Christophe ROCHER

Composer, improviser and clarinetist
Artistic director and founder of Ensemble Nautilis

Trained at the Conservatoire de Clichy, then in his younger years by the « masters » Jacques Di Donato, Fabrizio Cassol and Steve Coleman. Today, Christophe is a clarinettist renowned for his sonic textures and complex melodies, as well as being an original and innovative jazz composer.

In 1991, Christophe obtained an engineering degree in Artificial Intelligence, which has enabled him to develop a particular eye for the link between music and the world of science throughout his career.

He has collaborated with leading figures in jazz and improvised music in France, Europe and particularly the USA. Since the beginning of his career, he has also developed a constructive vision of the place of creative music in contemporary society, both as an artist and as an event creator (he has always developed territorial actions and long-lasting partnerships with creative scenes from the regional to the international level).

Recent creations as composer and artistic director:

• Nos Futurs ? : Tryptique with Sylvain Thévenard Electronique and the 3 male voices of Mike Ladd, Beñat Achiary and Anne-James Chaton (First performed in Lorient, CDDB Théatre de Lorient, L’estran, Guidel, MAPL, Smac de Lorient, Triple CD in 2016 on Abalone)
• Regard de Breizh : Nautilis in large ensemble on photos by Guy Le Querrec (created in collaboration with Penn Ar Jazz, CD 2017 on Innacor)
• Third Coast Ensemble-Wrecks (premiered at Quartz SN in Brest and at Dynamo in banlieues Bleues): composition Rob Mazurek, artistic director Christophe Rocher (16 French and American musicians) (CD 2017 on RogueArt)
• New Origin : with Joe Fonda and Harvey Sorgen, ( CD chez Nottwo Records, European and North-American tours in 2019, 2022, 2023)
• Cabaret Rocher : in duo and octet: CDs in 2020 and 2022 on « Musiques Têtues Records, distributed by l’Autre distribution », tour in 2020 in duo and octet (China, France).
• Brain Songs (de 2018 à 2022) : large Arts Sciences project combining musical creation and neuroscience creation for the 8 Nautilis musicians in 2023.
• Champs de Bataille(2021): Photo-concert on Yan Morvan’s wartime photographs with Edward Perraud and Vincent Courtois.

Press cuts

« The music flows, breathes, the discourse is fluid. This is improvised music without blinkers, with a strong taste for melodies and rhythms born of original combinations of timbres. One thing is certain: Christophe Rocher is rising to the top of the list of « French clarinetists who count.»

Thierry Giard – Culture Jazz

« It is astonishing to note how so much learned cruelty with sound matter leads to so much musical poetry… telling from breath to sound, the advent of melody… a work of research that will surprise many, halfway between written music and improvisation. »

Gaëtan Le Guern – Ouest France

Selective discography:

• Cabaret Rocher (Musiques Têtues, 2020)
• Paul Rogers 4tet (2020)
• New Origin (Notwo 2019)
• Third Coast Ensemble / dir : Rob Mazurek (RogueArt 2017)
• Nos Futurs ? (Abalone Production 2016)
• Regards de Breizh (Innacor 2016)
• Circum Grand Orchestra (CircumDisc 2014)
• Bonadventure Pencroff (Marmouzic 2013)
• Nautilis (Marmouzic 2012)
• Ookpik – Christofer Bjurström Quartet (Marmouzic 2011)
• Le ravissemenent, Circum Grand Orchestra (CircumDisc 2010)
• Carnet de voyage pour un voyageur immobile (Marmouzic , Christofer Bjurström)
• Le Disque Vert, Arnaud Le gouefflec (2009)
• Esprit de Sel ,Hughes Germain (Césaré 2009)
• Extenz’O (Marmouzic 2007)
• Duo Bjurström-Rocher (Marmouzic 2005)
• Circum Grand Orchestra (CircumDisc 2005)
• Les Lèvres nues (Nûba/ Orkhêstra)
• Closed Mountains (Jazzland)

https://www.citizenjazz.com/Christophe-Rocher-3474257.html

https://www.kubweb.media/fiche/biographie-christophe-rocher-musicien/

http://abalone-productions.com/artist/christophe-rocher/

https://www.francemusique.fr/emissions/l-improviste/son-3d-le-trio-nos-futurs-christophe-rocher-benat-achiary-sylvain-thevenard-enregistre-radio-france-7990

T.I.E.
https://tieloveprocess.persona.co/

Senegalese poet, singer, producer, visual artist and performer based in France
Polymorphous artist whose leitmotivs are experimentation and the hybridization of forms of expression.
From painting to music, and a passion for autofiction through video.

After creating her first live band, T.I.E and The Love Process, she founded the electro hiphop trio Exillians  and mounted an immersive creation, « Lâcher L’homme! « which mixes music, literature and video and video based on Frantz Fanon’s essay « Peau Noire Masques Blancs ».

Polyglot, T.I.E sings,Rap, in Wolof, Sérère, French and English about the challenges of post modernity, with a message rooted in Sérère cosmogony and femininity.

And the femininity she invokes is of the sacred order; T.I.E. says she is « attached to the feminine principle as an immanent frequency, a source of transformation and power to act ».

A contemporary artist, T.I.E also creates immersive installations combining music and video.

Recent projects

• « Odyssey In Utero » EP- solo Project – Automne 2022
• « Pangool » EP -Tie and the Love Process – Printemps 2022
• « Les Filles De Mawu », un conte moderne – Installation , Performance – Partcours Dakar 2021
• « Odyssey In Utero » – Installation , live performance – Banlieues Bleues Saison 2021-2022
• « Le Vaisseau Mère » – Création collaborative, collectif « Femmes Sauvages « -Banlieues Bleues 2022

Mike LADD

American spoken-word rapper renowned for his poetic lyrics. He is also a producer on his own Likemadd label.
He draws inspiration from groups ranging from Funkadelic to King Tubby, Minor Threat and artist Charles Stepney.

Ladd was born in Boston, Massachusetts, and currently resides in Paris, France. Before launching his musical career, he won the Nuyorican Poets Café Slam and was published in 1996 in the collection In Defense of Mumia.

In 1997, he released his first album on Scratchie, Easy Listening 4 Armageddon.

He then released Welcome to the Afterfuture LP and Vernacular Homicide EP on Ozone Music in 2000.

He then embarked on a trilogy featuring a battle between good and evil, represented respectively by The Infesticons and The Majesticons.

He also released on the Big Dada label Gun Hill Road in 2000 (an album featuring, among others, Saul Williams, LP, Mr Len, Antipop Consortium and Rob Smith) and Beauty Party in 2003.

In 2001, he appeared on the track Basementized Soul by Mr. Flash, taken from the album Le Voyage Fantastique.

In 2002, he also appeared on the Terranova tracks Sublime and Heroes, taken from their album Hitchhiking Non-Stop With No Particular Destination.

In 2003, with pianist and composer Vijay Iyer, he released a song about the post-September 11 world, In What Language?

In 2004, he released Nostalgialator, an album inspired by the book of the same name by Petrine Archer-Straw.

Father Divine, co-produced by Gymkhanasort, was released in 2005 on ROIR.

He also freestyles on the eponymous Anarchist Republic of Bzzz album, with Arto Lindsay, Marc Ribot and Sensational.

In 2015, he takes part in the Polyurbaine album alongside Zone libre, and Marc Nammour, and begins a tour in November.

He also takes part in the track L’Arène by the collective La Canaille, with Marc Nammour, published on the Deux yeux de trop EP.

Selective discography

• 1997: Easy Listening 4 Armageddon
• 2000: Welcome to the Afterfuture
• 2000 : Gun Hill Road
• 2003: Beauty Party
• 2003 : In What Language?, avec Vijay Iyer
• 2004: Nostalgialator
• 2005: Negrophilia
• 2005 : Father Divine
• 2007: Still Life With Commentator, avec Vijay Iyer
• 2013: B2Bill, avec Emmanuel Bex et Nico Morelli
  • : Holding It Down: The Veterans’ Dreams Project(avec Vijay Iyer)
  • : Sleeping in Vilna: Why Waste Time(Ayler Records 2013, avec Dirk Rothbrust, Carol Robinson, Dave Randall)
• 2015: Polyurbaine, avec Zone Libre et Marc Nammour
• 2016: Gain, avec Jeff Parker, HPrizm/High Priest et Tyshawn Sorey
• 2017: The Eclipse, Jade, Musea Records (Olivier Frèche, Charlie Davot, Bernard Brand – Autres invités: Médéric Collignon, Pierre-Alain Goualch)
• 2018: Visions of Selam avec Arat Kilo et Mamani Keïta (Accords Croisés) – Coup de Cœur Musiques du Monde 2018 de l’Académie Charles-Cros¹¹.
• 2020: The Dead Can Rap

Frédéric B.BRIET
http://bbriet.eu/

Doublebass player.
Performer. Teacher. Producer

Around 1980, he began his career as a musician with Simon Goubert’s Quartet Spiral, then with Christian Vander’s Magma-Offering and Alien Quartet/Trio. Until 1990, he played in a number of formations as a sideman, with musicians such as Emmanuel Bex, Georges Brown, Steve Grossman, Michel Graillier, Alain Jean Marie, Siegfried Kessler, Aldo Romano, Alvim Queen, Kenny Wheeler, …

Around 1990, he met Benoit Delbecq, Guillaume Orti, Olivier Sens, Geoffroy Demasure, Hubert Dupont, Gilles Coronado, then Steve Argüelles and Stéphane Payen. These encounters led to the creation of the Collectif Hask, and have determined many of his collaborations and projects to date.

In 2000, he moved to Brest to build up the Conservatoire’s jazz and improvised music department. It was within this framework that he created and directed the Nimbus Orkestra for 10 years: an orchestra with a pedagogical vocation that has enabled many students to gain momentum and many professionals to come and recharge their batteries. This pedagogical direction has enabled him to work successively with guest artists such as: Benoit Delbecq, Guillaume Orti, Bo Van Der Werf, Stéphane Payen, Olivier Benoit, Fabrizio Cassol, Geoffroy Demasure, Malik Mezzadri and Steve Coleman. Today, he continues his teaching activities at various institutions.

He currently divides his life as a musician and producer between :

• the Nautilis Ensemble’s main projects (including the Nautilis Ensemble octet and the Rrêve Sélavy trio).
• a double bass solo entitled A Silent Way.
• the Franco-American orchestras Bonadventure Pencroff with Alexandre Pierrepont and Rob Mazurek among others, and Vent Fort with Malik Mezzadri, Khary Bowden, Tyshawn Sorey and Jeb Bishop,

He occasionally collaborates with other Franco-American ensembles, with musicians Joshua Abraham, Matt Bauder, Samuel Blazer, Hamid Drake, Taylor Ho Bynum, Mike Reed, Isaiah Spencer, Michael Zerang, Dave Rempis, Hugh Ragin…

Nicolas POINTARD

Drummer and Composer

He began playing the instrument at the age of 9, playing in small thrash metal bands, then went on to study music at high school, playing in traditional and then more experimental music groups.

Later, the teaching of Césarius Alvim, Steve Mc Craven and numerous workshops with Guillaume Orti, Benoît Delbecq and Carlos Zingaro turned him towards jazz and improvised music at the end of the last century, but remaining curious, he plays anything and everything with anything that comes his way.

He has played with :

• In 2002, Kassiopée, a free improvisation trio, heard at the Luisances (Brest), Bêta Project (Pau) and Pannonica (Nantes) festivals, and featuring guest improvisers Frédéric Galiay and Frédéric Blondy;
• A cheval dans le désordre, a trio with Christophe Rocher (clar) and Stéphane Kérihuel (guit), and a quartet with Claude Tchamitchian (ctbass); also around Breton music and in particular its relationship with modernity, with the Faro group, which brings together traditional instruments, brass section, rhythm section and improvisers (album released in 2007), and the cinémachination show combining theater, music and cinema.
• In 2004, Apsis, a sextet he directs and writes the music for, premiered at the Atlantique Jazz Festival in 2005 (tour in Finistère and Rennes), with Christophe Rocher (clar), Antoine Surdon (sax), Philippe Champion (trp), Pierre Stephan (violin) and Mikaël Seznec (ctbass).
• Since 2005, Shampoing, a duo with trumpeter Philippe Champion, has played all over France in concert halls, but also outdoors, in chapels, farm barns, hairdressing salons, etc. (album released in 2009 on the independent label offoron records); he also takes part in pianist Christofer Bjurström’s ciné-concerts on films by Buster Keaton, Harold Lloyd or, in another register, Alfred Hitchcock.

Selective discography: 

• FARO (Anna Crouse et Cie 2007)
• OKO (Offoron rex 2008)
• RAH-SLUP (Offoron rex 2009)
• SHAMPOING – Champêtre (Offoron rex 2009)
• Christofer BJURSTRÖM – Carnet de croquis d’un voyageur immobile (Marmouzic 2010)
• NAUTILIS (Marmouzic 2012)
• OKO – Bruits domestiques de comportement(Offoron rex 2012)
• BONADVENTURE PENCROFF – De Fortune(Marmouzic 2013)
• MOGER – Time will defeat(Musiques Têtues 2015)
• FAUSTINE (autoproduction 2015)
• NAUTILIS – Regard de Breizh(Innacor 2016)
• THIRD COAST ENSEMBLE – Wrecks(Rogue Art 2016)
• PIN DOWN THE INSTANT (Offoron rex 2016)
• MOGER ORCHESTRA (Musiques Têtues 2017)
• KAMI OCTET – Spring Party(Neuklang 2018)
• AYRAD (autoproduction 2018)

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