Nathalie Loriers

Belgian first lady of jazz piano Nathalie Loriers first had a classical training but early on she was interested in jazz, following workshops, then studying at the Brussels Royal Conservatory’s jazz section, where she obtained a first jazz prize for harmony and piano In 1990.

As a sidewoman she made beautiful musical meetings a.o. with Steve Houben, Diederik Wissels, David Linx.

In the late 1980s, she started gigging regularly with guitarist Jeanfrançois Prins, from duo to quintet with Jean-Louis Baudoin, Félix Simtaine and Erwin Vann. In 1990, following piano Master Francis Coppieters’ demise, Prins brought her in to work in vocalist Mary Kay’s band, and he subsequently introduced her to his mentor Toots Thielemans.

Nathalie Loriers formed her own quartet with Kurt Van Herck, Philippe Aerts, and Mimi Verderame, with whom she recorded her first CD as a leader “Nymphéas” in 1991. She went on to freelance with people like Thielemans, Philip Catherine, Rachel Gould, Hélène Labarrière and then Lee Konitz – with whom she was asked to record a CD for the RTBF State Radio in 1993.

Over the years, she released 12 albums as a leader or co-leader, always surrounding herself with excellent Belgian musicians such as Sal La Rocca, Jeroen Van Herzeele, Laurent Blondiau, Hans Van Oosterhout, Frank Vaganee, Karim Baggili, Nick Thys, Bert Joris, and occasionally punctual meetings with international artists as Cameron Brown, Gianluigi Trovesi, Joêl Allouches, Tineke Potsma, and Tony Overwater. They were all received with overwhelmingly positive reviews from the press.

She was awarded numerous prizes, including the Django d’Or in 1999, and the Euro Django in 2000.

Since 2002, she became a member of the European Big Band project featuring international arrangers, as well as the powerful Brussels Jazz Orchestra, as part of which she recorded 10 CDs.

As an educator, she teaches jazz piano at the Koninklijke Conservatorium van Brussel since October 1994, as well as in several academies in French-speaking Belgium, and at the yearly Summer AKDT workshop in Libramont.

artist's website