A French quartet, whose Parisian origins date back a decade, have taken the top award at the EBU European Jazz Competition (EJC) at LantarenVenster in Rotterdam (27/6) as part of the North Sea Jazz Festival.

The panel of judges, composed of radio producers from European public broadcasters and established musicians, awarded the prize to Flash Pig, comprising pianist Maxime Sanchez, tenor saxophonist Adrien Sanchez, bass Florent Nisse and Gautier Garrigue on drums.

Jury chairman Mijke van Wijk (NTR, Dutch public Radio) said the ensemble delivered ‘humour’, and ‘a good sense of the jazz tradition,’ describing their last song as ‘absolute magic’.

Michal Wierzgori, drummer of the Ostrich Quartet from the Czech Republic received the award for Best Soloist.

The jury was completed by Janne Lindvall, of public service broadcaster Swedish Radio (SR),  internationally acclaimed saxophone player Rolf Delfos, Belgian Manu van Doorselaer, programmer for Brussels Jazz Marathon and the programmer for the North Sea Jazz as well as LantarenVenster in Rotterdam, Frank Bolder.

The finals will be broadcast by members of the EBU’s  Euroradio community in cooperation with EBU Members NPO and NTR over Summer.

The EJC was established in 2006 by the EBU, the North Sea Jazz Festival and the Dutch Foundation EJC in order to offer European jazz talent an international platform for promotion. Young jazz musicians shortlisted for the finals are selected by European public broadcasters from the Euroradio community.