Dividing his time between the United States and France,
Laurent de Wilde has found a welcoming audience in both countries. His third solo album, Open Changes, resulted in
de Wilde receiving a Django Reinhardt Award for Best French Musician of 1992. In addition to leading his own group,
de Wilde has worked as a session player for
Reggie Workman,
Ralph Moore,
Greg Osby,
Joshua Redman,
Dee Dee Bridgewater,
Aldo Romano,
André Ceccarelli,
Harold Land, and
Tom Harrell. His first four albums featured tenor saxophonist
Joe Coleman, drummer
Jack DeJohnette, and trumpet player
Eddie Henderson. His fifth release,
Spoon-a-Rhythm, released in 1997, featured St. Thomas-born drummer
Dion Parson and former
Miles Davis and
Weather Report percussionist
Bobby Thomas Jr..
Born in Washington, D.C.,
de Wilde moved to France before his fifth birthday. After studying philosophy at Ecole Normale Superieure in Paris, he returned to the United States to attend Long Island University. While there, he met and befriended pianist
Joey Calderazzo.
Settling in New York,
de Wilde was mentored by such influential pianists as
Jim McNeely,
Kirk Lightsey, and
Mulgrew Miller. A member of
Eddie Henderson's band in 1986, he recorded his debut solo album, Off the Boat, the following year. He followed with the impressive solo albums Odd and Blue in 1989 and Colors of Manhattan in 1990. Signing with Sony Jazz France in 1994, he released his fourth album, The Back Burner, in 1995.
De Wilde authored a biography of influential jazz pianist
Thelonious Monk in 1996, which received a Charles DeLaunay Prize for Best Book on Jazz. ~ Craig Harris