# Raphael Pannier

Raphael Pannier (born 1990) is a French drummer and composer.

## Biography

Raphaël Pannier is a drummer, composer and teacher, born and raised in France in 1990.
After studying classical music and drums around Paris, France, he moved in 2010 to study at Berklee College of Music in Boston (BM, 2013) until 2014, and at the Manhattan School of Music in New York City (MM, 2017) from 2015 to 2017.
Living in New-York from 2014 to 2020, he has had the opportunity to perform and tour with different jazz musicians such as Chad Lefkowitz-Brown, Steve Wilson, Marcos Valle, Emil Afrasiyab, Manuel Valera, Aaron Goldberg, and more.
In 2016, he won the First Prize of the biennal international competition "Six Strings Theory" organized by the guitarist Lee Ritenour, and judged by drummers Dave Weckl and Simon Philipps, among others. He toured and recorded with Lee Ritenour that same year, in the US and Japan.
In 2019, Raphael Pannier records Faune, his first album as a leader, with Miguel Zenón (alto saxophone); Aaron Goldberg (piano); François Moutin (upright bass); and Giorgi Mikadze (classical piano). Miguel Zenón is also credited as the co-producer of the album. Faune is released in September 2020 under the label French Paradox and is exposed to the international jazz press. Among other prices and recognitions, it is elected "#3 Best Debut Album 2020" by the NPR Jazz Jury; "Revelation" Jazz Magazine (France) and receives the maximum five star mark by BBC Music Magazine (UK).
In March 2020, he is elected a recipient of the French-American Cultural Exchange (FACE) grant, organized by the Villa Albertine in New York and the French minister of culture. Thanks to the FACE grant, he releases his second album in October 2023: Letter to a Friend, a mix between jazz and electronic music in collaboration with german producer Martin Gretschmann, aka Acid Pauli; and featuring a similar quartet as Faune: Miguel Zenón on alto saxophone, Giorgi Mikadze on piano, and François Moutin on upright bass. Jazz Magazine (France) qualifies the album as «a milestone in the history of encounters between jazz and electro ».
In 2024 Raphael Pannier leads a cultural exchange between jazz and Senegalese traditional drumming: sabar percussions. Sponsored by the international jazz festival of Saint Louis, Senegal, and the French Institute of Senegal, he brings a new jazz quartet in May 2024 for a ten days residency in Saint Louis, to work with a group of eight sabar drummers led by the master percusionnist Khadim Niang, to create music, record an album, and play a final concert all together at the festival. The jazz quartet features Yosvany Terry on saxophone, Thomas Enhco on piano, and François Moutin on upright and electric bass.
Since September 2020, after ten years in the USA, Raphael Pannier lives back in Paris, France. There, he is hired by jazz artists all over Europe, notably being a regular member of the trios of Biréli Lagrène, Baptiste Trotignon, Thomas Enhco, Antonio Lizana, Manel Fortiá, and more.
Besides his activity as a leader and sideman, he is equally active as a teacher, being a faculty member of the American School of Music in Paris since 2020.
Jazz Magazine (Franc) elects him top jazz drummer of France both in 2021 and 2023.