[TR24][OF] Fanny Beriaux - Blow Up My World - 2012 (Vocal Jazz)

Fanny Bériaux
The first that strikes you thing about Fanny Bériaux is her voice. Soft and sensual in the low notes, powerful and precise in the high, but also outstandingly expressive... In a generous performance, she truly lives every moment of her singing, experiencing emotions deeply, in a complete wholehearted enjoyment of her own voice from its warmest and roundest to its most delirious and heart rending expressions, while passing through a hint of nostalgia and a touch of tenderness.

Born in Brussels in 1980, she comes to feel a strong attraction for singing and experiences it already in childhood not only as a genuine pleasure, but as a physical need. Music in general also interests her, and very soon she starts to study classic piano in an academy, while spontaneously fiddling with the chords of a guitar from time to time. It is, however, very clear that singing is her natural calling, the thing which makes her tick.

At eighteen a world of possibilities opens up together with the need to choose a clear path. Fanny Bériaux will chose two: on one side, naturally, music, and on the other, university. She enters the Liège Music Conservatory where she is awarded a first prize the very first year. Simultaneously, she studies communication, while never ceasing to feel that singing is her true calling. Up until then, she had been following some singing classes, but in styles which fell short of touching her deeply. It is then that she meets Anca Parghel, a professor of vocal jazz at the Brussels Conservatory. The singer's vocal mastery fascinates her and she enters the Conservatory in 2002. There she is given her first award in vocal jazz, at the same time as she completes her degree at the university.

Two years later, amidst the serendipity of chance auditions, she meets the composer Jarek Frankowsky, who, spellbound by such a unique artist, decides to help her to release her first album. Thus « Blow Up My World » becomes available in stores in 2009. In it the singer reveals a warm and low voice, coloured with a rich palette, in songs both jazzy and of mixed influence, traveling between jazz, pop and soul. One can find in it, among many others, the influence of Madeleine Peyroux, Erykah Badu, Fiona Apple, Melody Gardot, Anita O Day...

The album is warmly received by the press, prompting a series of concerts in Belgium and in Europe (Paris, Istanbul, Sibiu, Ploiesti, Luxembourg...). The singer also performs in international festivals (Comblain Festival, Sibiu jazz festival, festival international Echternach, Gaumes jazz festival...). The public and the press continue to follow her performances with a marked and growing enthusiasm as they discovered behind the album's voice a rich and intense stage performance.

Fanny Bériaux's world is vast and stretches to the horizon. She defines herself primarily as a singer and is attracted to a variety of music. In the versatile openness which characterizes her, she takes an active part in a great number of projects and attracts proposals from artists coming from very different backgrounds. Among other things, she recorded the female voices for the theater play « La princesse Turandot » directed by Dominique Serron, sang an evening as an alto solist the Stabat Mater by Pergolèse and performed a duet with David Bartholomé (singer of Sharko) on his latest album 'Cosmic woo Woo' (2001).

The most outstanding thing about Fanny Bériaux is her voice: sweet and sensual in the low notes, precise and powerful in the high notes, and always extremely expressive. With her debut album, Bériaux offers 15 original jazzy titles that travel across jazz, pop, and soul with apparent influences of Madeleine Peyroux, Erykah Badu, Fiona Apple, Melody Gardot, and Anita O Day.

As soon as the first notes arise, one is blown away, “Mmmm, doo-i-doo-do-i-a.” The voice, its tone, its pose, its quality and color, the sound quality, the way the guitar blends in. Here is a vocal jazz album which is bound to please. One is not disappointed after listening to the 15 pieces. Blow Up My World is brilliantly put together. And one can't get enough. An unmistakable sign of quality.” (Jean-Claude Vantroyen, Le Soir)

“(...) very sensual and jazzy, like a real vamp (...) She chose musicians with class who combine pop and jazz with perfection. Blow Up My World is a jazz record of a kind you would expect from Dani Klein. Bériaux is at least as successful in the genre” (GTB - Brussel Deze Week)

Fanny Bériaux - vocals
Jarek Frankowski - guitar
Sam Gerstmans - bass
Matthieu Van - piano, Fender Rhodes
Jérôme Baudart - drums
Jean-Paul Estievenart - trumpet