Originally from Barcelona, saxophonist and clarinetist Esaie Cid began his career with the Barcelona Jazz Orchestra, a big-band led by Oriol Bordas, with whom he recorded and toured with Jesse Davis and Frank Wess.
Arriving in France in 2002, he founded the group Jazzpel, a jazz quintet with gospel influences with three albums to his credit. Based in Paris since 2005, Esaie Cid has invested in the French Jazz scene by multiplying his collaborations as a sideman with many musicians (Mourad Benhammou, Michel Pastre, François Laudet, Gilles Rea, Fabien Mary, Claude Tissendier, Patrick Bacqueville ...), and by creating his own quartet and quintet. As a leader, he recorded four albums for Fresh Sound Records and conducted extensive research on the forgotten work of composer Kay Swift, whose archives are at Yale University; two albums were then released (The Kay Swift Songbook Vol 1 & 2), where many previously unreleased works were presented to the public, arranged by Esaie Cid. In 2023, the album "La Suite Audonienne" is also released, with which pays tribute to the city of Saint Ouen.
Equally at ease in small groups as in large orchestras, he is a member of the "Michel Pastre Big Band", and plays the first viola in the "Red Star Orchestra", in the "François Laudet Big Band" and in the "Jean Pierre Derouard Swing Music BB". He is a member of Claude Tissendier's "New Saxomania" and Patrick Bacqueville's "Bacos Hot Seven". He is composer and arranger for the "Trocadéro Jazztet & Sisters", and arranger for the "François Laudet 5tet". He has also recorded and/or toured internationally with Lisa Lindsley and Masatoshi Shoji.
All this activity translates into an abundant discography, and an assiduous presence at French and international jazz festivals and clubs.
The press is talking about it....
“Esaie Cid a choisi, avec humilité, de poser ses pas dans ceux des grands ancêtres. D’étudier à fond
leurs styles. De s’en imprégner jusqu’à les faire siens. Son talent a fait le reste. Ainsi,
paradoxalement, apparaît-il bien plus original, dans sa pratique du bop et du cool, que bien d’autres
de sa génération …”
Jacques Aboucaya, Jazz Magazine
"Modest, learned, elegant and delicate, in the city as well as on the stage, he is the perfect model of these
jazz musicians who, although not born in the homeland of jazz, nevertheless bring their
stone, ever precious, to the edifice and permanence of this art. (...) Isaiah Cid is poetry
on his instrument, the search for a delicate beauty, an embroiderer of melodies, a developer
atmospheres... »
Yves Sportis, Jazzhot
"It's impossible not to rejoice when listening to the ingenious jousting between the Spanish saxophonist and Benjamin Dousteyssier, encouraged by Alex Gilson and Paul Morvan." Louis-Julien Nicolaou, Télérama Sortir (TTT)
"there is more than enough evidence here of his first-rate musicianship and tasteful stylistic amalgam. A subtle set that begs close attention to catch all the nuances. »
Mark Gardner, Jazz Journal Magazine