Kris Defoort

Who is Kris Defoort?

Kris Defoort is a Belgian avant-garde jazz pianist and composer. He was born in 1959 in Bruges. He also teaches at the Brussels conservatory. His brother is Bart Defoort.

He entered in 1978 the Antwerp conservatory to study early music and flute. He graduated 4 years later and he then decided to study contemporary music and jazz at the Liège conservatory. Frederic Rzewski, Henri Pousseur and Garrett List were among his teachers. In 1986 Defoort released his first recording with his quintet Diva Smiles. The next year, he went to New York to study at New York Long Island University Brooklyn. He recorded there with Vincent Herring and Jack DeJohnette. On his return in 1991, he founded his own ensemble named K.D.'s Pretty Big Basement Party. The following year, he recorded the first CD for De Werf label with K. D.'s Basement Party. They toured in France, Belgium and the Netherlands in 1991 and then released a CD called "Sketches of Belgium" the next year, a reference to Miles Davis's "Sketches of Spain". The album, the first edited by De Werf, included an instrumental cover of Sting's Roxanne as well as two songs written by Thelonious Monk. In 1995 Defoort composed the Variations on a Love Supreme. Defoort took part in the Octurn project in 1996 and began to play with Mark Turner. A year later he recorded with Aka Moon on Elohim. He then formed a new ensemble. He also has his own quartet with Mark Turner, Nicolas Thys and Jim Black.