Chris Mentens

Chris Mentens is a jazz bass player, composer, arranger and professor of jazz history.

He studied musicology at the Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium, where he graduated summa cum laude. Mentens is a principally self-taught musician, although he attended bass clinics with Hein Van de Geyn, Riccardo Delfra and John Clayton. Chris teaches Jazz History at the Music Conservatory of Antwerp, the Hogescholen van Antwerpen, the Antwerp High School for the Arts and the Antwerp Jazz Studio.

Menten's band, "Chris Mentens Jazz Van" is a quintet with Sam Versweyveld (trumpet), Joe Higham (saxophone), Jan Nihoul (vibraphone) and Bilou Doneux (drums). Menten has been regularly associated with percussionist Chris Joris and his bands.

Chris has worked with the groups "Transfusie" and "No Vibrato" and has accompanied various artists including Mal Waldron, Pierre Van Dormael and Slide Hampton. Chris routinely performs at Belgian jazz clubs and at all major festivals, from the bi-annual Middelheim Jazz Festival to the annual Brussels Jazz Marathon. Chris appears on numerous CDs; most recently in 2006 he recorded a CD for Chris Joris.

Discography

As sideman:

*Jan Muës Septet, "Mystic Smile", 1993.
*Kelst: "Dust On My Heart", 1995.
*Chris Joris, "On Children’s Street", 1996.
*G.C.Davis: "Feelings", 1996.
*No Vibrato "Here and Now", 2001
*Chris Joris Experience, "Out of the Night", 2002
*Chris Joris, "Oratorio Ishango", 2003

As leader:

*Chris Mentens Jazz Van, "Drivin"', 2003

External links

* [http://www.chrismentens.be Official Website]