Alex Terrier

Born in Paris in 1980, Alex Terrier initially trained in classical piano before a discovery of Duke Ellington’s orchestra and Johnny Hodges’s playing steered him decisively toward jazz and the saxophone. After earning the Brevet de technicien des métiers de la musique in Sèvres in 1999 and a gold medal at the École nationale de musique d'Évry, he went to the United States and graduated from the Berklee College of Music in 2007 in jazz performance and composition. Based in New York since then, Alex Terrier has developed a career as a saxophonist, composer, arranger and educator, leading groups such as the Alex Terrier New York Quartet and the Alex Terrier European Quintet. His musical universe intersects swing, bop, large-ensemble writing and a contemporary approach to composition, nourished as much by Duke Ellington, Count Basie and Sidney Bechet as by Bach, Debussy and Ravel. He writes for small groups and for big band, in a language combining melodic sensibility, orchestration and more elaborate forms. Among his recordings, Roundtrip was recorded in New York in 2009, and George Garzone appears on his early records. He also conducts projects between North America, Europe and South America while developing teaching activities and composing for visual media.