Trumpeter Bart Maris (1965 °) is a musician from the suburbs of jazz. Not that he doesn't like the clubs downtown. Maris simply enjoys the confrontations and conversations with genres and musicians from the periphery too much to choose one direction. It should come as no surprise, then, that the man shows up in numerous project pools and in groups just outside the mainstream. Solo, he regularly engages in a flaming affair with two Moogerfoogers and a loop machine or a complete tape recorder installation (loops). In the duos Krommekeer (with Lode Vercampt, cello) and GLITS (with Peter Vandenbrghe, piano) and with coloratura soprano Sylvie Depauw he goes for a pure acoustic approach. or plays duo with sand organ (Sonitum Horarium)... With P'tits Cons., a 3 piece mini-fanfare with Indian percussionplayer Sattar Kahn and the Souza of Gregory Van Seghbrouck, he rumbles the street.
Bart & Shihabi, including the new improvisers on the block: Louis Melo (clarinet), Aleksandar Scoric (drums) and Fransesco Moratu (electric bass), engage you in a dazzling soundtrip. You can hear him with French group Synaesthetic Trip, but also Dutch City Maps project of Steven Kamperman as well as Spinifex and Blue Lines sextet or German based 1000 (D), Belgium band Mik Maak, Hungarian altosax Viktor Toth , and Belgium pride Flat Earth Society (FES), and even guest at Stromae recordings, besides workshopping with kids (Buzzz!) and social minoritys (TOSO and Goeste Majeur) and being fixed member of worldrootsband Jaune Toujours. In the past also fixed member of Fukkeduk , The Simpletones, X-Legged Sally , Kamikaze, Think of One, Electric Barbarian, Het Beukorkest Participant in numerous projects with a.o. John Zorn, Fred Frith, David Moss, Matthew Shipp, Gerry Hemingway, Art Zoyd, Mauro Pawlowski, Marc Ribot, Jaki Liebenzeit, dj Grazzhoppa , Edward Perraud, Corrie Van Binsbergen, Peter Jacqmain, Paul Lovens, Jan Klare, Hamid Drake, Fred Van Hove, Deus, Marc Moulin, Univers Zero, David Hernandez, Meg Stuart, Wim Vandekeybus And Guestprofessor for subject of improvised music at the Ghent Conservatory,besides hosting/pioneering Les Mercedis Libres an impro night every Wednesday at Hotclub de Gand for more than 15 years now and did get rewarded with:
- Zamu-award best Belgium musician (1999)
- Nomination Paul Ackett-award (North-sea Jazz 2006)
- SABAM Jazz Award ‘Gevestigde Waarde’ (2015)
- Cultuurprijs Stad Gent (2021)