he also played (1981 to 1990) numerous concerts in pianos duets with the late Sebastian Santa Maria. He founded 
PIANO SEVEN in 1986. This unique group of seven Steinways and percussions filled concert-halls of many countries as Thailand, Singapore, Egypt, France, Switzerland and China these last 12 years by playing compositions written by all the members of the band.

Interested by mixing the music of different parts of the world, François created a show including his own quartet and seven percussionists, dancer and singer from Thailand. Created in 1997 in Bangkok, this show came twice in Europe for concerts and festivals and is still available.

 
He now concentrates on the E.L.P. Trio and work on several projects with small bands as trios or quartets.

He played with numerous well known names of the US jazz scene as: Carla Bley, Steve Swallow, Alvin Queen, Longineu Parsons, the late Woody Shaw, Curtis Fuller, Glenn Ferris and Robin Eubanks.

Recorded more than a dozen LPs and CDs of his own music, composes for the children's theatre and contemporary ballet companies.

Musical activities for more than 25 years in Switzerland, France, USA and Asia.

Festivals