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Erik Bogaerts

Studied with John Ruocco, Ben Sluijs and Jeroen Van Herzeele, graduated 2008 won the young jazz talent Ghent award in 2009 recorded his first album at DEWERF records in 2012 with the band 'banjax', osa recorded the album 'Vekk' with Alexi Tuomarila in 2014 recorded two albums with the band 'Llop': Lampke and J, Imp recorded with the band Les Chroniques De L'Inutile, 2016 (El Negocito Records) recorded with the band Mephiti, 2017 (El Negocito Records)

Gave masterclass at dance company ROSAS for the creation ' A Love Supreme' by Salva Sanchis and Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker

played with theater company tGSTAN (OOGST)

Awards

young jazz talent Ghent 2009 with Bender banjax

Mephiti: Mephiti

Read "Mephiti" reviewed by Mark Sullivan

by Mark Sullivan
May 24, 2018

Belgian alto saxophonist Erik Bogaerts leads Mephiti, a strings-heavy band with a light touch. The strings are Ruben Machtelinckx (electric guitar), Bert Cools (acoustic/electric guitar, electric guitar, and synthesizer), Indrė Jurgelevičiūtė ( kanklės: Lithuanian plucked box zither) and Brice Soniano (double bass). Stijn Cools completes the group on drums. “Shilly" opens the album with a pensive alto-saxophone melody over a double-bass countermelody, the string section providing a rich texture of arpeggiated chords. “Hymne I" provides immediate contrast with ...

They have made a great recording with a combination of freely improvised drone music and more straight jazz, It could as well have been done in Scandinavia. This could have been done by Trygve Seim and Sinikka Langeland, because of the lyrical saxophone and guitar playing, which may sound like a kantele. The Swedish traditional "Fäbodpsalm Från Näckådalen" takes us far into the Swedish forests. Extremely lyrical and nice saxophone playing and fine guitar accompaniment, which almost sounds like Rune Gustavsson and Arne Domnerus translated to 2015. In Bogaerts-composition "Ner6ens" we get more Scandinavian tones, which is much closer Dala Floda than Ghent. Here the guitarist occupies a kind of Bill Frisell attitude. Not many notes, but the notes being played are important for the whole. Fine! The distance between Scandinavia and Belgium is not large, it is fair to note throughout this recording.