Jean Fanis
- Instruments : Piano
- Date of birth : 25/06/1924 - Wépion
- Date of death : 03/09/2012
An illustrator of the be-bop tradition, he was also an experienced accompanyist.
He played with the best jazzmen of Belgium.
He played with Mickey Bunner and his Orchestra, a.o with Jean Robert.
He often was associated with saxophone player Jack Sels. He appears with him on the legendary LP "Jazz in Little Belgium" (Decca).
He played with his small bands as well as his big bands, in the company a.o. Charlie Knetgel, Herman Sandy, Christian Kellens, Francy Boland, André Coel, Alex Scorier, Roger Asselbergh, Benoît Quersin, Rudy Frankel, Nick Fissette, Jay Cameron
Jean Warland, Freddy Rottier, Etienne Verschueren René Thomas, Raoul Faisant, Jacques Pelzer etc...
He also appeared with Jack Sels' Saxorama, with a sax section composed of Jack Sels, Emile Chantrain, Franz L'Eglise, Benny Couroyer, Pros Creado, Guy Dossche.
He appears on the 2 LP compilation "The complete Jack Sels" (Vogel records 101AS & 102 AS), with Philip Catherine, etc...
Between 1953 and 1957 he was the house pianist at the Brussels "Rose Noire" and had the opportunity to play there with many US and European soloists, a.o. Clifford Brown...
In the 60ies, he played and recorded with the quartet of Sadi and was during many years the pianist of the Al Jones Trio, with Roger Vanhaverbeke on bass. With that trio (with Al Jones on drums), he accompanied numerous prestigious US soloists, such as Lucky Thompson, Dizzy Gillespie, Milt Jackson, Clark Terry, etc...
He also played at the Brussels Blue Note, again with many well known soloists, such as Ben Webster, Stuff Smith, etc...
He also played and recorded with the Sadi Quartet (album "More vibes", 1977).
Other albums on which he appears :
