Bender Banjax
Bender Banjax is an acoustisch jazz quartett: Erik Bogaerts (sax), Christian Mendoza (piano), Yannick Peeters (bass) en Lionel Beuvens (drums). These four improvise in sport with compositions of Bogaerts. Together they look each session for an interesting mix of jazztraditions and contemporary grooves. The group was founded after a co-production between students of the international dance school P.A.R.T.S and the Brussels conservatorium class of Kris Defoort. Together with the dance students, they played and performed on different festivals a.o. in Marseille, Lissabon, Rotterdam, Ghent en Brussels.
They play in different music formations: a.o. Mendoza with Lady Lynn, Yannick with Het Zesde Metaal, Beuvens with the Peter Hertmans Group, Erik with Fables of Fungus. Now and then they get the chance to play with the big names of the Beligan jazz scéne, such as Ben Sluijs, Erwin Vann, Peter Hertmans, Teun Verbruggen, Jeroen Van Herzeele a.o. Actual information and more music on myspace.com/benderbanjax.
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Erik Bogaerts
At the age of 9, Erik began studying the clarinet with Nestor Janssens. When he was 16, he started with private lessons on alto saxophone with Ben Sluijs. Later on he started his Conservatory studies in Brussels, at the Jazz division, with teachers including Jeroen Van Herzeele, Kris Defoort and John Ruocco. He got his Master in Music in 2006.
He played with several groups and musicians as Jambangle, Bart Quartier, Symbion, LlopBorja, Nicolas Kummert, Kris Defoort, Karel Van Marcke, Bart De Nolf etc. Within the framework of his training, he worked together with students from the famous dance academy P.A.R.T.S., a.o. and Loan Ha. He also performes in jazztheatre with Tarek Halaby and Moya Michael (Rosas) and theatre director Sam Bogaerts (de Bloedgroep)
Christian Mendoza
Christian Mendoza was born in Peru, but lived most of his time in Belgium. After a period as an autodidact, he studied at the Conservatoria of Ghent and Brussels, where he had teachers as Erik Vermeulen, Diederik Wissels, Nathalie Loriers, Kris Defoort, John Ruocco, Jeroen Van Herzeele en Stefan Lievestro. At the same time he attended some vworkshops with Bill Carrothers, Andy Milne, Ralph Alessi, Drew Gress, Bob Mintzer, David Haney, Julian Priester, Stéphane Galland, Christophe Walleme, Bert Joris, Jan Michiels en Moussa Dembélé. He graduated from the jazz division of the Brussels Concervatory in 2006.
He was active in various ensembles, from duo’s to bigbands, and he explored a great range of styles within the jazz, from a traditional repertoire to modern work. Mendoza is an artistic glutton, who not only plays jazz but also world music, contemporary classical music, salsa, free improvisation, even popular music. Within the framework of his training, he worked together with students from the famous dance academy P.A.R.T.S.
He has his own trio with Yannick Peeters (bass) en Lionel Beuvens (drums), besides his activities as a sideman in other projects, as the Teun Verbruggen kwartet, and a duo with Frederik Leroux. Christian also plays 'freelance' with many musicians from the jazz en improvisation-scene, a.o. Ben Sluijs, Joachim Badenhorst, Erik Bogaerts, Steven Delannoye, Bart Maris, Frederik Leroux, Clément Nourry, Yannick Peeters, Claus Kaarsgaard, Manolo Cabras, Lode Vercampt, Lionel Beuvens, Teun Verbruggen, Tony Vitacolonna, Moussa Dembélé ...
Yannick Peeters
She started out by playing the piano and after a few years she added contra bass and then gradually became more focused on jazz. She followed lessons in Dworp (Belgium), where she was taught by an Italian contra bassist Riccardo del Fra and later by Stefan Lievestro, Philippe Aerts and Nicolas Thys.In preparation for her Conservatory studies she followed lessons by Piet Verbist at the Kunsthumaniora in Antwerpen (Belgium).
She then studied three more years with Piet at the Conservatory of Antwerpen and was later taught by Gulli Gudmundsson. Yannick followed numerous workshop by musicians like Gary Peacock, Nicolas Thys, Marc Ducret, Gulli Gudmundsson, Bill Carrothers trio, Rob Madna, David Liebman. She also studied for 4 months at the 'Musikhogskolan' in Göteborg (Sweden) where she followed lessons by Anders Jormin. Yannick graduated from the Conservatory of Antwerpen in June 2005.
Yannick has already played with some famous musicians from the Belgian jazz scene, such as Kurt Van Herck, Dre Pallemaerts, Frank Vaganee, Sara Meyer, Bart Van Caenegem and Fre Desmyter. She plays with Muni and Lijm, Bender Banjax, Steven Delanoye Trio and her own trio features two Swedish musicians: Joel Wästberg on saxophone and Fredrik Hamrå on drums.
Lionel Beuvens
He began studying drums at the age of 11, first at the Academy for Classical Percussion, and later he met jazz teachers such as Nathalie Loriers , for drums he studied privately with Antoine Cirr, and with famous American drummer Billy Hart in summer music camp. In 2005, he graduated at the Royal Conservatory in Brussels for jazz drumming.
As a young and talented jazz drummer, he soon was invited for different jazz settings, he won the first prize of the 'Concours des Lundis D'Hortence' with Phillippe Joosens Trio and Wannes Peremans Trio. In 2001 he also won the first prize of the 'Concours du Rotary Club de Gand' with Phillippe Joosens Trio again, and entered the final of the International Jazz Contest of Hoeilaart in Belgium together with Wouter Berlaen for Wannes Peremans Trio.
He played professionally in Belgian jazz scene with Nicolas Thys, Erwin Vann, Jean-Pierre Catoul, Bart De Nolf, Hans Van Hoost, Peter Hertmans, Alexi Tuomarila, Paolo Loveri etc. He earns compliments such as "a melodic, intuitional and interactive drummer". For the moment he plays in Alien Bitesize, Steven Delanoye Trio, Peter Hertmans Quartet, Christian Mendoza Trio and ... Bender Banjax.
