Eric Legnini was born in Belgium, on February 20th, 1970. He passed a childhood immersed in Bach and Puccini. In the beginning of the 1980s, the discovery of an Erroll Garner album revealed an entirely new musical horizon, especially when it came to keyboards. With his exceptional ear for music, he tinkered with these strange harmonies seized on the fly and quickly fell under the spell of jazz—Eric had found his means of expression.

He remained in New York for two years—time enough to take the pulse of the cosmopolis. 

He also discovered another interest : rap, and such artists as Public Enemy and Ice-T— Legnini’s other great passion. He also managed to pick up a few courses at Long Island University with Richie Beirach, but above all he was getting «on-the-job training, spending his nights in epic jam sessions in the company of the finest flower of the young jazz musicians of the period (Vincent Herring, Ravi Coltrane, Branford Marsalis, Kenny Garrett…). Through the medium of Kenny Kirkland’s voluble and precise style, Legnini began to appreciate the seminal importance of Herbie Hancock in the history of piano jazz, and from then on he became a devotee of that free hard bop that is a standard of the modern Blue Note esthetic of the 1960’s.

Under the double aegis of Kirkland and Hancock, Legnini returned to Belgium in 1990. He immediately obtained a position as a professor of jazz piano in the Royal Conservatory of Brussels meanwhile he hooked up with the great Toots Thielemans and joined his orchestra. There, for almost two years, he performed concerts and toured around the world. He now began an extensive amount of studio work, experimenting with funk, rap and electronic music. Now established as one of the pillars of the Belgian jazz scene, Legnini’s life took another turn in 1992, when he met two Italian musicians at a Brussels club one night—trumpeter Flavio Boltro and saxophonist Stefano Di Battista. The three men immediately clicked and they decided to work together, form a band and try their luck in Paris.

It was a new beginning for Eric Legnini. The pianist was indispensable to the balance of the quintet. As his reputation amongst his peers grew, he was solicited from all sides and began a series of collaborations with the Belmondo Brothers, Eric Lelann, and Paco Sery. Often performing with drummer André Ceccarelli, he is one of the most sought-after sidemen in Paris, and accompanies most of the great musicians as they pass through the capital, as well as in Europe, such as Enrico Rava, Joe Lovano, Mark Turner, Serge Reggiani, Aldo Romano, Philippe Catherine, Didier Lockwood, Manu Katché, Henri Salvador, Christophe, Sanseverino, John McLaughlin, Yvan Lins, Mike Stern, Bunky Green, Yusef Lateef, Raphaël Sadiq, Pino Palladino, Kyle Eastwood, Joss Stone, Natalie Merchant,Yael Naim, Raoul Midon, Kurt Elling, Vince Mendoza, Michaël Brecker, Dianne Reeves, Milton Nascimento ... etc. He didn’t neglect the studio either, recording about fifty albums to this date! With his reputation for musicality and savoir-faire, Legnini began working as an artistic director on a few variety albums, an activity that will achieve its apotheosis in 2004, with the co-creation of the ultimate opus of the great Claude Nougaro, La Note Bleue (Capitol Records - Blue Note).

The following is unique.

What happens next, to continue the tale, plays out as a trio, under his own name. "Miss Soul" in 2005, followed by "Big Boogaloo" the year after. The first in the line of 60’s jazz soul; the second veering firmly towards the stage and inviting accomplices Julien Lourau and Stéphane Belmondo to dig into the groove with him.And finally, "Trippin’", the ultimate chapter in this «triology», dedicated to the art of the trio; all style and no mannerism. His own trio includes the names Franck Agulhon and Thomas Bramerie, two partners of natural complicity, and an essential energy that has been tried and tested for over almost five years. The first pal is on drums, capable of holding the drive, of launching into a funky beat and falling back onto Cajun turnery. And so it goes, as long as it grooves. The second one is on the wooded double-bass, the middle pillar in the style of Paul Chambers or Dave Holland, but also with a style capable of pitting its strengths against sophisticated rhythms à la George Porter… In plain English, a virtuoso pair without airs, eclecticism without confusion, in sync with the lead; prepared to share in his trip, ready to humor his desires. « Like a DJ, I select tracks which I submit to them. I ask them to grasp their spirit, and it’s not about playing them by the book ». As a result, they comment on the spot, suggest ideas, make punctuations … That's how they polished-up on the repertoire of this album, clocking up more than 60 live concerts, before finding themselves in a recording studio. In brief, what’s necessary to create a sound of a trio - solid and knitted together...and capable of answering the question : « how to introduce jazz-funk into a soul jazz trio? ».

At the beginning of 2011, Eric Legnini released the album "The Vox", the press and the public were quite unanimous, a new story that lead to one of the greatest prize in France, « Victoire de la Musique » for Best Instrumental Jazz Album.