Emiel Verneert (°2002) is a young Belgian jazz trumpet player. He picked up the trumpet at the age of 7, following lessons at het local music school and playing in the bigband. It didn’t take long before he developed a great passion for jazz music, inspired by Miles Davis album ‘Kind of Blue’ and the music of Chet Baker. In 2019 Emiel started a fulltime music study (jazz) at the MUDA Arts College in Ghent, Belgium In the same year he was selected for the youth project of the Brussels Jazz Orchestra: The Youth Jazz Collective, a project for talented young jazzplayers led by conductors such as Frank Vaganée and Mark Godfroid. A highlight in this period was the masterclass from Vincent Gardner (trombonist in the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, led by Wynton Marsalis). The year after Emiel was accepted at the Jazz Department of the Music Conservatory of Ghent, while still in secondary school.

Emiel: “For me, it is fantastic to play and study music. I have time to compose, to study, go to jamsessions and to play together with others. I’ve got the chance to play with great musicians such as Bruno Castelluci (drums), Paul Flush (Hammond), Jean-Louis Rassinfosse (bass) and follow masterclasses with Bert Joris and Charlie Porter. I also started to compose for my first CD, with the idea to record before my twentieth birthday. My first CD ‘It Goes On’ will contain all original compositions.”

Emiel is inspired by many musicians such as Clifford Brown, Pat Metheny, Tom Harrel, Immanuel Wilkins, Chet Baker, Bert Joris, Cuong Vu, Stephane Belmondo, Freddie Hubbard, Brad Mehldau, Joshua Redman, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Lee Morgan and John Coltrane.