Vegir - “roads” in Icelandic - is everything the title implies. Four musicians, each with his own background and experience, put together in a recording room with nothing more than their kindred musical spirits and some of the music I had been writing over the last couple of months on the road. What a thrill it was to let the music unfold without any hassle. I believe the album really captures the magic that happened that day in Studio Jezus.
Tony Levin, whom I’d met just recently before recording, really captured the session's momentum. What a brilliant bassplayer and a lovely human being. He’s a fearless musician who is constantly exploring new areas of sonic exploration; his musicianship blew my mind! Having known Maxime Lenssens for over 20 years, recording together felt a bit like coming home for the both of us. His energy and “in-your-face” musicality was just what this project needed and I couldn’t be more thrilled that he agreed to be part of Vegir.
Michel Delville, a fellow MoonJunista, proved to be the right man in the right place. We had been talking about a collaboration for a while, and Vegir finally made it happen. I love his unique sounds and I can only hope that our musical journey keeps on continuing.

Vegir
Dominique Vantomme : fender rhodes, piano, moog, mellotron Tony Levin : electric bass, chapman stick
Michel Delville : electric guitar
Maxime Lenssens : drums
Label : MoonJune Records

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new album release sept '12
Dominique Vantomme/rhodespianohammondclavinet
Mirko Banovic/basseffect
Geert Roelofs/drums

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Greetings from Béran Sowe

Dominique Vantomme is Belgium based pianist, keyboardist, composer and producer. Originally working as a blues/jazzpianist, he has spent the past 10 years playing with numerous acts in pop, rock and jazz. He has recorded and toured as a pianist, musical director and arranger for artists such as Axelle Red, Ana Popovic, Hindi Zahra, Vaya Con Dios, Viktor Lazlo, Louisiana Red, Theresa Malenfant, An Pierlé. Creating music and sound has always been a constant factor in his life, which has resulted in several records with his bands ROOT and Mahieu-Vantomme Quartet.

Vantomme’s newest album as a leader – ‘Vegir’, released on the progrock label Moonjune Records – unites the unique sounds of bassplayer Tony Levin, Maxime Lenssens on drums and guitarist Michel Delville. “I just couldn’t pass out on the opportunity to work with basslegend Tony Levin. I had been traveling the world for the past few months, which inspired me to write a lot of music. When I pitched my vision to Tony, he was happy to join us in the studio. What a thrill it was!,” Dominique says.
The debut album “Root” goes back to the jazzrock and fusion of the seventies. The wurlitzer and rhodes arrangements provide a sharp edge and are reminiscent of the works of John Mclaughlin, Joe Zawinul, Weather Report, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Herbie Hancock and Keith Jarrett in their ‘Electric Miles’ era. Their second album “Agree to disagree” continues on the path of melancholia, psychedelia and improvisation. The music of ROOT brings together the best of both worlds: the raw exhilirating sounds of (jazz) funk and the pure compelling modern classical and jazzy (pop) ballads.

“…The Ghentian trio ROOT sounded like they should have been born in Norway. At one extreme they were indebted to the sounds of Supersilent, but with their limber soulfulness, they could be plundering the outgoing aspects of New York’s Medeski, Martin & Wood. The end-sound became their own Root-sound amalgam…” ALL about jazz – Martin Longley
The music of ROOT takes you to a universe where psychedelics and harmony reach out to eachother. This trio, where Dominique is backed by the complementary duo Mirko Banovic (bass) and Geert Roelofs (drums) has released two albums on Dominique’s record label Root Music Records.
On request of Trefpunt vzw ROOT went to Morocco to launch a project regarding the Moroccan musical culture. During a concert in a Berber village in the Anti Atlas mountains they were introduced to Aziz Arradi. Together with this intriguing gnaoua musician and the Moroccan-French singer Hindi Zahra (known from her debut record “Hand Made”, Blue Note Records) they performed several times both in Belgium and Morocco. They took the challenge to mix western rhythms and sounds with traditional Moroccan instruments. Album is soon to be released.

Four musicians, four personalities, four visions, … one group. Mahieu-Vantomme Quartet is their take on a classic acoustic jazz formation. They build up a very diverse, but unique  repertoire: from very lyrical themes to traditional standards, with a wink towards ‘free-jazz’ and especially own compositions. They released 3 albums: “Wicked Places”, “Whatever” (W.E.R.F.) and “Walk into the skyline” (W.E.R.F.).
Vantomme divides his time between performing, recording and teaching jazz piano at the Conservatory in Kortrijk, Belgium.

Dominique Vantomme

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