TENOR & SOPRANO saxophone, composer (Bruges, 1964.)

Bart Defoort is a versatile musician with an open mind who feels at home in many musical contexts: Swinging Hardbop, Lyrical "European" and Contemporary Jazz, Big-Band, etc...

For Bart, his own sound, interaction, the story, the lyricism, the swing and the groove prevail.

As composer and leader of several groups, he recorded 5 CDs for the W.E.R.F. label and played with these groups and this repertoire at major Belgian jazz festivals such as Jazz Brugge, Jazz Middelheim, Jazz à Liège, etc...

These CDs were highly acclaimed by the press and the public. For the CD "Sharing Stories On Our Journey", he received the Sabam award for "Best Belgian Jazz CD of 2009".

He has been a member of the BRUSSELS JAZZ ORCHESTRA since its creation in 1993. This versatile and strong orchestra has gained international fame thanks to its collaborations with a.o. Kenny Werner, Chris

Potter, Joe Lovano, Maria Schneider, Dave Liebman, Toots Thielemans, Bert Joris, Philip Cathérine, Tom Harrell, Bob Mintzer,... They have recorded 19 CDs and played all over Europe, the USA and South Africa.

Bart was also one of the founders of OCTURN with whom he played and recorded 3 CDs between 1991-2000. Bart has also worked on numerous projects: Kris Defoort's "K.D.'s BASEMENT PARTY", Chris Joris Experience, Ernst Vranckx Quintet, Bart Quartier Quintet, etc... groups with whom he can be heard on the W.E.R.F. label. As a jazz pedagogue, Bart has a lot of experience and he knows how to give youngsters the "jazz and improvisation virus" in a methodical and structural way.

After teaching at the Antwerp Kunsthumaniora for 18 years, Bart is since 2009 principal teacher of Saxophone and Jazz-ensemble at the Ghent Conservatoire (KASK).

DISCOGRAPHY as a leader:

“ MOVING" 1997 Quartet with Erik Vermeulen/Nic Thys/Gene Calderazzo.

"STREAMS" 2000 Quartet with Diederik Wissels, Stefan Lievestro, Lieven Venken.

THE LIZARD GAME" 2003 Quartet with Hans Van Oost, Bart Denolf, Jan De Haas.

"SHARING STORIES ON OUR JOURNEY" 2008 : Quintet with Emanuele Cisi, Ron Van Rossum, Nic Thys, Sebastiaan De Krom.

"INNER WAVES" 2016: Quintet with Ewout Pierreux, Hans Van Oost, Christophe Devisscher, Toni Vitacolonna.