Joëlle Léandre: Tightrope walker

Sound Portraits 20.09.2022

A rock on a tightrope. Joëlle Léandre's improvised music offers a perfect alchemy of fragility and solidity: the ephemeral organization of just a few elements, almost nothing, combined with the know-how of this grande dame of improvisation, her intense years of practice studded with hundreds, thousands of encounters with an infinite number of artists. Joëlle Léandre's career began in the 70s. On leaving the Conservatoire, armed with a first prize in double bass, she devoured everything, especially the most contemporary, participating in the Itinéraire and 2e2m ensembles when they were founded. Her breakthrough came with the discovery of free jazz. Joëlle Léandre is also a history of encounters with passionate musicians. To name but a few: Barre Phillips, Dereck Bailey, Irene Schweitzer, Maggie Nicols, Steve Lacy, Carlos Zingaro, George Lewis, Pauline Oliveros, Giacinto Scelsi and John Cage. And that's just the beginning!

Joëlle Léandre will be at the Musica festival in Strasbourg on September 26.

Interview with Guillaume Kosmicki

Selected excerpts :

- "Orange"(Trans 2, Intervalle Triton, 2015) with Joëlle Léandre & Serge Teyssot-Gay.

- Play As You Go (Trost, 2021, recorded July 17, 2014) with Joëlle Léandre, Pauline Oliveros & George Lewis

-Calès I", Joëlle Léandre at Souillac en Jazz, Live in Calès Church, ayler records, 2021

- "Flower No. 9"(Strings Garden, Fundacja Słuchaj!, 2018) with Joëlle Léandre & Théo Ceccaldi

- Giacinto Scelsi'sLe réveil profond with Joëlle Léandre solo(l'empreinte digitale, 2018, reissued 1990)

Photo © Lauren Deutsch
Photo © GR-DR
Photo © Kirill Polonsky

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