Léon Phal

Born in 1991 in France, Léon Phal enters a scene where jazz dialogues with fusion, groove, and colours borrowed from African music, hip-hop and soul. Initially trained in classical music at the Reims Conservatory, then in jazz at the Haute École de Musique de Lausanne, he builds a saxophone voice centered on lyricism, a sense of motif, and compositions that progress as much by pulse as by melody. At the head of his quintet, he asserts this writing between contemporary jazz and textures more open with Canto Bello in 2019, then Dust to Stars in 2021, two albums that accompany his emergence on stages and festivals such as La Défense Jazz Festival, Jazz à Sète, Jazz à Juan, Cosmo Jazz, Tourcoing Jazz or Jazzahead. In parallel, Léon Phal collaborates with Louis Matute, Émile Londonien, Bandit Voyage, and even Lee 'Scratch' Perry, illustrating a career open to crossings between jazz, fusion and other contemporary aesthetics, where writing, improvisation and collective work remain closely linked.