Benoît Delbecq

born in 1966 in Paris, Île-de-France, France

Benoit Delbecq

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Benoît Delbecq

Benoît Delbecq performing in Paris, 2007
Born June 06 1966
St Germain en Laye, Paris
Nationality French
Occupation Pianist, composer
Known for Music
Website
Official Website

Benoît Delbecq (born 6 June 1966) is a French pianist and composer.[1]

Early life

Benoît was born in St Germain en Laye, and raised in a musical environment. He started studying piano in Bougival at the age of seven with Nicolle Mollard, a former student of Alfred Cortot. Strongly attracted to jazz by his father's records, he first studied jazz harmony with pianist Jean-Pierre Fouquey, then joined IACP in Paris (in 1982), a jazz and improvised music school founded by bassist Alan Silva, while he continued high school and then sound engineering studies in Paris. In 1983 he met Mal Waldron who encouraged him to work on a music of his own. As he had become an assistant director for films as well as an assistant in sound engineering, Delbecq finally decided to switch to professional musicianship after attending the Banff Centre Jazz Workshop, Canada, in the summer of 1987, where he studied with Dave Holland, Steve Coleman and Muhal Richard Abrams among others. He then studied composition and music analysis with Solange Ancona at the Versailles National Conservatory, followed a "superior" cycle in piano studies with pianist Georges Delvallée, and went back again to the Banff Jazz workshop in the summer of 1990 where he studied under the direction of Steve Coleman. There he met peers like pianists Ethan Iverson and Andy Milne, saxophonist Tony Malaby, trumpeter Ralph Alessi among others present on today's scene, as well as British drummer Steve Argüelles, a long-term accomplice.[2][3]

Since 1989, Delbecq has participated in nearly a hundred discs, among which a third as a leader and co-leader, he performs solo piano and solo electronics ("MadMacs"), leads or co-leads a number of bands from duos to quintets, and is involved in many multi-disciplinary productions of theater, dance, the visual arts, cinema etc.

Awards

Benoît was awarded the "Prix de la Sacem" in 1995 (with collective Kartet), he was also awarded the "Prix de la Villa Médicis Hors les Murs" in 2001, received the prestigious "Civitella Fundation (NY) fellowship" in 2009. Both "The Sixth Jump" and "Circles and Calligrams" (Songlines) have been awarded a Grand Prix International de l'Académie Charles Cros,[4] France's most prestigious award for a recording. "The sixth jump", released in 2010, was listed in the "Best 10 discs of 2010" selection of The New York Times.[5]

Selected discography

  • 1992 - Kartet Hask with Guillaume Orti, Hubert Dupont, Benjamin Henocq (ADDA)
  • 1993 - Delbecq Quartet Paintings: with G. Orti, Joseph Carver, S. Argüelles (DEUX Z)
  • 1994 - Les Amants de Juliette: with Serge Adam and Philippe Foch (DOC)
  • 1995 - The Recyclers "Rhymes" with Steve Argüelles and Noël Akchoté (DEUX Z)
  • 1999 - Ambitronix - We Da Man, with Steve Argüelles (PLUSH)
  • 2000 - Delbecq 5 - Pursuit - with François Houle, Michael Moore, JJ Avenel, Steve Argüelles (SONGLINES)
  • 2001 - PianoBook - with Steve Argüelles (PLUSH)
  • 2003 - Piano solo - Nu Turn (SONGLINES)
  • 2004 - Dice Thrown, with François Houle (SONGLINES)
  • 2005 - Delbecq Unit - Phonetics with Mark Turner, Oene Van Geel, Mark Helias, Emile Biayenda (SONGLINES)
  • 2006 - Ambitronix - 9volt trippin' - with Steve Argüelles (PLUSH)
  • 2008 - Kartet The Bay Window with Guillaume Orti, Hubert Dupont, Chander Sardjoe (SONGLINES)
  • 2008 - Poolplayers - Way Beneath the Surface - with Arve Henriksen, Lars Juul, Steve Argüelles (SONGLINES)
  • 2009 - with Andy Milne - Where is Pannonica (SONGLINES)
  • 2010 - Piano solo - Circles and Calligrams (SONGLINES)
  • 2010 - Delbecq trio - The sixth jump with JJ Avenel and Emile Biayenda (SONGLINES)[6]
  • 2011 - Silencers - Balance des blancs - with Kim Myhr, Nils Ostendorf and Toma Gouband (SOFA)
  • 2011 - Because She Hoped, with clarinetist Francois Houle
  • 2012 - Crescendo in Duke (nato)

References

  1. Shipton, Alyn (2003). John Shepherd Continuum encyclopedia of popular music of the world, Continuum.
  2. Fordham, John (29 October 2003). Snapshots from Paris. The Guardian. Retrieved on 8 August 2011.
  3. Walters, John (23 January 2004). Where has all the music gone?. The Guardian. Retrieved on 8 August 2011.
  4. Varty, Alexander. A little bit of sound advice: Top albums of 2010. Straight.Com. Retrieved on 8 August 2011.
  5. Shinen, Nat (16 December 2010). Renewal, the Sensual and Fraught Candor. New York Times. Retrieved on 8 August 2011.
  6. d'Souza, Jerry (16 January 2011). Benoit Delbecq: The Sixth Jump / Circles and Calligrams. All About Jazz. Retrieved on 8 August 2011.

External links

This page was last modified 04.02.2012 14:19:17

This article uses material from the article Benoit Delbecq from the free encyclopedia Wikipedia and it is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.