About

Frank Woeste is a pianist, composer, arranger and producer.
Born in Hanover in 1976 to a music-loving family, he explored numerous instruments during his childhood (drums, guitar, bass, accordion, clarinet…) before devoting himself to the piano, whose harmonic, melodic and rhythmic richness he quickly embraced. Very early on, he was already improvising with his family and a jazz-playing neighbor, thus developing a double background in both classical music and jazz.

After studying at the Bremen Conservatory, he spent his nights in local clubs improvising with jazz musicians, affirming an open vision where musical boundaries are anything but rigid. In 1997, he moved to Paris to join the jazz class of the Conservatoire, and quickly made it his home base. He soon distinguished himself not only as a pianist but also as an arranger and innovator on the Fender Rhodes, using effects and textures to create new soundscapes.

A regular collaborator of Ibrahim Maalouf and Youn Sun Nah, he has shared the stage or recorded with Dave Douglas, Mark Turner, Larry Grenadier, Médéric Collignon, Clarence Penn, Michel Portal, Ben Monder, Justin Brown, Flavio Boltro, Magic Malik, Gretchen Parlato, Ira Coleman, among many others. His path has also led him to work with artists from pop, chanson and classical music. He has occasionally performed with Oxmo Puccino, Juliette Gréco, Mathieu Chedid, the Orchestre National de Bretagne, and took part in a series of duo concerts with Jean-François Zygel.

Frank Woeste has released 13 albums as a leader and taken part in many more recordings as a sideman or arranger, several of which received Victoires du Jazz awards. Winner of prestigious competitions (Steinway Prize at the Montreux Piano Competition, Jazz Hoeilaart International Competition, Getxo European Jazz Contest), he was named “Revelation of the Year” at the Victoires du Jazz 2011. He was also twice awarded the French-American Jazz Exchange grant (2014 with Dave Douglas, 2015 with Ryan Keberle).

As a committed educator, he launched a series of masterclasses at his Studio Libretto, bringing together leading international jazz musicians, and he develops projects through his own label Phonoart.

Selected Discography