TRADITION & SPONTANEITY

Mourad Benhammou was born in Paris in 1969 in a family of Algerian origin where music was rare. He discovered jazz at the age of 15. Despite his father's opposition, he managed to obtain his first instrument on which he practiced secretly. He became a drummer without ever taking a single lesson. His training was entirely self-taught and centered around 3 axes: listening, speaking and playing. Always respectful of the heritage of the elders, he learns by listening to thousands of records of the masters, Elvin Jones in John Coltrane's quartet, then hard bop drummers such as Philly Joe Jones.

A regular in Parisian clubs since 1992, he improved his skills with the numerous musicians who welcomed him on stage. René Urtreger, François Chassagnite, Michel Grailler, Jimmy Slide, Paul Bollenback. In 1995, he meets Sunny Murray with whom he participates in work sessions that allow him to deepen more open styles such as Free Jazz. In 1996, he meets Xavier Richardeau who contributes to introduce him a little more on the Parisian scene: he plays on the album Hit and Run (2002) of the baritone saxophonist.

The same year, he plays a tribute to Thelonious Monk with Alain Jean-Marie and Jean Bardy. At that time, he also follows in the footsteps of Sun Ra and forms the Interplanetary Music Orchestra, a 9-piece band with Steve Potts and Alexandre Tassel among others: this resulted in the release of his first album as a leader in 1998. In 1999, he joins David El Malek's quartet with Baptiste Trotignon and Raphaël Imbert's nonet Nine Spirit for a project in homage to the sacred music of Duke Ellington.

In 2003 he goes to the United States to find some forgotten drummers whose recordings he cherishes. He begins a series of interviews with legendary drummers of the bop scene. In New York, he meets Louis Hayes, Grassella Oliphant and above all Walter Perkins, who will become a mentor for him. Back in France, full of memories of unforgettable encounters, a new project comes to life, Mourad Benhammou and the Jazzworkers quintet, which he forms with Fabien Mary (trumpet), David Sauzay (saxophones and flute), Pierre Christophe (piano), and Fabien Marcoz on double bass. This formation produces a hardbop in the aesthetic of Blue Note Records.

Performing in the biggest festivals of the moment, collaborating with young musicians as well as with living legends of American jazz, Mourad has been able to impose his swing, his musicality and his implacable efficiency. With his playing deeply rooted in the hard bop tradition, he works with jazzmen who have marked the music of this era: Barry Harris, Frank Morgan, Mandy Gaynes, James Spaulding, Joe Cohn, Hal Singer, Ricky Ford, David Murray, Doug Raney, Butch Warren, Tom McClung, Junior Mance... He has also played with the singer Champion Fulton, and plays as a sideman with Craig Handy, Lew Tabackin, Mark Whitfield, Philip Catherine. In France, he has played with Maurice Vander, Alain Jean-Marie, Steve Potts... He has been playing regularly for nearly 20 years with Fabien Mary, David Sauzay, Pierre Christophe, Hugo Lippi, William Chabbey, Nicholas Thomas, Esiae Cid, Leslie Lewis, Raphael Imbert. He is part of Imbert’s A Love Supreme project.

In 2021, according to Jazz Magazine, he is "one of the best drummers today in the field of bop and hard bop."