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Olivier Laval
With each new album, Guillaume displays increasingly striking boldness, always walking the fine line of jazz.
In 2015, he released his first album New Feel (Igloo Records) with the “LG Jazz Collective,” a septet bringing together the new wave of Belgian jazz, which has since become one of the most prominent groups in the Belgian jazz scene. The album, written and arranged by the leader, was a huge success and won an Octave de la musique (“Best Jazz Album”) in 2016.
Two years later, he released Strange Deal (Igloo Records, 2018), the second album of the septet. Acclaimed by both Belgian and international critics, the group gained momentum and became a reference.
La Capitale described it as a “breath of fresh air in the Belgian jazz landscape.”
In 2016, Guillaume presented his project “Harvest Group,” with the first album Songwriter nominated for the “Best Jazz Album 2016” award. This album, with its nostalgic and intimate tones, blends jazz and folk.
Le Soir even went as far as to say that “Guillaume Vierset is the songwriter of Belgian jazz.”
In 2019, with Harvest Group, Guillaume stepped up his musical exploration: seeking new sounds, horizons, and textures. Inspired by a trip to the American West, he released Nacimiento Road, an album where folk influences are clearly pronounced.
A tour followed the album release, with notable performances at the Gent Jazz Festival, Edinburgh Jazz Festival, Mithra Jazz Festival, Comblain Jazz Festival, and more.
With this album, Guillaume made his mark on the music scene as a bold composer and guitarist, unafraid to mix genres: jazz, rock, folk, and improvised music.
“A modern jazz with a folk twist of today…”
In 2022, Guillaume released the third Harvest Group album, Lightmares, a more enigmatic recording that takes listeners between dream and reality. The album's release and the accompanying tour culminated in a sold-out concert at Flagey.
In 2019, after a carte blanche at the Marni Theatre, Guillaume created the group “EDGES,” with Jim Black, Anders Christensen, and Dorian Dumont.
In 2023, EDGES released its first album, The End of the F**ing World, which made a huge impact on the Belgian jazz scene. With a top-tier international team, the guitarist takes us, with poetry and nonchalance, into a musical world at the crossroads of jazz and progressive rock.
The group explores role-playing across the intersections of rock, jazz, contemporary noise, and dissonant sonic flirts. The following tour took the band through France, Romania, Denmark, and the finest venues in Belgium (Reflexor, Ancienne Belgique, etc.).
The formation of EDGES marks a decisive turning point in Guillaume Vierset's career, creating a true surprise. The press is unanimous in praising this musical audacity.
L'Avenir (BE): "Guillaume's guitar has perhaps never sung so beautifully, both despair and hope, with a broad, open sound, sometimes reverberated to give even more space. Impressive."
LARSEN (BE): "Very rock in spirit, jazz in the approach to the guitar, this instrumental ignores genres and will give you a good slap (...)."
JazzMania (BE): "These four tracks offer progressive rock that loves to take detours into the characteristic territories of jazz."
In 2023, EDGES released two live albums: Live at Deux Ours and Live in Paris, with Jozef Dumoulin and Antoine Pierre.
Beyond his work in the jazz sphere, Guillaume is also the guitarist for SHARKO, a band led by David Bartholomé and Typh Barrow, and other projects outside of jazz.
He also leads a double musical life with his solo project IAMWILL, an enchanting folk-indie style enriched with poetic lyrics. In the tradition of Nick Drake, Elliott Smith, Bon Iver, and Neil Young, his family’s musical heritage shines through in intimate, soft, and nostalgic folk.
