Alex Terrier was born in Paris, France, in 1980. He didn’t grow up in a musical environment, but “the day I sat down to the piano with my grand-mother was the first step to a life long journey into the world of music” Alex says.
Studying classical piano for a few years, it was a shock when Alex Terrier, around age 8, heard Duke Ellington and the sound of saxophonist Johnny Hodges. That was the second step.
From that day on, Alex Terrier has been dedicating his life to Jazz: “I used to get up in the morning and play the piano half asleep, really first thing in the morning before breakfast.
I would listen to music all the time, read, study… that’s all I did when I was a kid. That drove my mom crazy!” His first influences were Duke Ellington, Memphis Slim, Fats Domino, and Sydney Bechet, as these were the few LPs he found in his father’s home office. Alex received a Brevet de Technicien des Métiers de la Musique in Sèvres (equivalent to a Music Technologic Diploma) in 1999. He received a Médaille d’Or at the Ecole Nationale de Musique d’Evry before attending Berklee College of Music in 2004. He graduated from Berklee in 2007 with a Dual Degree in Performance and Jazz Composition. Since then Alex Terrier has been living in New York City. He is an indie artist and has become what you could call a multiple threat: band leader, composer, arranger, teacher etc…