Jef neve was born in Belgium on March 8th, 1977. 
He studied at the Lemmensinstituut in Louvain and  graduated in 2000 with Master of Music degrees in Jazz and classical piano, both with great distinction. In 2001 he specialized in Chamber Music and was rewarded 'cum laude'.
Next to his musical education, Jef started to play in local bands at the age of fourteen. During that period he composed a wide variety of pieces for the most divergent ensembles (from piano solo to symphonic orchestra).
     
At seventeen he played with the popular funk band Mr. Zebedee, followed collaborations with various jazz bands, classical ensembles, pop bands (f.ex. ‘Get Ready’, the famous Belgian boys band), theatre productions and studio sessions, to solo performances with the Flemish Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Michel Tilkin. In 2002 he worked for a year as a pianist and composer for the Contemporary Dance Company ‘Dathe’ in London.

His Trio with bassplayer Piet Verbist and drummer Teun Verbruggen has been together since 2002.

 ‘Blue Saga’ (Contour, 2003),  the first album of the Jef Neve Trio, was immediately a bestseller.  The second “It’s Gone” (Contour, Nov 2004) #1 jazz album in Belgium.  It received the prestigious Radio Klara prize for ‘Best International Jazz Album 2005’ and unanimous acclaim in the international press (for ex.: “From Belgium comes Jef Neve, an explosively gifted young pianist whose second album, It's Gone, is without question one of the best I've heard in 2005.” AllAboutJazz.com/Marc Meyers, 9/05).

Jef Neve signed with Universal Music Belgium, and the third album, “Nobody is Illegal” (2006) was again best selling jazz album in Belgium and reviews superlative (for ex.: “On his major label debut ‘Nobody Is Illegal’ his highly personal approach to the piano trio announces the arrival of a young musician of enormous promise who has the potential to become a major voice on the European jazz scene” - Stuart Nicholson, 12/06).    UNIVERSAL Music companies world wide reacted equally enthusiastic and the CD has been released in 20 countries. In FRANCE the album received the "CHOC" in the magazine 'Jazzman'. In DENMARK it received 5-stars in ‘Politiken’ by Boris Rabinowitsch: "Klaverfænomen."  In the UK the 'Guardian Monthly' ranked it among "5 best new albums", the cd received 4-stars in 'Times2' and in the 'Evening Standard'.  'The Observer' wrote : "His concerts are almost like a religious experience, riveting audiences by the sheer power and imagination of his playing."  In GERMANY the magazine 'MusikAnSich.de' gave the highest quote “20”  : "Nobody Is Illegal belongs to the best that you can find in the European Jazz. For jazz, classical or simply music lovers : this album is a must from beginning to end."   In ITALY the critic Roberto de Vitris wrote in 'Altrisuoni':  "Jef Neve è l'uomo nuovo del piano jazz internazionale". In IRELAND the 'Irish Times' wrote : "Jef Neve is leading a new wave of European Jazz."

The latest album “Soul In a Picture” was released in May 2008 on Universal Music Belgium followed by world wide release in 24 countries. The trio’s concerts were sold out at all the main belgian venues ranging from 600 to 1000 people in Brussels, Anwerp, Gent, Leuven, Turnhout, Hasselt, followed by a series of concerts in the smaller towns as well as abroad, and the CD and concerts gets great reviews in the press all over the world.
-JazzMan magazine : « SPECTACULAR. His previous album had enchanted the critics and was crowned with a ‘Choc’ Jazzman. “Soul in a Picture” hits the nail right on the head and confirms all our expectations. »
-Times Online :  « If Neve had been born somewhere jazzily iconic such as Chicago or New Orleans he would already have been fêted as the hottest new pianist on the block. » 

The Trio performed at major festivals like Paris Jazz, North Sea jazz, Vienna Jazz, Montreal Jazz Festival, Vancouver Jazz,  Veneto Jazz, Blue Note Ghent,  Middelheim, Rabat, London Jazz Festival, Toulouse,  Barcelona,  Münster 'Jazz Inbetween',  Lille Festival, Audi Jazz Festival, Vitoria-Gasteiz, Madrid, Athens, Berlin, etc...  In 2008 the trio had great success at Bremen JazzAhead and their first shows in Japan, where they also recorded one tune with great artist TOKU for the Japanese release of the new album. The trio played their first concert in Hungary and a second time Mexico, where they played in Monterrey at the two main theatres for more than 1700 people and in Mexico city festival for 4000 people with standing ovations, as well as in England, Belgium, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Holland.  In 2009 concerts are scheduled at Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Poland, Spain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the UK, France, Japan, Mexico. 
The outstanding musicianship combined with fine-tuned interactivity and visible joy while playing is very communicative and makes an event of each concert.After the Trio’s concert at Bremen JazzAhead 2008, Jazz.com wrote : « But it was Jef Neve from Belgium who took Jazzahead! by storm. It earned the loudest ovation of the whole event as everyone sensed the arrival of a major talent. »
And in Downbeat Magazine Dec. 2008 James Hale wrote about the Vitoria-Gasteiz Festival : «young Belgian pianist Jef Neve's enthusiastic performance with his trio in the Teatro Principal was a festival standout. »

Parallel to his fast growing activity as jazz artist, Jef Neve stays active in the classical scen.
He prepared the Goldberg Variations by J.S. Bach during 2005, which he performed several times the next season. In 2008 he gave several concerts with Belgian tenor Koen Vereertbrugghen,  and since a few years he also regularly performs in Duo with oboist Piet Van Bockstal. 
He recently finished writing his first piano concerto which was comisioned by the Bijloke Muziekcentrum in the summer of 2007. It  was be premiered on 1st and 2nd of May 2009 in Brussels and Ghent , together with the Brussels Philharmonic conducted by Michel Tabachnik, for sold-out venues and received standing ovations.
He was invited by the Flanders Philharmonic to play a Gershwin program in 2007 and again in May 2009 for two concerts conducted by Takuo Yuasa at ‘De Roma’ and the Queen Elisabeth Hall in Antwerp.

Jef Neve also forms a duo with the vibraphone player Pascal Schumacher and  will record a first album to be released in January 2010 on Enja records, followed by a ‘Rising Star’ tour through a dozen european foremost venues.

Jef Neve wrote the soundtrack for the movie ‘Dagen Zonder Lief’ (2007) by Belgian film director Felix Van Groeningen. Critics mentioned the sound track as being one of the strong points of the movie, and Jef was invited to perform extracts from the score at the “World Soundtrack Awards” in an arrangement for piano and orchestra. He just fiinished the music for the new film ‘De Helaasheid der Dingen’ of Felix Van Groeningen, which has been selected for the Festival de Cannes 2009.

Jef Neve was asked by the National Belgian Radio VRT-Klara to do a weekly jazz program. Since January 2008 his program “Neve”, recorded live, is broadcast every Friday night and has become the radio’s most popular program.

Jef Neve was nominated for several prizes: the ZAMU Awards 2004 and 2005 in the category ‘best artist’; the ‘Cultuurprijzen Vlaanderen 2005’ in the category ‘music’ (next to Tom Barman/DeUs and Capilla Flamenca), and the‘Octaves de la Musique 2005’.  In 2007 he received the ZAMU Award  “Jazz”, and in february 2009 he the award ‘best musician’ at the Music Industry Awards ‘09.
5/2009 

Piet Verbist (1961),  studied at the  Antwerp Jazzstudio where Dave Pike, Dennis Luxion and Hein Van de Geijn were his teachers.  In 1994 he finished his studies at the Brussels Conservatory (jazz department), and in 1995 he  took lessons with Dave Holland.    Piet is a highly demanded musician and played with the entire belgian jazzscene, and recorded with among others Pirly Zurstrassen Septet, Octurn, JDH band, Jef Neve trio. He has founded his record label ‘Contour Records’. Piet is teaching at the Music Conservatory of Antwerp.

Teun Verbruggen (1975)  graduated in  1999 as ‘Master in Music/jazz’ at the Music Conservatory of Brussels with Hans Van Oosterhout.   He followed lessons with Dré Pallemaerts and John Engels.   Besides this trio he plays with his own projects ‘Othin Spake’,  ‘Futhark’,  ‘Nozzle Slag’ and ‘Gowk’.  As a sideman he played with innumerable artists, and recorded with Alexi Tuomarila Quartet, F.E.S., Peter Jones, Jef Neve trio,  Kevin Armstrong (Iggy Pop), Arif Duirvesch (Nittin Shawhney), Lithon, etc..   He has his own record label ‘Rat Records’.   

www.jefneve.be