Félix Lemerle is a jazz guitarist & composer living in Brooklyn, New York.
Growing up in his native Paris, he was exposed to music at an early age thanks to his father, a jazz bass player. Initially trained as a classical pianist, he shifted his attention to guitar and jazz music in his teens, and started performing in France and Europe in various clubs and festivals. After graduating from the CRR de Paris with a Degree in Jazz & Improvised Music, he moved to New York City as a Fulbright Scholar to complete his Master in Jazz Performance at CUNY Queens College. There he quickly established himself on the scene, performing, recording and touring with some of the foremost musicians in the world. Recently, he joined the Artist Diploma in Jazz Studies at Juilliard.
A highly in-demand guitarist, Félix has performed internationally in venues & festivals such as Carnegie Hall, Chris' Jazz Cafe, BLU Jazz+, Dirty Dog, Fat Cat, Jazz in Marciac, Sunset/Sunside, Duc des Lombards, Vibrato, The Nash, The Jazz Corner & Highlights in Jazz, sharing the stage with luminary musicians such as Jimmy Cobb, Freddie Redd, Buster Williams, Ari Roland, Tardo Hammer, Steve Turre, Brian Lynch, Chris Byars, Peter & Will Anderson, Don Hahn, Ned Goold, Dominick Farinacci, John Mosca, Veronica Swift, Cyrille Aimée, Chuck Redd, Michael Valeanu, Ed Howard, Scott Robinson, René Urtreger, Jon-Erik Kellso, Joe Cohn, Luigi Grasso, etc.
Félix works regularly in New York with his own groups, including the collaborative band RAISE FOUR. He has won the 1st prize at the Eddie Lang Guitar Contest 2012 in Italy, and the 2nd prize at the Jarek Śmietana Guitar Competition 2015 in Poland (jury included John Abercrombie, Mike Stern & Ed Cherry). He appears on albums by Peter & Will Anderson, Samuel Lerner, Neil Saidi, Nathan Brown & Yoav Trifman. His upcoming debut album « Blues For The End Of Time » features Jimmy Cobb, Bertha Hope, Ari Roland & Samuel Lerner, and showcases Félix's profound artistry of the guitar and exceptional compositional skills.
“Young Félix Lemerle [...] swings easily and with a natural grace, has a deep repertoire of memorable songs, has a real respect for melody and interesting harmonies that don’t distort the original, and gets a lovely sound from his guitar. He’s not a reactionary who’s devoted his life to copying old records, so he sounds happily like himself […].” – Michael Steinman, Jazz Lives
Growing up in his native Paris, he was exposed to music at an early age thanks to his father, a jazz bass player. Initially trained as a classical pianist, he shifted his attention to guitar and jazz music in his teens, and started performing in France and Europe in various clubs and festivals. After graduating from the CRR de Paris with a Degree in Jazz & Improvised Music, he moved to New York City as a Fulbright Scholar to complete his Master in Jazz Performance at CUNY Queens College. There he quickly established himself on the scene, performing, recording and touring with some of the foremost musicians in the world. Recently, he joined the Artist Diploma in Jazz Studies at Juilliard.
A highly in-demand guitarist, Félix has performed internationally in venues & festivals such as Carnegie Hall, Chris' Jazz Cafe, BLU Jazz+, Dirty Dog, Fat Cat, Jazz in Marciac, Sunset/Sunside, Duc des Lombards, Vibrato, The Nash, The Jazz Corner & Highlights in Jazz, sharing the stage with luminary musicians such as Jimmy Cobb, Freddie Redd, Buster Williams, Ari Roland, Tardo Hammer, Steve Turre, Brian Lynch, Chris Byars, Peter & Will Anderson, Don Hahn, Ned Goold, Dominick Farinacci, John Mosca, Veronica Swift, Cyrille Aimée, Chuck Redd, Michael Valeanu, Ed Howard, Scott Robinson, René Urtreger, Jon-Erik Kellso, Joe Cohn, Luigi Grasso, etc.
Félix works regularly in New York with his own groups, including the collaborative band RAISE FOUR. He has won the 1st prize at the Eddie Lang Guitar Contest 2012 in Italy, and the 2nd prize at the Jarek Śmietana Guitar Competition 2015 in Poland (jury included John Abercrombie, Mike Stern & Ed Cherry). He appears on albums by Peter & Will Anderson, Samuel Lerner, Neil Saidi, Nathan Brown & Yoav Trifman. His upcoming debut album « Blues For The End Of Time » features Jimmy Cobb, Bertha Hope, Ari Roland & Samuel Lerner, and showcases Félix's profound artistry of the guitar and exceptional compositional skills.
“Young Félix Lemerle [...] swings easily and with a natural grace, has a deep repertoire of memorable songs, has a real respect for melody and interesting harmonies that don’t distort the original, and gets a lovely sound from his guitar. He’s not a reactionary who’s devoted his life to copying old records, so he sounds happily like himself […].” – Michael Steinman, Jazz Lives
Discography
Awards & Scholarships
Education
- Samuel Lerner « Fall’s Start » — Gut String Records / Black & Blue 2019
- Peter & Will Anderson ft. Félix Lemerle « Wind Power » — Gut String Records 2018
- Yoav Trifman « Nu Yo » — Gut String Records 2018
- Nathan Brown Trio « This Is The Moment » — Gut String Records 2017
- Neil Saidi « New York Sessions » — Gut String Records 2017
Awards & Scholarships
- 2nd prize Jarek Śmietana Guitar Competition 2015
- Fulbright Scholar 2014
- 1st prize Eddie Lang Guitar Contest 2012
Education
- The Juilliard School — Artist Diploma in Jazz Studies 2021
- CUNY Queens College — MA in Jazz Performance 2016
- CRR de Paris — DEM Jazz & Improvised Music 2012