Joëlle Léandre
Joëlle Léandre ( born September 12, 1951 in Aix -en- Provence, France ) is a French double bass player, which is (partly also in the field of jazz ) emerged both as an interpreter of new music as well as improvisation in particular musician. It is considered a highly versatile instrumentalist. " On the four strings of the instrument and with the fifth, as it defines their mezzo voice, forms the active musician and literary quality works of art that focus on the principle of literary collage on the simultaneity of opposites. "
Life and work
Leandre had as a child Recorders and piano lessons and began ten years on a bass of her brother; later she inherited a bass teacher of his instrument. She went to Paris to study classical music and received in 1976 the first prize at the Conservatoire de Paris. As a student, she discovered both the jazz and contemporary music and also served as a member of the Ensemble Intercontemporain by Pierre Boulez. Then she continued her studies with a scholarship at the Center for creative and performing arts in Buffalo, among others John Cage, Morton Feldman and Giacinto Scelsi. She works in the field of new -composed and improvised music. Composers such as Earle Brown, John Cage and Giacinto Scelsi have written works for them. They began to give solo concerts; on their debut album " Contre Bassiste " ( 1981) she presented original compositions and improvisations on well-established tapes. As an improviser she worked with Derek Bailey, George Lewis, Susie Ibarra, Anthony Braxton and Annick Nozati. With Irène Schweizer Maggie Nicols and singer, she plays since the early 1990s and from the connections to the Feminist Improvising Group emerged trio Les Diaboliques. With Marilyn Crispell on piano, Urs Leimgruber on saxophones and Fritz Hauser on drums, it forms the Quartet Noir. In 2005 she was awarded the Jazz Festival in Le Mans as Artist in Residence.
Their music is documented on more than 150 recordings. As an author she has voix basse A (2009) and the poetry collection Caraque (1993 ) published.