BIOGRAPHY
Philippe Crettien, born in the South of France, and the son of French diplomats, grew up primarily in North Africa, The United States and England. Raised in a musical family, he was exposed at a young age to an eclectic array of music. He studied piano and the alto saxophone in High School while attending the French Lycee in London. After listening to John Coltrane, Wayne Shorter and Sonny Rollins, he switched to the tenor saxophone.
Philippe attended Berklee College of Music and earned a BA in Professional music. He studied with Andy MGee, Joe Allard, Joe Viola, Charles Banacos, Jerry Bergonzi, Kenny Werner and Hal Crook. After Berklee, Philippe earned a masters in jazz composition from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.
He then went on to perform and record with Blues Singer Jelly Belly, Trudy Silver, Bill Lowe, John Medeski, Andy Jaffe, Mario Pavone, Bob Gullotti, Andre Jaume, Rick Pekham, and Dave Zinno, among others. He’s recorded six CD’s as a band leader: Sunday Train, Four Men in La La Land, MCFC, November Dusk, The North African Suite, and Healthy Trail. He also served as the Artistic Director of the Toulon International Jazz Festival and Director of the Toulon Jazz Festival Workshops from 1991-2000.
Since 2001, Philippe has served as the jazz band director at The Rivers School in Weston MA and Jazz Chair at The Rivers School Conservatory. Since 2009, he has served as the Artistic Director of the Rivers Jazz Festival.
