Erik Vermeulen is a Belgian

Belgium

Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...

 jazz

Jazz

Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...

 pianist

Pianist

A pianist is a musician who plays the piano. A professional pianist can perform solo pieces, play with an ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers, solo instrumentalists, or other performers.-Choice of genres:...

, born in Ypres

Ypres

Ypres is a Belgian municipality located in the Flemish province of West Flanders. The municipality comprises the city of Ypres and the villages of Boezinge, Brielen, Dikkebus, Elverdinge, Hollebeke, Sint-Jan, Vlamertinge, Voormezele, Zillebeke, and Zuidschote...

 in 1959. He entered the Belgian jazz scene when he was 22 with his trio

Trio (music)

Trio is generally used in any of the following ways:* A group of three musicians playing the same or different musical instrument.* The performance of a piece of music by three people.* The contrasting section of a piece in ternary form...

. At the time, it featured Heyn Van de Geyn on bass

Double bass

The double bass, also called the string bass, upright bass, standup bass or contrabass, is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra, with strings usually tuned to E1, A1, D2 and G2...

 and Dré Pallemaerts on drums

Drum kit

A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....

. Soon after that, he started performing with different jazz band

Jazz band

A jazz band is a musical ensemble that plays jazz music. Jazz bands usually consist of a rhythm section and a horn section, in the early days often trumpet, trombone, and clarinet with rhythm section of piano, banjo, bass or tuba, and drums.-Eras:SwingDuring the swing era in the mid-twentieth...

s and musician

Musician

A musician is an artist who plays a musical instrument. It may or may not be the person's profession. Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music.Also....* A person who makes music a profession....

s including the Frank Vaganée Quartet, Erwin Vann Quartet and Peter Hertmans.

He performed with international stars like Slide Hampton

Slide Hampton

Locksley Wellington "Slide" Hampton is an American jazz trombonist, composer and arranger.He was a 1998 Grammy Award winner for "Best Jazz Arrangement Accompanying Vocalist", as arranger for "Cotton Tail" performed by Dee Dee Bridgewater...

, Clark Terry

Clark Terry

Clark Terry is an American swing and bop trumpeter, a pioneer of the fluegelhorn in jazz, educator, NEA Jazz Masters inductee, and recipient of the 2010 Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award...

, Joe Lovano

Joe Lovano

Joseph Salvatore "Joe" Lovano is a post bop jazz saxophonist, alto clarinetist, flautist, and drummer. Since the late 1980s, Lovano has been one of the world's premiere tenor saxophone players, earning a Grammy award and several nods on Down Beat magazine's critics' and readers' polls...

, Steve Grossman, David Schnitter

David Schnitter

David Schnitter is an American hard bop jazz tenor saxophonist.Schnitter played clarinet as a youth and switched to tenor sax at age 15. After moving to New York City he played with Ted Dunbar and then became a member of Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers from 1974 to 1979...

, Art Farmer

Art Farmer

Arthur Stewart "Art" Farmer was an American jazz trumpeter and flugelhorn player. He also played flumpet, a trumpet/flugelhorn combination designed for him by David Monette. His identical twin brother, Addison Farmer Arthur Stewart "Art" Farmer (August 21, 1928, Council Bluffs, Iowa –...

, Bob Mover

Bob Mover

Mover, Bob is an alto, tenor and soprano jazz saxophonist and a vocalist. His father was a musician who played professionally including stints with the Charlie Spivak orchestra...

, Teddy Edwards

Teddy Edwards

Theodore Marcus "Teddy" Edwards was an American jazz tenor saxophonist based on the West Coast of the US. Some consider him to be one of the most influential jazz saxophonists.-Biography:...

, Toots Thielemans

Toots Thielemans

Jean-Baptiste Frédéric Isidor, Baron Thielemans , known as Toots Thielemans, is a Belgian jazz musician well known for his guitar and harmonica playing as well as his whistling. Thielemans is credited as one of the greatest harmonica players of the 20th century...

, Philip Catherine

Philip Catherine

Philip Catherine is a Belgian jazz guitarist.-Biography:He was born in London from an English mother and Belgian father....

, Michael Moore and Barre Phillips

Barre Phillips

Barre Phillips is a jazz and free improvisation bassist. A professional musician since 1960, he migrated to New York City in 1962, then to Europe in 1967. Since 1972 he has been based in southern France....

.

He was often a soloist

Solo (music)

In music, a solo is a piece or a section of a piece played or sung by a single performer...

 with the BRT

VRT

The abbreviation VRT may be a reference to:* Vehicle Registration Tax* Verkehrsverbund Region Trier, Trier regional transport* Vision Restoration Therapy, a therapy to improve the visual field after a stroke or brain injury...

 jazz orchestra

Orchestra

An orchestra is a sizable instrumental ensemble that contains sections of string, brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments. The term orchestra derives from the Greek ορχήστρα, the name for the area in front of an ancient Greek stage reserved for the Greek chorus...

. In 1998, he represented Belgium in the European Radio Union Big Band in Stockholm

Stockholm

Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...

.

During his career, the musicians from his trio have changed : Jean-Louis Rassinfosse and Félix Simtaine, then Philippe Aerts

Philippe Aerts

Philippe Aerts is a Belgian jazz double bassist. He is a member of Philip Catherine trio and Ivan Paduart trio. He also has his own trio with John Ruocco and Tony Levin and quartet with on top Bert Joris...

 and Dré Pallemaerts, Otti Van Der Werf and Eric Thielemans.

Since 1995, Erik has toured and recorded with the following bands : Bart Defoort Quartet, Ben Sluijs Quartet, Manu Hermia Quartet and Marta Mus.

Since 1995, he has been a member of the Ben Sluijs Quartet, with whom he recorded four CDs. The last one, Flying Circles, is part of the CD box "The Finest in Belgian Jazz" (released on De Werf

De Werf

De Werf is a Belgian arts center based in Bruges. It organizes concerts and records CDs for jazz musicians. The first record it released was Sketches of Belgium by K. D.'s Basement Party, a band led by Kris Defoort. The next year, Octurn's first album went out on this label...

).

In 1997, he recorded a CD with his band Icarus Consort (consisting of Erwin Vann, Pierre Bernard

Pierre Bernard

Pierre Bernard, Jr. is a graphic designer and comedian, most notable for his work on The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien, Late Night with Conan O'Brien and Conan. He had a recurring sketch called "Pierre Bernard's Recliner of Rage", where he would complain about issues that concern him while...

, Nicolas Thys

Nicolas Thys

Nicolas Thys is a Belgian bassist. He graduated in 1994 from the Hilversum Conservatory , where he also taught bass and double bass. Thys took private lessons with Dave Holland, Marc Helias and Marc Johnson. He received several awards, most notably the Golden Django award for best young talent in...

 and Stéphane Galland

Stéphane Galland

Stéphane Galland is a Belgian drummer.He got his first drumset at the age of 3 and six years later, he entered the Huy conservatory, from which he graduated in 1987. When he was 11, he started to perform with jazz musicians like Eric Legnini and Jean-Pierre Catoul...

). The project emphasis is on improvisation

Improvisation

Improvisation is the practice of acting, singing, talking and reacting, of making and creating, in the moment and in response to the stimulus of one's immediate environment and inner feelings. This can result in the invention of new thought patterns, new practices, new structures or symbols, and/or...

.

Performing solo or in duo

Duet (music)

A duet is a musical composition for two performers. In classical music, the term is most often used for a composition for two singers or pianists; with other instruments, the word duo is also often used. A piece performed by two pianists performing together on the same piano is referred to as...

 with Pierre Bernard, Daniel Stokart or Eric Thielemans, led to the founding of the "Groundwork" collective (2000).

In 2001, he recorded his CD "Songs of Minutes" with Salvatore La Rocca and Jan De Haas. In the same year, he recorded the album Stones with Ben Sluijs and made recordings with the project "Rrauw" of Eric Thielemans, with Barre Philips and Jean-Yves Evrard.

In 2002, he got to know Eric Surmenian (double bass

Double bass

The double bass, also called the string bass, upright bass, standup bass or contrabass, is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra, with strings usually tuned to E1, A1, D2 and G2...

) and Marek Patrman (drums

Drum kit

A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....

). With this trio, he recorded Inner City from the CD box "The Finest in Belgian Jazz".

These days, Erik Vermeulen is teaching jazz piano at the Antwerp and Ghent conservatories.

In November 2003, he received the Belgian Golden Django

Golden Django

The Golden Django, named after guitarist Django Reinhardt, is an award for jazz musicians in Europe. The trophy is a creation of the French painter Raymond Moretti. It was first introduced in France , then in Belgium , in Sweden and Italy and finally in Denmark .-Belgian palmares:Since 1995,...

for musician of the year.