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1978-'82 : Student at the Koninklijk Conservatorium Antwerpen, ancient music and flute, with a.o. Koen Dieltiens, Balderick Deerenberg en Jos Van Immerseel.
1982-'87 : at the Conservatoire Royal de Liège, contemporary music and jazz with a.o. Dennis Luxion, Borah Bergman, Frederic Rzewski, Garrett List, Philippe Boesmans, Henri Pousseur...
1984 : Wins jazz-competition of the Province of Liège with the quintet Diva Smiles.
1986 : 1st recording, LP, 'Diva Smiles'.
1987-'90 : In New York Long Island University Brooklyn with Fullbright Grant.
- CD recording with Vincent Herring and Jack DeJohnette
- World tour with Lionel Hampton Big Band
- Worked together with Ron MacLure, Barry Altschul, Adam Nussbaum, Mike Formanek, Tito Puente, ...
1991 : Founding of K.D.'s Pretty Big Basement Party with as guests Judy Niemack and David Linx
- Tour through Belgium, The Netherlands and France with his own ensemble K.D.'s Basement Party
- Award for composing/arranging by the Spes Foundation.
1992 : Start of collaboration with the De Werf art center in his hometown Brugge
1993 : Recording of 'K.D.'s Decade Live' (W.E.R.F. 004). An improvising trio around current 'standards',
mostly pop songs
- Tour with K.D.'S Basement Party and K.D.'s Decade
- Creation and tour of the De Aftelling (music
- theater piece by Jan Vromman).
1994 : Composed and arrangements for the album 'Chromatic History' with
Octurn (W.E.R.F. 002).
1995 : Creation of "Variations on A Love Supreme" with Fabrizio Cassol.
- Première of the project presented at Jazz Middelheim festival with a group of eleven, followed by a tour and live recording by the European Radio Union
- CD recording of 'Variations on A Love Supreme' (W.E.R.F. 005) and a tour
- CD recording 'Deep in The Deep' (Antoine Prawerman)
- CD recording 'The Unbearable Light' (Garrett List).
1996 : Composing and recording of 'Ocean' with Octurn (W.E.R.F. 008),
- tour with Lee Konitz
- tour with Mark Turner
- Tour with project 'Variations on A Love Supreme'.
1997 : tour with Mark Turner & Lee Konitz
- CD recording with Mark Turner (released October 1998)
- CD recording 'Voyage' (Garrett List)
- CD recording of ''Snake ear' with Deep in the Deep (Antoine Prawerman)
- CD recording with Aka Moon, 'Elohim'.
Creation of his large ensemble "DREAMTIME".
In '98, Kris DEFOORT was elected best Belgian keyboard player of the year '98 in the Belgian critics poll (French speaking).
In April '99, Kris DEFOORT releases a double CD, titled Passages (Werf 014-015), the first CD in quartet, the second featuring the music he wrote for his Dreamtime band and a ballet by Fatou TRAORE.
Kris DEFOORT is considered one of the major composers of avant-garde jazz in Belgium.
In 2001, he wrote an opera, titled "The Woman Who Walked Into Doors" upon, based upon the book of Irish writer Roddy Doyle. Created in Brussels for the famous TRM (Monnaie), it was a multimedia experience involving a singer, an actress, a classical chamber orchestra, some jazz musicians and video projections.
Other composition commissions have followed, mixing contemporary music and jazz musicians.
In 2002, in its series "The Finest of Belgian Jazz", the label "De Werf" releases a quartet album : DEFOORT/TURNER/THYS/BLACK : "Sound Plaza" (Werf 037).
Kris DEFOORT is instructor for composition-arrangement and is leading a big band at the Koninklijk Vlaams Muziekconservatorium in Brussels.
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