REIS DEMUTH WILTGEN

Pianist Michel Reis, bassist Marc Demuth and drummer Paul Wiltgen are three of Luxembourg’s most prominent jazz musicians. They formed the REIS DEMUTH WILTGEN Trio in 1998 while still in high school and performed on a regular basis in and around Luxembourg for a couple of years. The trio reunited in 2011 eager to share their experiences and new music. Their self-titled first album was released on Laborie Jazz to widespread critical acclaim. Since the release, the band has toured extensively throughout the world and has appeared at major international jazz festivals. The band's sophomore album "Places In Between" was recorded in New York City and released on Double Moon Records in 2016. The trio is now signed to the Italian label CAM JAZZ for whom they have recorded two albums: “Once In A Blue Moon” (2018) and their latest release "SLY".

In 2016, the trio started collaborating with world-renowned saxophonist Joshua Redman. Redman says that he fell in love with their music from the moment he heard them when his own quartet was playing a double bill with REIS DEMUTH WILTGEN at a festival in France. He has been playing several of the trio's compositions with his own bands. In March 2018, the trio toured in Europe with Joshua Redman as a featured guest. This tour included a performance at the Philharmonie Luxembourg featuring the music of REIS DEMUTH WILTGEN arranged for the Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg by multiple Grammy Award winning composer and conductor Vince Mendoza. The trio recorded this repertoire in 2022 with Redman and Mendoza at the Luxembourg Philharmonic. The album will be released on CAM Jazz in 2024.

In November 2022, commissioned by Esch22 European Capital Of Culture, REIS DEMUTH WILTGEN premiered their project Synaesthesia during a sold out 10-show run in Luxembourg. In collaboration with multimedia artist and filmmaker Emile V. Schlesser, the trio created a walk-in installation featuring holographic 360-degree video projection surrounding the audience; an audiovisual experience, where music is translated into color, shape and movement in a fully immersive environment.

"SLY" is REIS DEMUTH WILTGEN’s fourth release. Sticking with the known acoustic piano trio format, the album features new works exclusively and captures the trio’s current musical identity and the strong voice it has developed among piano trios in recent years

Hailed as a “tremendous pianist” by Downbeat Magazine, Michel Reis has paved his way into an artist of international acclaim. Michel Reis has appeared in many of the world’s most famous venues and festivals, including the Blue Note Jazz Club, Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola at Jazz at Lincoln Center, the Olympia in Paris, the Casa de Musica in Porto, the Panama Jazz Festival, the Montreux Jazz Festival, Cully Jazz and many more. He has toured extensively all over the world, performing in Europe, Asia, North and South America, as well as Africa.
Michel Reis has released 11 albums as a leader and co-leader. A native of Luxembourg, Michel Reis began studying classical piano, jazz piano, composition and theory at the Conservatoire de la Ville de Luxembourg under the tutelage of Gast Waltzing, Serge Bausch, Kris Defoort, Patrick Hartert and Guy Cabay. To further his musical training, Reis moved to Boston, MA to study at Berklee College of Music and the New England Conservatory of Music, studying piano and composition with Danilo Perez, Ran Blake, Frank Carlberg, Hal Crook, Joe Lovano, and Dave Holland, obtaining first a Bachelor of Music and then a Master of Music. After his studies, Michel Reis moved to New York to delve into the professional Jazz scene, performing regularly with different groups as a leader and as a sideman. It is in New York, where Michel Reis met composer and orchestrator David Spear, who has been very influential in his career and whom he remained a student and a close friend with.
Michel Reis has collaborated with Joshua Redman, Vince Mendoza, Didier Lookwood, Richard Bona, Gast Waltzing, Patrick Zimmerli, Jeff Ballard, Esperanza Spalding, George Garzone, Adam Cruz, Jonas Burgwinkel, Robert Landfermann, Stefan Karl Schmid, Niels Klein, Louis Moutin, Mauro Gargano, Jonathan Orland, Takashi Sugawa, Akihiro Nishiguchi, Sun Ishiwaka and many more. Besides performing, Michel Reis is very active as a composer, arranger and orchestrator. He teaches jazz piano at the Conservatoire de la Ville de Luxembourg.
In 2005, Reis was a finalist in the First Moscow Competition for Jazz Performers. A year later, he took second prize at the Montreux Jazz Solo Piano Competition. Michel Reis won the Export Artist of the Year award from the Luxembourg export office music:LX, in 2013, 2014 and 2018. Michel Reis is a Steinway Artist.

Over the past several years, Luxembourg bassist Marc Demuth has emerged as a strong new voice in the European jazz scene. He has shared the stage with musicians like Michael Brecker, Kenny Werner, Slide Hampton, Erwin Van, Hein van de Geyn, Florian Weber, Jef Neve, John Ruocco, Guy Cabay, Jacques Pirroton, Phil Abraham and Felix Simtaine, amongst others. In 2001, Marc won “Best Soloist” at the annual Rotary Jazz Competition in Wavre, Belgium. He also won the prestigious Jazz Competition in Avignon, France as part of vibraphonist Pascal Schumacherʼs quartet in 2004. That same year, he toured Europe and Brazil with the European Jazz Orchestra under Portuguese bandleader and composer Pedro Moreira. A long-time musical partnership with Portuguese singer Sofia Ribeiro resulted in numerous appearances at venues and festivals all over Europe and the release of their Duo recording “Dança da Solidão” in 2006. Marcʼs 2008 quartet album “Orik” features Sofia Ribeiro alongside vibraphone player Pascal Schumacher, clarinet player Joachim Badenhorst and drummer Yves Peeters. His educational credentials include a Bachelorʼs degree and a Masterʼs degree from the “Koninklijk Conservatorium” in The Hague, Netherlands as well as diplomas in both electric and acoustic bass from the “Conservatoire Royal” in Brussels, Belgium. As an accomplished jazz educator, Marc shares his experience and insights with the next generation of creative musicians by heading the jazz department at the Echternach Music School in Luxembourg.

Luxembourg native Paul Wiltgen is internationally recognized as an accomplished drummer, an imaginative composer and a visionary bandleader. An artist in the truest sense of the word, Paul compellingly balances his musical aesthetic and his personal passion, creating a sound from the drums that simultaneously supports and inspires.
After an extensive classical tutelage and a considerable amount of orchestral experience, Paul decided to pursue what would become his life’s passion: a career as a drummer.
Not long after realizing his true vocation, Paul became one of the most in-demand drummers in and around Luxembourg. August 2001 saw the mark of a major milestone in Paul’s life: he moved to New York City to study at the Manhattan School of Music.
Since graduating, Paul is in the vanguard of today’s jazz scene, having worked with many of its leading voices, including Joshua Redman, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Mike Moreno, David Binney, Lage Lund, Patrick Cornelius, Michael Janisch, Ambrose Akinmusire, Will Vinson, Walter Smith III, Bireli Lagrene, Tim Collins, Pablo Held and Franz von Chossy.
In collaboration with New Orleans guitarist, composer and producer Brian Seeger, Wiltgen released the album Organic Trio “Saturn’s Spell” in 2017, which features four of his original compositions and which charted nationwide at #2 in the US JazzWeek Charts in February 2017 and remained in the Top 10 for two months.
Wiltgen was also the leader of a New York band named “The Paislies”, which released an album on the Fresh Sound New Talent record label in 2007. He is one of the original members of The TransAtlantic Collective (Whirlwind Records, UK), a vivacious contemporary jazz ensemble made up of musicians based in London and New York City.
Paul teaches drums at the Luxembourg City Music Conservatory. He endorses Canopus Drums.

„Die Songs ihrer aktuellen CD „SLY“ bieten eine gut dosierte Mischung aus verschachtelter Raffinesse, neoromantischer Sensibilität und transparente Geradlinigkeit. […] Eine von Spielfreude und Ideenvielfalt flankierte Souveränität ließ den aufmerksamen Zuhörern schnell seine analytischen Automatismen vergessen und man folgte der farbenprächtigen Emotionalität, die sich hinter jeder Windung des Weges mit neuen Perspektiven präsentierte.“ - HNA

„Fuchsschlau sind auch die Kompositionen und Arrangements auf „Sly“: lyrische Melodien werden von plötzlichen Tempowechseln und rhythmischen Verschiebungen aufgebrochen. Das klassisch besetzte Klaviertrio Reis Demuth Wiltgen hat seine eigene Lesart von Jazz und die beinhaltet Einflüsse aus Rock, Groove und Pop.“ - WDR3, Album der Woche

„Reis Demuth Wiltgen. Zusammen bilden die drei, den wohl erfolgreichsten Jazz-Exportschlager unseres kleinen aber feinen Nachbarlandes Luxemburg.“ - hr2-kultur

„SLY präsentiert das Trio erneut in Bestform“ - RDL Radio

„Musik, die clever und scharfsinnig ist. (…) Es wird einem nie langweilig.“ - BX1 Brüssel

„[…] wohl die prominentesten Vertreter der zuletzt immer stärker beachteten Luxemburger Jazzszene […]“ - sueddeutsche.de

„[Reis Demuth Wiltgen sind] mittlerweile für die vitale, jüngere Jazzszene im Großherzogtum international zum Aushängeschild geworden“ - Jazzthing

“Einfach grandios!” - JazzPodium

„Eine angenehme Stunde Klaviertrio-Musik auf höchstem Niveau.“ - Jazzhalo

(…) die drei Musiker [beweisen] Tugenden, die jedes Pianotrio braucht, das die Aufmerksamkeit seiner Zuhörer haben will: Aufeinanderhören, Antizipation, Agilität.“ - Jazzthetik

„sämtliche dreizehn Nummern des Albums wissen immer wieder neue Wege in der bewährten Bandchemie aufzuzeigen. Schlagzeug, Bass und Klavier gleiten wie aus einem Guss durch die Musik, ohne in Routine abzugleiten.“ - Jazzthetik

„Schlau wie ein Fuchs, so präsentiert sich das Klaviertrio Reis Demuth Wiltgen auf seinem bereits vierten Album.“ - General-Anzeiger Bonn

„[…]effektvoll spannend, mit geradezu entwaffnender Hinwendung zum Melodischen […]“ - Aachener Nachrichten

„Auf „Sly“ präsentiert sich das Trio als gut geölte Maschine, die elegant zwischen groovigen Uptempo-Passagen und impressionistischen Klangmalereien wechselt.“ - Lausitzer Rundschau

„Statt sich derart bequem bei den Hörgewohnheiten anzubiedern, sucht vor allem Pianist Michel Reis immer wieder harmonisch den Weg ins Offene, in die Unwägbarkeit. So ist immer wieder Überraschendes zu hören.“ - Oranienburger Generalanzeiger

„[macht] trotz komplexer Struktur Lust zum Tanzen“ - Jazz’N’More (CH)

„ein Album als Hommage an ihre Identität als Luxemburger“ - Jazzfun

„ein euphorischer Durchbruch des Trios“ - Marlbank Jazz Blog

„Sein Spielen hat etwas Grandioses und seine Texte sind unglaublich melodisch“ - Marlbank Jazz Blog

„… eine Platte mit einer perfekten Balance zwischen europäischem Writing und amerikanischer rhythmischer Kraft …“ - TSF Jazz

„Eine neue originelle Note in der Welt des Trios aus Piano, Kontrabass und Schlagzeug. Zwischen schönen romantischen Kompositionen und New Yorker Groove.“ - France Inter

„Alle Kompositionen stammen vom Trio, die Hälfte davon von dem Pianisten, und zeigen einen tiefen Sinn für Dramaturgie, welcher Lyrik und Energie verbindet. Ein Trio, das man ohne zu zögern entdecken sollte“ - L’Avenir (Namur Belgien)

“Luxembourgish trio Michel Reis, Marc Demuth and Paul Wiltgen made a splash with 2018 Once In A Blue Moon on CAM JAZZ. They return to the label now with sly, which looks set to consolidate their reputation as one of European’s finest and most enterprising young piano trios. A baker’s dozen of new compositions ranges from the heated banter of “No Storm Lasts Forever” to the solemn swirl of “Viral”, a spectrum of moods that makes sly more than simply a collection of tunes but instead a satisfyingly and coherently programmed album.” - Brian Morton

"Renards virtuoses au programme de "Sly", le nouvel album du trio luxembourgeois Reis/Demuth/Wiltgen, et confirmation d'une vraie joie d'écoute lorsque ces trois-là sortent de leur tanière." - TSFJazz, FR

“... un disque à l’équilibre parfait, entre écriture européenne et puissance rythmique US ...“ - TSFJazz

“Nouveau souffle venu du Luxembourg ...” - Jazz News Magazine

“Là où de nombreux groupes se brûlent les ailes à trop vouloir jouer la carte de la modernité facile, le trio réussit à allier cette approche à une souplesse et une capacité d’évasion qui évitent toute monotonie. Car derrière des atours accrocheurs se dissimulent des trésors d’inventivité, et les musiciens laissent souvent libre cours à leur lyrisme, que ce soit par le biais de solos concis intelligemment placés dans les structures ou par de longues montées en puissance” - Olivier Acosta, Citizen Jazz

“la production musicale est parfaite, le piano de Michel Reis sonne magnifiquement et ma contrebasse de Marc Demuth est profonde. Paul Wiltgen maîtrise parfaitement sa batterie, des balayages aux rythmes plus appuyés. Finesse mélodique, puissance rythmique tout est réuni pour produire ce magnifique album.” - La Gazette Bleue D’Action Jazz

“Une nouvelle touche originale dans l'univers du trio piano, contrebasse, batterie. Entre magnifiques
compositions romantiques et groove New-yorkais.” - France Inter

“Le trio a créé la sensation ... au Festival Saveurs Jazz!” - Tribune2lartiste.com

“Reis, Demuth, Wiltgen enchantent le Casino ... pendant deux heures, ce fut un réel enchantement. Faisant une ovation et plusieurs rappels à ce trio magique, le public ne s’y est pas trompé.” - La Dépêche du Midi

“une technique acérée, des motifs mélodiques elliptiques et une rythmique branchée sur l'énergie du rock” - So Jazz (Sélection)

“Une musique dense, qui emmène auditeurs et auditrices au-delà des frontières du palpable, là où le jazz est écrit, composé, afin de satisfaire les goûts les plus exigeants.” - Zeitung vum Lëtzebuerger Vollek