BIO

Matthieu Bordenave is a French saxophonist and clarinetist based in Munich, Germany. Born in 1983 in southern France, he began his musical studies in Annecy with classical saxophonist Christian Charnay and jazz saxophonist Thierry Girault. At the age of 17 he moved to Paris, where he worked with André Villéger and entered the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique (CNSM) in the department of jazz and improvised music. His workshop teachers there included Chris Potter, Louis Sclavis, Paolo Fresu, Marc Johnson, and bass clarinetists Jean-Marc Volta and Philippe-Olivier Devaux. He continued his education at the Musikhochschule in Munich, graduating with a Master of Music and receiving the DAAD Prize.

He has performed with outstanding musicians including Lee Konitz, Rudi Mahall, Yaron Herman, Henning Sieverts, Florian Weber, Shinya Fukumori, Peter O'Mara and Geoff Goodman.

His early recordings include two albums on Enja Records, with his trio "Le Café Bleu International" and with the quartet "Terre de Sienne", as well as "Inverted Forest" (Doublemoon Records) with American guitarist Geoff Goodman. In 2018 he made his debut on the legendary label ECM Records with the Shinya Fukumori Trio.

His first ECM album as a leader, "La traversée" (2020), in trio with Florian Weber and Patrice Moret, received enthusiastic reviews. It was followed by "The Blue Land" (2024), which expanded the group to a quartet with drummer James Maddren. Both albums were produced by Manfred Eicher.

Alongside his work as a performer, Matthieu Bordenave is Professor for jazz saxophone at the Tiroler Landeskonservatorium in Innsbruck, Austria. He is a Selmer artist.

"Matthieu Bordenave has established himself as one of the outstanding figures of contemporary European jazz. His tone paintings are timeless pictures of enchanting beauty and power." (ARD – German national broadcaster)