The jazz piano style of Marc Mangen is strongly shaped by his constant research on new harmonic and melodic possibilities. His eclectic style, which is nevertheless very personal, embraces almost the whole history of jazz piano.
As every jazz musician of his generation, he is mainly self-taught. Still a young guy, he had the chance to play with the best musicians of his area, from whom he learned all the basics and beyond.
He played virtually every style of music with many different bands. But, for some years now, he focusses on pure jazz piano, his first love. Marc is also a composer. His work covers jazz tunes as well as compositions for large jazz ensembles, especially his own 8-piece band "Afrodisax". As a classical trained musician, he also writes Lieder, choir works and organ music. As might be expected and aside from some standards, his solo program is essentially made up of own melodies.
He played extensively in Western Europe, and has been invited to USA, Romania, Czech Republic, China, Egypt and Tunesia. He recorded from solo, trio, and up to big band, as leader, sideman and composer-arranger. He is also a successful teacher for jazz piano and arrangement.
Marc began his music studies in his homeland Luxembourg, and switched to Strasbourg Conservatory when he was 19, where he spent 4 years with the great French pianist Gérard Frémy. It was a thorough classical training; at those times the education of jazz music was not so widely established in European music schools. Nevertheless, Marc attended some jazz-workshops with John Taylor, who became a big inspiration for him. Over the years, Marc played with many famous musicians such as Uli Beckerhoff, Randy Brecker, Pierre Cao, Ted Curson, Claudio Fasoli, Tino Gonzales, Didier Lockwood, Jean-Loup Longnon, Glenn Miller, Itaru Oki, Jacques Pirotton, Gunnar Plümer, Emmanuelle Somer, Mark Turner, Erwin Vann, most musicians from Luxembourg, and many more.
Besides jazz, Marc enjoys playing classical organ. He currently plays church services in a small town in Switzerland, mainly on sundays. The repertoire of organ music covers seven centuries, much more than the classical piano repertoire. Discovering all this great music is a big pleasure for him and the people coming to church.
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