INSTRUCTOR / Manu Hagmann
« I’m glad to share my great passion for swing style and knowledge of related double bass sound control and techniques! » Manu H.
Manu Hagmann is born in Geneva in 1980 surrounded by a traditional jazz context thanks his father René, musician deeply impregnated by the first decades of the american jazz. After several years of playing the electric bass, he started to play the double bass at the age of 17 as an autodidact first, with the strong styles of some first jazz bass giants like Milt Hinton, Slam Stewart or the legendary Jimmy Blanton in mind. Quickly he had numerous gig opportunities in different jazz combos from new orleans to bebop styles. A
At the age of 26 he joined the Jazz departement of the Bern High School of Arts HKB as previously known as « Swiss Jazz School » where he had the chance to learn alongside from musicians like Thomas Dürst, Patrice Moret, Bert Joris, Andy Scherrer or Billy Brooks and achieve his Bachelor of Arts.
On the strength of this new learning and the many contacts he made in news parts of Switzerland, he explored the paths that led him to a more contemporary jazz, in particular weaving special complicities with the pianist Florian Favre and the harpist Julie Campiche, which led him to record numerous albums and to perform internationally.
Since this he began to teach the double bass mostly privately, and recently, he completed his pedagogical training at the jazz department of the Lausanne High School of Music HEMU where he also perfected his instrumental skills with the amazing double bassist and teacher Bänz Oester. He achieve his Master in Arts, Pedagogy in 2018 and currently he’s teaching bass and ensembles at the pop/jazz music school ETM in Geneva.
In parallel to this he kept a passion for the jazz tradition, he still playing numerous swing gigs in small and big bands. In 2011, he has been invited in a personal capacity to take part of the Withley Bay Classic Jazz Party (UK). He take part of several Vernier Jazz (CH) musical tribute shows with the Swiss Yerba Buena Creole Rice Jazz Band where he shared the stage with masters of old school styles like Matthias Seuffert, David Lukacs, Olivier Franc or Jean-François Bonnel.
Since 2012 he began to have frequently opportunities to play in gypsy jazz contexts, including many years collaboration with the quartet Les Manchots and gigs with Tcha-Badgo and Baiju Bhatt Gypsy Jazz Sessions.
