Karel Van Marcke NL | EN

Biography

Karel van Marcke is a versatile musician. He is not only an accomplished composer and arranger, but has also released three full albums as musical leader of two jazz bands. He currently makes his way in the world of scores and classical music through several projects.

Education and style

Karel Van Marcke (born in 1967) graduated from the Royal Conservatory in Brussels with first prizes for music theory and classical percussion. He then obtained a Master's degree in Composing & Arranging Jazz and Pop Music with a supplementary diploma in piano studies.

Karel has gone through a whole evolution since his studies. While developing his own style, he focused on music he enjoys himself, on the research into several styles and on the quest for a natural way to integrate different compositional techniques. He subsequently succeeded in breaking out of the cocoon formed at the Royal Conservatory and this allows him to draw on different musical languages.

Compositions

Whilst the focal point of his music is jazz, Karel Van Marcke also writes film music and classical and commercial pieces. His music attempts to keep the contact with the musicians and their audiences alive. He believes that the combination of different styles, complex rhythms and divergent tonalities should not result in difficult music for the listener. This approach paid off in 2000 and 2005 with the award of the composition prize BAP Sabam at the European Jazz Contest in Hoeilaart and in February 2004 he was guest composer at the Royal Conservatory in Brussels for the Belgian Jazz Composers' Week.

Karel Van Marcke has lots of experience as a composer and has written music for different projects, from movies to music theatre. Het wrote the score of promotional films for V-Lux Belgium and Eurostar in London. For several years he was the arranger of the scores for Symfollies, a animated series that is broadcast throughout the world. He was also musical director with music theatre pieces such as 'De Zotte Koning' ('The Crzay King') or 'Mijn Kapellekensbaan' ('My Chapel Road').

Karel Van Marcke has written music for the Flemish Radio Orchestra, Concertgebouw Bruges, the National Orchestra of Belgium, the Royal Conservatory in Brussels and many more. He is still being commissioned to create compositions in diverse genres today.

See the full list of projects already realised by Karel Van Marcke

Bands

Jambangle

Jambangle grew out of the co-operation of the jazz collective 'Birth of a Monday Night Orchestra'. This anarchist collective from Ghent was started up by Mattias Laga and had already been in existence for several years with a changing lineup. Karel Van Marcke wrote several compositions for them in 1998 and he became their musical leader in 2000.

Karel has always been intrigued by jazz orchestras because they offer the composer an amazing tonal palette: "In order to write for an ensemble such as Jambangle, you need profound insights and a lot of experience, and you also have to know the musicians really well. Because I understood the strong and unique points of each musician, I had the opportunity to form a truly original ensemble."

The project resulted in a series of concerts in 2001. The success made way for a co-operation with the Jazzlab Series and the release of Jambangle's debut album for Baltic in 2002: Trinity Song. The record was met with critical acclaim; especially the tribute to Gil Evans and the balanced arrangements were noted. After the release Jambangle did a promotional tour and they worked on the multimedia show 'De Zotte Koning.' Jambangle also toured with Tom Van Landuyt and Kyoko Baertsoen (Hooverphonic, Lunascape) for a series of concerts devoted to Frank Zappa and film music from the James Bond series.

In 2003, Jambangle recorded their second CD, Remembrance. The album got excellent reviews again. Karel Van Marcke then started to concentrate on a new project: Chroma.

Chroma

After having worked with Jambangle for several years, Karel Van Marcke decided to start up his new band Chroma. In his compositions he stayed loyal to his own style, but his love of Hermeto Pascoal and Egberto Gismonte came to the foreground. Rhythm and extended melodies still formed the backbone of his music.

For the recording of their first album, Chroma's decision to work with a permanent vocalist evolved into an instrumental quintet surrounded by several guests. Singers David Linx, Geike Arnaert (Hooverphonic) and also Peter Hertmans (guitar), Ingrid Weetjens (vocals), Tuur Florizoone (accordion) and Peter Schneider worked on the album Radea.

After several promotion concerts as a quintet (from May to June 2007), the album was officially presented on the Blue Note Festival 2007, with Geike Arnaert as special guest. Reviewers received 'Radea' enthusiastically, with references to the strong compositions and the filmic character of the music. The CD was released throughout the world (iTunes) by homerecords.be. The following year, Chroma performed on a regular basis with several special guests and the project 'Conversations', an exciting combination of jazz, fusion, accordion and spoken word (Hilde Heijnen).

All details about 'Radea' can be found on www.homerecords.be

Recent projects

Karel Van Marcke continues to seek innovation in his compositions. He is currently writing music for the filmic project of Kyoko Baertsoen (Lunascape, Hooverphonic) and tries to make his way in the world of scores and classical music. He is still commissioned composition assignments, such as a suite for bass trombone and vibraphone.

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