Biography:

François Legrain comes from Eghezée, in the Namur region. After his years of studying music theory, he started learning the drums and the trumpet at the Eghezée Academy. By then, he was already 12 years old. Unfortunately, he had to stop the trumpet after 3 years because of a problem with his teeth. He then started the trombone at the Huy Academy. During his trombone-years he actively participated in the Eghezée Big Band across the whole of Belgium and Luxemburg.After he was awarded his certificate, he studied musicology at ULB, where the idea was born for a cello/ bugle/ flute trio with two of his classmates (Marjolaine Chauvaux and Margaux Sladden). After that, he worked in instrument manufacturing (mostly reparing) for six months. When he was 20, he decided to devote himself exclusively to the trumpet.
He entered the Jazz Studio in Antwerp in September 2007, where the acoustic blue project was born, bringing together François and a student guitarist, Romain Verwilghen, also from the Jazz Studio. In October 2007, he joined the Nivelles Big Band, led by Michel Paré, who also taught François at the Evere academy and the One More Time quintet, which had existed for over 10 years; its driving forces were the saxophonist Wulf Bodenstein and the drummer Christian Vandeneyden. The quintet’s programme consists of jazz standards such as Miles Davis’ So What.