Paris-based double bassist active since the 1990s, Nicolas Rageau has collaborated, performed and recorded with numerous French and international musicians, including Benny Golson, Johnny Griffin, Hal Singer, Kenny Wheeler, Peter Bernstein, Jesse Davis, Grant Stewart, Joe Magnarelli, Valery Ponomarev, Alain Jean-Marie, André Villéger, Stéphane Belmondo, Paolo Fresu, Manu Katché and Tony Lakatos, among many others.

​

Between 1994 and 2000, he lived in New York, where he became an active presence on the emerging Smalls jazz scene. Back in France, he established himself as a regular presence on the Paris jazz club circuit, performing at venues such as the Petit Opportun, Sunset/Sunside, New Morning, Franc Pinot, La Villa, Bilboquet and Petit Journal. He was also a member of the house band at Duc des Lombards for several years.

​

Nicolas has performed at numerous major jazz festivals in France and abroad, including Marciac, Montlouis, JVC/Paris La Villette, Radio France, Roma Jazz Festival, Bucharest Jazz Festival, Santa Lucia, Pamplona, Toledo and Terrassa. He has also appeared on jazz stages throughout Europe, from Madrid, Barcelona and Lisbon,  Rome to Budapest, Berlin, Vienna, Bucharest, Brussels...

​

He has recorded three albums as leader or co-leader: Made in France (Elabeth, 2005), featuring Grant Stewart, Joe Magnarelli, Yves Brouqui and Phil Stewart; La Complainte de la Tour Eiffel (AlboreJazz, 2012), with Alain Jean-Marie, Philippe Soirat and Clotilde Rullaud and Le Sucrier Velours (Black&Blue, 2019), with pianist Ramona Horvath.

He has also appeared as a sideman on around twenty albums and was once the subject of two feature profiles in the French jazz press, Jazzman and Jazz Hot, in the mid-2000s.