A sophisticated, exploratory jazz pianist, France's
Baptiste Trotignon is a highly regarded performer known for his harmonically inventive style.
Trotignon emerged to acclaim with 2000's Django d'Or Prize-winning
Fluide and 2001's
Sightseeing. He has moved ably between solo piano albums like 2003's
Solo and small group dates, including 2005's Trintigon-El-Malek with saxophonist
David El-Malek and 2009's
Share with trumpeter
Tom Harrell and saxophonist
Mark Turner. Along with his original songs,
Trotignon has explored music from across the stylistic spectrum, interpreting songs by
Led Zeppelin and
Bob Dylan, as well as classical composers. He showcased his broad blend of classical and jazz on 2015's Baptiste Trotignon: Concerto pour piano; Different Spaces and 2022's Anima with Orchestre Victor Hugo.
Born in a suburb of Paris in 1974,
Trotignon was raised in the Loire region near Saumur. He started out on the violin at age six and moved to piano a few years later. Growing up, he studied at the Nantes Conservatory, where he won accolades for his playing. As a teenager, he developed a love of jazz, and by age 16 was playing his own shows. An opportunity to play a musician in director Alain Corneau's 1994 film Le Nouveau Monde spurred his decision to move to Paris the following year. From the late '90s onward, he led his own trio featuring bassist
Clovis Nicolas and drummer
Tony Rabeson. In 2000, he made his solo debut with
Fluide, which garnered praise and took home the Django d'Or for Best First Record.
Sightseeing arrived in 2001, and helped earn
Trotignon the Jazz Academy's Prix Django Reinhardt, marking him as France's jazz musician of the year. More awards followed, including 2002's Grand Prix de la Ville de Paris from the Martial Solal International Jazz Competition and 2003's French Newcomer of the Year honor at the Victoires du Jazz.
In 2003,
Trotignon released his third studio album,
Solo, which found him working in a solo piano setting. He then paired with saxophonist
David El-Malek on the 2005 quartet effort Trintigon-El-Malek, and returned the same year with another well-regarded solo piano album, Solo II. Concerts followed, including performances with drummer
Aldo Romano and bassist
Rémi Vignolo. The trio was again featured on the 2006 collaboration
Flower Power, which found them reworking songs by
Led Zeppelin,
Pink Floyd,
Bob Dylan, and others.
Trotignon rejoined
El-Malek for 2007's Fool Time. That same year, he moved to the Hammond B-3 organ for saxophonist
Stefano di Battista's Trouble Shootin', playing alongside trumpeter
Fabrizio Bosso, drummer
Eric Harland, and guitarist
Russell Malone.
The pianist traveled to New York to record 2009's
Share, which featured contributions from trumpeter
Tom Harrell, saxophonist
Mark Turner, bassist
Matt Penman, and more. A tour followed, resulting in the 2010 live album
Suite..., with trumpeter
Jeremy Pelt taking over for
Harrell. Two years later, he delivered the ambitious
Song Song Song, which featured collaborations with a handful guest artists including vocalists
Melody Gardot,
Mônica Passos,
Jeanne Added, and others. Dusk Is a Quiet Place, a ruminative, ballad-heavy duet effort with
Mark Turner, followed in 2013.
Around the same time,
Trotignon won praise for his classical composition Piano Concerto ("Different Spaces"), which was featured on 2015's Baptiste Trotignon: Concerto pour piano; Different Spaces. Commissioned by Orchestre National de Bordeaux and debuted by pianist
Nicholas Angelich, the major orchestral work earned
Trotignon a nomination for Composer of the Year at the 2014 Victoires de La Musique Classique. Also in 2014, he delivered the trio record
Hit, with bassist
Thomas Bramerie and drummer
Jeff Ballard. A year later, he paired with Argentinian percussionist
Minino Garay for the duet album Chimichurri on Okeh Records. In 2017, the pianist collaborated with soprano vocalist
Kate Lindsey on the album Thousands of Miles. He also issued Ancestral Memories, a quartet date co-led by saxophonist
Yosvany Terry and featuring bassist
Yunior Terry and drummer
Jeff "Tain" Watts. You've Changed, an album of solo piano, as well as duets with saxophonist
Joe Lovano, trumpeter
Avishai Cohen, and others, arrived in 2019. In 2022,
Trotignon released Anima, a classical-influenced orchestral album recorded with Orchestre Victor Hugo under the direction of Jean-François Verdier. ~ Matt Collar