By the early 2000s, saxophonist Emile Parisien's aesthetic choices, musical openness and unmistakable playing have established him as one of today's leading figures on the French jazz scene. A few years earlier, in 1993, he joined the first class of the Marciac college jazz class, where he met a number of personalities who would remain friends throughout his career, such as singer Leïla Martial, whom he sometimes accompanies as a sideman. At a very early age, he performed at the Marciac festival, notably alongside Wynton Marsalis. But Emile Parisien also studied music at the Toulouse Conservatory, where he was exposed to both classical and contemporary repertoires. His many collaborations and formations have enabled him to explore different facets of jazz. Without rejecting history, Emile Parisien adopts a resolutely modern outlook and claims a jazz of creation.

Émile Parisien meets Guillaume Kosmicki for two topical projects: Métanuits with Roberto Negro, based on Gyorgy Ligeti's first quartet, to be recorded and released by Act on May 31, 2023, and the new album Les égarés with Vincent Segal, Ballaké Sissoko and Vincent Peirani, released on March 31, 2023 by NØ FØRMAT.

Selected excerpts:

- Excerpt from Métanuits, Émile Parisien and Vincent Peirani (video, September 19, 2021)

- Excerpt from Métanuits (May 16, 2014 at Le Triton, carte blanche to Roberto Negro)

- Sextet Louise - Il Giorno Della Civetta (ACT Music, 2022)

- Sextet Louise - "Memento pt. 1" (ACT Music, 2022)

- Duo Belle Epoque - Egyptian Fantasy" with Vincent Peirani (Sidney Bechet, ACT Music, 2014)

- Les égarés, "Time Bum" with Ballaké Sissoko, Vincent Segal, Vincent Peirani, Émile Parisien -(NØ FØRMAT, 2023)

Photos © Samuel Kirsznbaum
Photos © Corinne Svala
Photos © Gérard Tissier

Sound portrait of Leila Martial