Joëlle LéandreJoëlle Léandre (born 12 September 1951 in Aix-en-Provence

Aix-en-Provence

Aix , or Aix-en-Provence to distinguish it from other cities built over hot springs, is a city-commune in southern France, some north of Marseille. It is in the region of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, in the département of Bouches-du-Rhône, of which it is a subprefecture. The population of Aix is...

, France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

) is a double bass

Double bass

The double bass, also called the string bass, upright bass, standup bass or contrabass, is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra, with strings usually tuned to E1, A1, D2 and G2...

ist, vocalist, and composer active in new music

Contemporary classical music

Contemporary classical music can be understood as belonging to the period that started in the mid-1970s with the retreat of modernism. However, the term may also be employed in a broader sense to refer to all post-1945 modern musical forms.-Categorization:...

 and free improvisation

Free improvisation

Free improvisation or free music is improvised music without any rules beyond the logic or inclination of the musician involved. The term can refer to both a technique and as a recognizable genre in its own right....

.

In the field of contemporary music, she has performed with Pierre Boulez

Pierre Boulez

Pierre Boulez is a French composer of contemporary classical music, a pianist, and a conductor.-Early years:Boulez was born in Montbrison, Loire, France. As a child he began piano lessons and demonstrated aptitude in both music and mathematics...

's Ensemble InterContemporain

Ensemble InterContemporain

The Ensemble InterContemporain is a French chamber orchestra, based in Paris at the Cité de la musique and IRCAM, which specialises in contemporary classical music....

, and worked with Merce Cunningham

Merce Cunningham

Mercier "Merce" Philip Cunningham was an American dancer and choreographer who was at the forefront of the American avant-garde for more than 50 years. Throughout much of his life, Cunningham was considered one of the greatest creative forces in American dance...

 and John Cage

John Cage

John Milton Cage Jr. was an American composer, music theorist, writer, philosopher and artist. A pioneer of indeterminacy in music, electroacoustic music, and non-standard use of musical instruments, Cage was one of the leading figures of the post-war avant-garde...

. Both Cage and Giacinto Scelsi

Giacinto Scelsi

Giacinto Scelsi , Count of Ayala Valva was an Italian composer who also wrote surrealist poetry in French....

 have composed works specifically for her.

She gave an historic solo concert in "Jazz em Agosto" in 2007 (Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation

Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation

The Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation is a Portuguese private foundation of public utility whose statutory aims are in the fields of arts, charity, education, and science...

, Lisbon, Portugal). In this same top jazz festival, Léandre performed also in the "Quartet Noir", a quartet with quite rare live performances, with Marilyn Crispell

Marilyn Crispell

Marilyn Crispell is an American jazz pianist and composer.-Biography:Crispell studied classical piano and composition at the New England Conservatory of Music. She has been a resident of Woodstock, NY since 1977 when she came to study and teach at Karl Berger's Creative Music Studio...

, Urs Leimgruber and Fritz Hauser

Fritz Hauser

Fritz Hauser is a Swiss musician and composer from Basel, Switzerland.His artistic universe is very personal, and he deals primarily with improvisation, time, space, resonance, visuality, but also with humour.- Principal compositions :...

.

She has also collaborated with some of the preeminent musicians in the fields of jazz and improvised music, including Derek Bailey, Anthony Braxton

Anthony Braxton

Anthony Braxton is an American composer, saxophonist, clarinettist, flautist, pianist, and philosopher. Braxton has released well over 100 albums since the 1960s...

, George Lewis

George Lewis

George Lewis may refer to:*George Lowys or Lewis , mayor of Winchelsea*George Lewis , track and field athlete from Trinidad and Tobago*George Lewis , New Orleans jazz clarinettist...

, India Cooke, Evan Parker

Evan Parker

Evan Shaw Parker is a British free-improvising saxophone player from the European free jazz scene.Recording and performing prolifically with many collaborators, Parker was a pivotal figure in the development of European free jazz and free improvisation, and has pioneered or substantially expanded...

, Irène Schweizer

Irène Schweizer

Irène Schweizer is a notable Swiss jazz and free improvising pianist. She was born in Schaffhausen, in 1941.She has performed and recorded numerous solo piano performances as well as performing as part of the Feminist Improvising Group, whose members include Lindsay Cooper, Maggie Nichols, Georgie...

, Steve Lacy

Steve Lacy

Steve Lacy , born Steven Norman Lackritz in New York City, was a jazz saxophonist and composer recognized as one of the important players of soprano saxophone....

, Maggie Nicols

Maggie Nicols

Maggie Nicols , is a Scottish free-jazz and improvising vocalist, dancer, and performer.-Early life and career:...

, Fred Frith

Fred Frith

Fred Frith is an English multi-instrumentalist, composer and improvisor.Probably best known for his guitar work, Frith first came to attention as one of the founding members of the English avant-rock group Henry Cow. Frith was also a member of Art Bears, Massacre and Skeleton Crew...

, Carlos Zingaro

Carlos Zingaro

Carlos Zíngaro is a Portuguese violinist and electronic musician active in free improvisation....

, John Zorn

John Zorn

John Zorn is an American avant-garde composer, arranger, record producer, saxophonist and multi-instrumentalist. Zorn is a prolific artist: he has hundreds of album credits as performer, composer, or producer...

, Susie Ibarra

Susie Ibarra

Susie Ibarra is a Contemporary Composer and Percussionist who has worked and recorded with jazz, classical, world, and Indigenous musicians. She is known for her work as a performer in avant-garde, jazz, world and new music...

, J. D. Parran

J. D. Parran

J. D. Parran is an American multi-woodwind player, educator, and composer specializing in jazz and free improvised music. He plays the soprano, alto, tenor, baritone, and bass saxophone, as well as the E-flat clarinet, clarinet, alto clarinet, bass clarinet, contra-alto clarinet, flute, piccolo,...

, Eric Watson

Eric Watson (musician)

Eric Watson is a US-American jazz pianist and composer living in France.After graduating from Oberlin Conservatory Watson moved to Paris. In 1982 he completed his first trio recording with Paul Motian and Ed Schuller followed by two solo albums...

, Ernst Reijseger

Ernst Reijseger

ERNST REIJSEGER Cellist and composer Ernst Reijseger plays the cello from the age of seven and began as a performing cellist and improviser in 1969. From that time on he developed his own musical vocabulary...

, Akosh S. and Sylvie Courvoisier

Sylvie Courvoisier

Sylvie Courvoisier is a Swiss composer and pianist.Courvoisier was born and raised in Switzerland. In 1998, she moved to Brooklyn, New York, where she currently resides. She co-leads the Sylvie Courvoisier/Mark Feldman Quartet and leads her own quintet, Lonelyville, and the Trio Abaton...

.

In 1983 she became member of the European Women Improvising Group (EWIG), which resulted from former Feminist Improvising Group

Feminist Improvising Group

The Feminist Improvising Group were a five- to eight-piece English free improvising avant-garde jazz and avant-rock ensemble formed in London in 1977...

 and in later 1980s she co-founded the feminist improvising Trio Les Diaboliques, with Schweizer and Nicols.

External links

• Joëlle Léandre page from European Free Improvisation site
• Interview by Dan Warburton from Paris Transatlantic Magazine, Summer 2002
• Joëlle Léandre photo from Jazzvisionphotos.com
• FMP releases
• Joëlle Léandre at the Other Minds Festival 12