ELVIN & STÉPHANE GALLAND – THE GALLANDS

Stéphane Galland has been drumming all his life and toured worldwide with the most daring projects, including the Belgium based trio he cofounded in 1992 called Aka Moon, who is now considered as one of the most influential jazz bands in Europe of the last decades. Together, they released more than 25 abums, and collaborated with artists from all horizons such as Oumou Sangare (Mali), Meshell Ndégéocello (USA), Toots Thielemans (Belgium) Doudou Ndiaye Rose (Senegal), Umaylapuram K. Sivaraman (India), Arno (Belgium), Mark Turner (USA), Joe Lovano (USA), Alain Platel (BE), Anne-teresa de Keersmaeker (BE), Zap Mama (BE), Philippe Boesmans (BE), DJ Grazzhoppa (BE) to name only a few. Stéphane played on many Jazz albums, from traditional music to the most avant-garde jazz, from abstract contemporary to groove. He has been drumming for artists like Joe Zawinul Syndicate, Zap Mama, Ozark Henri, Novastar, Axelle Red, and was the drummer with Ibrahim Maalouf for six years, including collaborations with artists such as Marcus Miller, M, Aya, and many others. His interests in rhythm is so vast that he is now doing a PhD on rhythm at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels and VUB University. He’s teaching drums, rhythm and ensemble at the same conservatory as well as the Music Conservatory of Antwerp, and gives masterclasses worldwide. His latest release is Stéphane Galland & The Rhythm Hunters, in which his love of exploring rhythm is key.

Elvin Galland is a keyboard player and producer who studied classical piano, and jazz with Eric Legnini at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels. Together with his twin sister Kayla, they won a few competitions and had the opportunity to immediately start giving live performances in prestigious venues such as Couleur Café, Esperanzah, Brussels Summer Festival, Jazz Marathon, Francofolies, Botanique, Studio 4 Flagey. They released a Rihanna cover on Youtube which has been seen by more than 1 million people in about a month. Elvin also deepened his love for Electronic Music under the name of Jim Henderson and released 3 EPs on Mood family for the first, Playlabel for the second and the latest on Atmosphere Records with Stereoclip as producer. Elvin then did a remix for Yael Naïm and signed with two renowned editors in Paris: Anteprima Productions and Alter-K. Lately, he has been working with artists such as Cats on Trees, Mustii, Manu Katché, Alice on the Roof, Juicy, Isadora, Le 77, Damso, Jean Jass and Peet Morgan.

Louise van den Heuvel graduated her bachelor studies in jazz bass guitar cum laude at the conservatorium of Maastricht in 2019 with bass teachers Matthias Nowak and John Goldsby. Because of her final bachelor concert that she had given with her band Supernova she received the honour to be nominated for the Henriette Hustinx prize of 2019. She also had the opportunity to be the chosen finalist to represent Maastricht in the Conservatorium Talent Awards of 2019 in ‘s Hertogenbosch and to be featured in the Dutch jazz magazine ‘Jazzism’. In july 2019 she has also had the honour to have played at the ‘orth Sea Jazz festival in Rotterdam, as part of the Fringe Orchestra led by Jesse Passenier. She specializes in and explores the renovation of sound by mixing modern music technologies and effects, and applies these to her compositions that find their roots in the modern electronic jazz scene. She has won the Maastricht Jazz Awards twice with the bands Small Medium (2017) and Dishwasher_ (2021). With the latter she has also performed on Gent Jazz 2021, and won the BRIK Brussels Award. She continues to explore her modern sound in Belgium, playing with artists such The Gallands, Bruno Vansina and Teun Verbruggen. Recently, she released the project Sonic Hug to great acclaim, a new quartet centered around her bass playing and a perfect showcase of what contemporary jazz can be.