The Michel El Malem Group is evolving, with two new musicians: double bassist Stéphane Kerecki and guitarist Romain Pilon will now accompany drummer Luc Isenmann and saxophonist Michel El Malem within the group. They replace pianist Bruno Angelini and double bassist Jean-Philippe Viret. The new group is currently preparing a record with Marc Copland as a guest.
Romain Pilon is a French guitarist born in Grenoble. After four years at the Berklee College of Music in Boston where he played with many musicians including Christian Scott, Esperanza Spalding, Warren Wolf, Lionel Loueke, he spent a year in New York before moving to Paris. In 2011, he released his first album as a leader, Ny3, recorded with drummer Colin Stranahan and double bass player Matt Brewer. Since then, three other records have followed: Colorfield with Michael Janisch, Jamire Williams and the American saxophonist Walter Smith III in 2013; The Magic Eye with Fred Pasqua, Yoni Zelnik, Ben Wendel and Walter Smith III in 2015; and finally Cooper with Tony Paeleman, Fred Pasqua, Pierre de Bethmann and Seamus Blake in March 2018.
Stéphane Kerecki is a French double bass player born in Paris in 1970. He studied double bass at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Paris with Jean-François Jenny-Clark, Riccardo Del Fra and Jean Paul Celea. He then joined Steve Potts’ quartet and became the first bass player of the Paris Jazz Big Band. In 2001, he won 2nd prize as a soloist at the Paris La Défense International Jazz Competition. Between 2003 and 2012, he released four records with saxophonist Matthieu Donarier and drummer Thomas Grimmonprez: Story Tellers, Focus Dance, Houria with American saxophonist Tony Malaby as guest, Patience with English pianist John Taylor, and finally Sound Architects with saxophonist Tony Malaby and Serbian pianist Bojan Z. Then followed in 2014 the album Nouvelle Vague with John Taylor, Emile Parisien and Fabrice Moreau. In 2016 and 2017, he participated in two trios: Modern Art and Aïrès. His latest album, French Touch, was released in 2018 as a quartet with Emile Parisien, Fabrice Moreau and the Belgian pianist Jozef Dumoulin.