Where is Pannonica?
…New York Times as “brilliant and unconventional,” Benoît Delbecq is acclaimed as one of France’s indispensable pianists. He has been involved in numerous collaborations with French musicians, visual artists and poets, and with North American, European and African musicians, and has forged a personal style by drawing from jazz, ambient, contemporary…
The Bay Window
…sounds different from two years ago, new songs and new processes are going on, so I am optimistic.” The Bay Window was recorded and mixed in Paris using the same engineer and studio as Delbecq’s Pursuit and Phonetics as well as his second collaboration with Vancouver clarinetist François Houle, Dice Thrown. More info: hubertdupont.com/Kartet.htm, de…
Way Below the Surface
…und of Choice and Takuan. So what to say about the music? Delbecq attempts to characterize their unique blend: “Making this music feels like a deep concentration, and a deep unconsciousness, both at the same time. First of all, there’s a certain slowness, an idea of North, where winter makes time feel different. So the momentum in this music is actu…
Phonetics
…hushed yet astringent tribute to his mentor Mal Waldron), Delbecq sampled the band at rehearsals: “I would then be able to trigger these scraps of memory as the piece unfolded. What I love about samples is that they play tricks on your memory, they move the relationship we have with what is played or is going to be played somewhere else.” Counting a…
Aves
…playing a number of free pieces and one by pianist Benoît Delbecq. The result, according to Pickering, is “an incredible set of music, a triumph”. Equally notable is the sound of the session, which was recorded at the Vancouver Academy of Music in 24 bits/176.4K. Houle of course has had a fruitful 15+ year collaboration with Delbecq, most recently d…
In Other Words
…ee recordings [the latest featuring French pianist Benoît Delbecq and British trumpeter Tom Arthurs]. I love his use of more minimal-type structures and some of the improv games he employs, and his sense of melody over extended periods is his own. Steve is a very unique player. I think he comes from a strong rhythmic place but has his own voice impr…
Genera
…ons at the micro level.” An example of these ideas is how Delbecq’s piano sounds progressively combine with the other instruments in “Piano Loop (for BD).” “My ideas always come from a musical standpoint, putting tones, pitches or rhythms together. How I process these ideas, however, borrows from many sources, including art, literature, architecture…
Grand Laps
…munication, etc. get more subtle and stronger with time.” Delbecq expands on his own process: “For myself, any new rhythmic material is worth sitting down at the piano with, or tapping or juggling with, to enter into a specific knowledge of it. Imagination is like a muscle, and if you give it new ideas it can lead you to unexpected territories, whic…
Sleep Inertia
…n Montreal with Jean-Michel Pilc and in Paris with Benoît Delbecq, the latter part of his Masters program at Copenhagen’s Rhythmic Music Conservatory, where he is now completing a 2-year Postgraduate Research & Composition Diploma creating what he calls the microtonal prepared piano. Although he name-checks Steve Coleman, Vijay Iyer, Henry Threadgil…
A Mirror to Machaut
…austerity. Blaser treats medieval music not as exotic fusion fodder but as a comprehensible world that casts its long spell across the centuries. He was aided in the final shaping of the arrangements by producer Benoît Delbecq, who was also hands-on during the recording and post-production process and obtained superb sound quality. (Not co-incidenta…
