Clovis Nicolas profile picture

Clovis Nicolas

Let the music we love be what we do

About Me

NOW:

-Moved to New York in 2002 and since then became a freelance jazz bass player, performing with such well-known artists as Joe Cohn, James Williams, Benny Powell, Frank Wess, Harry Allen, Grant Stewart, Peter Bernstein, Jim Rotondi, Ryan Kysor, Joe Magnarelli, Quincy Davis, Sacha Perry, Mike Kanan, Cedar Walton, Jeremy Pelt, Jason Brown, Sachal Vasandani, Mark Taylor, Joel Frahm, Freddie Cole, Dan Nimmer, Adam Birnbaum, Harry Whitaker and many others

-Studied classical bass with the late great Homer Mensch from the Julliard School until 2004, and took a few lessons with jazz bass players Robert Hurst III and Peter Washington

-Featured on trombonist Josh Brown's first recording, "The Feeling of Jazz"

BEFORE:

-Started working as a firstcall bass player in Paris, France, in 1996. Performed in all the major french jazz venues with such artists as Brad Mehldau, Bireli Lagrene, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Stefano Di Battista, Vincent Herring, Ernie Watts, Michel Legrand, Andre Ceccarelli, Eric LeLann, Philipp Catherine, and many others

-Became a regular member of many jazz bands, including Belmondo 5tet, Baptiste Trotignon trio, Michelle Hendricks 5tet, Franck Amsallem trio, JC Beney 4tet, Pierre de Bethmann "Ilium" and performed in prestigious jazz festivals such as Nice (France), Montreux (Switzerland), Montreal (Canada), JVC (New York & Paris), Vienne (France), Marciac (France)...

-Recorded on more than fifteen critically acclaimed CDs. Won three Grammy Awards in 2004 (Best Album, Best Artist and General Public Award) for the Belmondo album "Hymne au Soleil" (Bb Recordings/Discograph) and has been selected Album of the year 2001 for "Sightseeing" with pianist Baptiste Trotignon

BEGINNING:

-Started playing bass after High School and studied music at the Academy of Music of Avignon (France) and the Academy of Music of Marseilles (France).

-Learned playing jazz mostly by himself, transcribing, listening a lot and hanging out in jazz clubs every day! Took few helpfull lessons with Pierre Boussaguet


Some albums I'm featured on:


My Interests

Music:

Member Since: 7/9/2007
Band Members:

"Blue Room": Josh Brown (tb), Randy Napoleon (gtr), Phil Stewart (dms)

"Lover": Dmitry Baevsky (asax), Phil Stewart (dms)

"Just One Of Those Things": Luca Stoll (tsax), Greg Hutchinson (dms)

"Not For Debby": Baptiste Trotignon (p), Tony Rabeson (dms)

"Cup bearers": Dan Nimmer (p), Luca Santaniello (dms)

"F rhythm": Sacha Perry (p), Jason Brown (dms)


Influences: I’m not going to write a list of 200 musicians here, but I would say that I’ve listened a lot to Paul Chambers, Ron Carter, Ray Brown, Percy Heath, Charlie Haden and Sam Jones. In the newer generation I’ve been influenced by all the great cats in New York, including Peter Washington, Dennis Irwin, Joel Forbes, Neal Miner, Ben Street and Joe Martin.
Sounds Like: Jazz that swings
Record Label: unsigned
Type of Label: None