Xavier Nelson Kaeser
drummer / composer
Born in 1997 in Sierre (VS), Xavier Kaeser started playing drums at the age of 11 at the EJMA (Ecole de Jazz et de Musique Actuelle) with Luigi La Marca as his first teacher. He made his first musical experiences in jazz big bands to then take a more in-depth musical direction within a university. He later completed a bachelor degree in jazz at the Bern University of Arts (HKB) where he studied with Django Bates, Frank Sikora, Andreas Schaerer, Matthieu Michel, Ronny Graupe, Bert Joris, (…).
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Xavier is currently finishing a master in jazz performance in Bern, and is perfecting his instrument under the teaching of Dejan Terzic, Julian Sartorius, Jim Black and Jeff Ballard.
Living in Bern, Xavier has already performed in Switzerland, Estland, Italy and on many European stages such as BeJazz (Bern), International Jazz Festival (Bern), Moods (Zürich), Philly Joe's (Tallinn), More Than Jazz Festival (Udine).
He has performed live or recorded in studio with artists such as Enrico Pieranunzi, Ralph Alessi, Django Bates, Andreas Schaerer, Colin Vallon, Patrice Moret, Florian Favre, Fabien Iannone, Moncef Genoud, Letieres Leite, Alexandra Grimal to name a few.
This picture was taken when Xavier played in the New Gen 5tet with legendary pianist Enrico Pieranunzi in August 2021. The concert was organized as part of the More Than Jazz festival and took place at the Piazza Libertà in Udine.
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Photo taken during the last recording session of the amazing trio OKWOK.
Our first album is now out on Bandcamp!