BIOGRAPHY

Al Jaq

A Biography by Scott Galloway

AL JAQ (Alex Jacquemin) is a modern french american jazz fusion guitarist with a driving penchant for originality, daring and challenge. Born in Paris France in 1971, he did not pick up his first guitar until the age of 16, but worked on his mastery of the intrument with such disciplened devotion that he was formally teaching others how to play by his fourth year.  In 1993, Al JAQ attended the CMCN, a French modern music school that gave him his jazz groundwork. He finished first of his promotion in three semesters then stayed on to teach for two and a half more years. Then he flew over to Boston in America and spent a year at prestigious Berklee College of Music where he encountered many inspiring players. Alex next returned to France and immediately became a fixture on the Parisian jazz scene, playing in all kinds of unusual combos and as a leader in his own right. Renowned for his amazing ability to blend into any musical scenario, Alex played in a number of eclectic bands and also performed with his own groups throughout Europe in major venues and festivals, and recorded a number of albums in ever-changing styles. An ambitious and original player, composer, arranger and band leader, Alex brought his skills to the United States in 2007 to delve deeper into shaping his own style and sound. 
Alex Jacquemin hears his sound as most indelibly influenced by English blues-rock giant Jeff Beck and American jazz garage icon Pat Metheny. What Alex has wrought from all he has studied, experienced and finessed is a remarkably inviting and accessible style of playing that incorporates astounding technical facility with deep emotional connections. This is accomplished through his warm melodic sense informed by the jazz, rock, pop and world music sounds he has embraced across the decades. Few guitarists can negotiate the blistering speeds with which Alex plays on his solo from "planetarization" vs. the penetrating, soul-searching yearn he coaxes and carresses out of his guitar on the first track of his new album, one of his most popular numbers, "Hippocampe".
Now with the thoroughly illuminating new album Planatarization as an astounding and spellbinding entry point into the 360-degree artistry of amazing jazz fusion guitarist Al JAQ, the melodic French American modernist is poised to break all bonderies and take all the world, upon imagination sparking aural journeys of wonder.
 

QUOTES

"Musicien virtuose qui nous embarque seul en scène à la rencontre de multiples styles et influences musicales! Jazz, Afro Beat, Fusion, Pop; Alex Jacquemin navigue brillamment sur tous les océans"
- Reza Ackbaraly - Ex-Director MEZZO TV / Jazz à Vienne festival / Qwest TV Co-Founder

"Alex Jacquemin's new release combines the sounds of European and american Jazz with the rich, sensuous melodies of Africa and the middle east. Sexy, playful, mystical, it transports you to new states of mind, where anything is possible"
- Valerie Gladstone, writer for The New York Times, Washington Post and LA Times.

Avec une virtuosité toute personnelle Alex Jacquemin ,artiste, intellectuel‘ et sportif Produit une musique qui a la particularité d’être très musicale . Et nous ajouterons :
ce qui n’est pas si frequent.
- Jackie Berroyer