This fall the bicephale Grand Pianoramax creature and its guests Black Cracker, Karsh Kale and Mike Ladd were quite busy on the road on both hemispheres of the globe.

The tour started with an 8-show residency in Vevey (and its stunning Unesco World-Heritage view on Lake Geneva) in order for us to ready the new music for the video shooting in Mumbai. We played at Espace Guinguette, to a growing audience of returning enthusiasts as we went through the weeks of shows. At the same time the last details for the video shooting were finalized between the label’s Paris, New York offices, and the promoter in India (including travel complications resulting from some intense negotiations involving the promoter, the Swiss consul in Mumbai and the headquarters of Swiss airlines in Zurich).

We met Karsh Kale -our special guest for the audio and video recordings- for the first time as we arrived in India. The rehearsal went well and we were also introduced to the crew of local cameramen. Despite a pretty rough start due to fatigue, sickness and stress because of the cams all around us, we captured a magical night on the last of our three shows there. We then went on to celebrate at a nice after-party at the beautiful flat of Mahesh Mathai, one of the founders of the Blue Frog.

I then staid a few more days to work on editing the images with Karan the video director in a small movie studio in Bollywood, with a 40 C° temperature outside and 5 C° inside (thanks to the AC), daily 45 min ride by rickshaw between our hotel and the studio. A few pictures of our Mumbai adventures viewable here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=111793&id=543903049&l=0ca4be92b0

We then headed to the great Babylon club in Istanbul for a sold out show. We had the honor of having the legendary Reggie Workman -one of my ex teachers at the New School in New York- playing in a trio before us. A few pictures from our Turkish escapade viewable here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=122716&id=543903049&l=e51c78ad9a

The next day it’s Luzern at Bar 59, a really cool spot but the promoter did close to zero promotion and the turn out was disappointing. To make things worse the Minimoog died on us so we had to bring it to the doctor the following day. The diagnostic was not uplifting and we had to continue the tour without it.

We then continued with Chorus in Lausanne, with lots of familiar faces in the audience from our Vevey residency. Great show in a refreshingly almost-acoustic setting (to the horror of Dom’s stadium-rocker instinct, who still managed to do a great job on the traps). Next it’s Exil in Zurich, a cool new spot next to Moods. Nice PA and party.

After a few well-deserved days off, we played in my hometown Carouge and my fellow genevois citizens showed great support. Next it’s Winterthur (special mention to the girlfriend of the promoter for her fantastic culinary skills) and Bulle with “True Ingredients” opening for us, a great crew from London. Our last Swiss hit from the tour took place in Schaffhausen. The very nice Kamgarnn promoter had us stay at the impressive and undoubtedly haunted Hotel Park Villa. As usual there, great sound engineer and killing poster artwork by Reto Coaz.

We then headed to Paris for our last hit of the tour, at the Sunset/Sunside. Very nice turn out and a special mention to the house’s sound engineer who managed to do two bands’ sound-checks and live sound at the same time without affecting the music.

Yours truly is now taking a few months off the road, relocated in Berlin and spending most of his time in a glamorously crappy music studio in X-Berg to develop new directions for Grand Pianoramax with the valuable help of his partner-in-crime La Ghoste. New album due fall 2010. Until then, check the Grand Pianoramax myspace page here http://www.myspace.com/leotardin for preview snippets of the brand new material recorded live in Mumbai.
Stay tuned!

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In pretty good company.... Check number 10 of 15:

http://www.theroot.com/multimedia/who-ever-said-jazz-had-be-drab

 

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De retour d’une tournée qui a amené le groupe entre autres à Bombay, Istanbul, Zürich, Lausanne et Genève, Grand Pianoramax sera en concert ce jeudi 5 novembre au Sunset/Sunside à Paris avec le légendaire MIKE LADD en very special guest.

Les pré-ventes sont à 20 Euros pour DEUX personnes.


Deux sets différents, le premier commence à 21h.

Plus d’infos sur le concert:


http://www.sunset-sunside.com/concert.php?club=sunside&concert=3549&month=11&year=2009

Vidéo Grand Pianoramax feat. Mike Ladd:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ALU7CiaPCzc



Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/leotardin
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/GRAND-PIANORAMAX/32683523458?v=info
iLike: http://www.ilike.com/artist/Grand%2BPianoramax
LastFM: http://www.last.fm/music/Grand+Pianoramax

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Back from a 3-day residency at the Blue Frog in Mumbai with special guest Karsh Kale, Grand Pianoramax ft. Celena Glenn aka Black Cracker (and Mike Ladd for the Paris show) will be back on the road for a 9-city tour and a brand new repertoire. Check the full itinerary further down.

 

To view pics from the Mumbai shows/recordings: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=111793&id=543903049&l=0ca4be92b0


Oct 21: Istanbul (TR) : Babylon (Akbank Jazz Festival) - 23:00 
www.akbanksanat.com

Oct 22:  Luzern (CH) : Bar 59, - 21:00
www.bar59.ch/

Oct 23: Lausanne (CH) : Chorus - 21:00
www.chorus.ch/

Oct 24: Zurich (CH) :  Exil - 22:00
www.exil.cl

Oct 28: Geneva (CH) : Chat Noir - 21:00
www.chatnoir.ch/

Oct 29: Winterthur (CH) : Kraftfeld - 21:00
www.kraftfeld.ch/

Oct 30: Bulle (CH) : Ebullition - 22:00
www.ebull.ch/

Oct 31: Schaffhausen (CH) : Taptab - 22:00
www.taptab.ch/index.cfm

Nov 5: 2009: feat. MIKE LADD, Paris (FR) : Sunset,- 21:00
www.sunset-sunside.com/

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Hello People,

GRAND PIANORAMAX feat KARSH KALE and BLACK CRACKER

They're back! And this time around they've got uber-talented composer/percussionist Karsh Kale and NYC poet Celena Glenn aka Black Cracker joining in @ the Blue Frog on Thursday through Saturday.

This will be followed by dj sets:

Friday 18th - "The Beast from the East" Sanjay Dutta.
Saturday 19th - Dj Janux's powerful, electronic sounds.

With Grand Pianoramax's Leo Tardin, winner of the first Montreux Jazz Festival International Piano Solo Competition, master percussionist Karsh Kale and two-time National Slam champion Black Cracker (breakbeat, spoken word) - this is one performance you don't want to miss.

But don't take our word for it:

“Absolutely brilliant and essential for all discerning future music lovers.” – BPM (USA)

“Grand Pianoramax is a lean, mean, future funk machine." – Time Out London (UK)

“Resolutely modern and urban. (…) Greatly imaginative.” – Jazz Magazine (FR)

To see pics,videos and for further info about the event, check out:

http://www.bluefrog.co.in/

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Conçu par LEO TARDIN, Grand Pianoramax explore les possibilités qu’offre la confrontation de divers claviers analogiques et d’une batterie en une déclinaison de combinaisons hybrides. Ce duo est complété par les improvisiations vocales et lexicales de la géniale slammeuse de Brooklyn CELENA GLENN aka BLACK CRACKER.

C’est à l’Espace Guinguette à Vevey (CH) qu’il vient présenter en exclusivité un nouveau répertoire avant de s’envoler pour Bombay pour l’enregistrement live d’un nouveau CD et DVD avec Celena Glenn et l’invité spécial et virtuose de tablas KARSH KALE (Anoushka Shankar, Herbie Hancock, Sting).

DATES DE CES CONCERTS:

Espace Guinguette, Vevey (CH)
Chaussée de la Guinguette (derrière la gare)
http://www.liveinvevey.ch/

mercredi 2 sept. (20h30),
jeudi 3 sept. (20h30),
vendredi 4 sept. (21h30),
samedi 5 sept. (21h30),

mercredi 9 sept. (20h30),
jeudi 10 sept. (20h30),
vendredi 11 sept. (21h30),
samedi 12 sept. (21h30),

Entrée libre

Blue Frog, Bombay (avec Karsh Kale)
http://www.bluefrog.co.in/
Du 17 au 19 septembre

concerts et enregistrement live d’un nouveau CD et DVD.

Léo Tardin: Minimoog, Fender Rhodes, piano (CH/USA)
Celena Glenn: spoken word, rap (USA)
Dominik Burkhalter: batterie (CH/USA)


“Grand Pianoramax” illustre la capacité de Léo Tardin à envoyer au tapis jazz, future funk, art rock et hip-hop en une joyeuse chute libre.
– Metro London (UK)

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...and leave a comment if you like it: http://www.myspace.com/leotardin

(graphic design by Keanan Evers http://www.mrevers.com/ )

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The mastermind behind Grand Pianoramax reflects on Nikola Tesla, music critics and his very first concert in New York in an extensive interview for thevibes.net. Check it out! http://www.thevibes.net/interviews/grandpianoramax.html

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After kicking off our tour playing at the very offbeat Lovelite club in Berlin (and no sleep) we took off for Rome at 6am. Great show at the gorgeous Istituo Svizzero villa, from which you can see pictures here: http://lucazamp.hostific.com/leotardinRomehtml/content/index.html

We then gave three shows in the UK: Leeds, Birmingham and Edinburgh.
Horrible sound system in Leeds, stunning train ride between Leeds and Edinburgh and a hot show at the edgy Hare & Hounds in King's Heath, Birmingham; Juice Aleem joined us for the encore. Few pictures here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/steview/sets/72157615292974276/show/and audio streaming: http://www.birminghamjazz.co.uk/recordings.htm

We then played Maison de la Radio in Lausanne with a stellar line-up including Celena Glenn and Mike Ladd on mic. Few photos from this night: http://events.rsr.ch/galeries/jazzz/main.php?g2_view=core.ShowItem&g2_itemId=953

The next day it was Bern, followed by Paris, a show booked on the day of a national strike in France. After numerous unanounced stops on the SNCF train on the way to Paris we finally made it to St Ouens. The sound-check was interrupted every 10 min because of a documentary on Gainsbourg shot in the same building (our check was messing with some shots). Great show nevertheless. After another sleepless night, we took the train to a "homecoming" show in Geneva and then Milan, where we rocked La Conchetta, a historic communist bastion transformed into an indie squat. Great audience and of course delicious food in Milan.

A few days later we jetted toward Miami for a show at the Winter Music Conference. Sparkling beach, bright weather but boring music, a really light turn out, and a totally shady promoter at the venue. The showcase at Uncle Sam to promote the DJ Spinna remix (jamming duo with Shifty on the decks) was actually the highest point of this trip. Yet another sleepless night and we exit stage Fort Lauderdale at 6:30 am.

Next it's Colorado's Boulder Theater in a packed 500 seat theater. We opened for Dr Lonnie Smith, the legendary (and very humorous) B-3 organ player. Few days later we played the two last hits of the tour: First at the famous Joe’s Pub in NYC. The drummer for this show canceled two days before we played and the great Louis Cato (also bass player for ?estlove) subbed pretty much on the spot and did a killer job. Seraphim joined us on stage. Few pictures from this show: http://gpjoespub.blogspot.com/

We ended the tour in Minneapolis with guest Mr Lif. I stayed in the Cher suite, which included a baby grand, jacuzzi and fully equipped bar (fancy, no?). The promoter of the festival vanished at the end of the show with the performance fee and the advance for the travel expenses never paid in advance! After the last night with no sleep spent on the phone with my manager James trying to hunt down the promoter, we got back to the airport at 6am, with still no news from him.

We found out later that the promoter (Patrick Scott from B-Side Prod) owes a total of over 50K USD to the various artists and managers that went through his festival over the past few weeks…

To find out about what happens next or to simply know about our next shows, join us on facebook http://www.facebook.com/pages/GRAND-PIANORAMAX/32683523458?ref=ts or myspace: http://www.myspace.com/leotardin

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Last March, Grand Pianoramax feat. Mike Ladd and special guest Juice Aleem plaid at The Hare & Hounds in Kings Heath, Birmingham, as part of an epic 15-city tour recently completed.

The band was in fine form and you can now check out the recording of this show here: http://www.birminghamjazz.co.uk/recordings.htm

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