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Heidi Kvelvane – Travelling Saxophones

Heidi Kvelvane – Travelling Saxophones

by | Mar 7, 2025 | Interview, Posts

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HEIDI KVELVANE

Travelling Saxophones

07

March, 2025

Text: Jan Granlie
Photo: Ruben Olsen Lærk

The first time I heard the young saxophonist Heidi Kvelvane was at the improv festival Tedans (Tea Dance) in Bergen, a couple of years ago. It was saxophonist Frode Gjerstad who told me to listen to her. When she stood on stage with bassist Ola Høyer and drummer Øyvind Hegg-Lunde, in a free and loose set, I was convinced. What a young musician! Her tone on the alto saxophone was powerful, energetic and tough, and in the improvisations, she sounded considerably more mature than her 23 years, as she was at that time.

I wrote the following in Salt Peanuts about her act afterwards: “I predict a great future for her within improvised music in Norway. (…) This was a freely improvised set, where we particularly noticed Kvelvane’s fine alto saxophone tone, which was a bit like hearing Frode Gjerstad some years ago. Sharp on the edge, and with a lovely phrasing and ability to tell good stories, both in ensemble improvisations and in solos. (…) The big positive surprise of the evening, and maybe of the festival! »

After the concert, she told me that she was planning to move to Voss – a couple of hours’ drive eastwards into the mountains and valleys beyond Bergen, and the place where I had chosen to settle down after living seven years in Copenhagen. With that, we also had the opportunity to meet more often, after all, there aren’t too many jazz enthusiasts living in this village, even though they have their own jazz festival, Vossa Jazz, a festival that has existed for more than 50 years.

Background
Heidi Kvelvane is now 25 years old and was born and raised in Sandnes – southeast of Stavanger. She has a saxophone education from the jazz department at the Grieg Academy in Bergen, where she graduated in the spring of 2023. She is now based in Voss, where she makes a living by touring, playing her saxophones, while also playing folk music on the accordion.

In 2022/23, she also played in around 80 performances of the musical Lazarus with music by David Bowie at Den Nasjonale Scene (The National Scene) in Bergen. She has played several church concerts with organists and has played both concerts and dance music as a folk musician. However, it is as a free jazz musician that she has distinguished herself on the Norwegian jazz and improv scene in recent years. This has led to several international concerts and tours, where she has collaborated with musicians such as Barry Guy, Terrie Ex, Han Bennink, Paal Nilssen-Love and Bugge Wesseltoft. She is also known from the Vestnorsk Jazz Ensemble, Paal Nilssen-Love Large Unit, Bergen Big Band, Kitchen Orchestra, as well as her folk music duo project Bankvelv, her own quartet and even two trios in her own name.

From school band to ?
At Voss she lives in a caravan, mostly because she does not want to own too much, but also because she travels a lot, and does not need or want too many “worldly goods”, as she describes  it, nor a large space. At Voss, the local jazz club has brought her into their board, and the club has also engaged her in projects with one of her trios and a workshop project with students at the village’s secondary school.

We meet her at a café in Voss one morning, when she’s at home for a short while, between gigs in Belgium and concerts with the Bergen Big Band. She says that, like most other Norwegian jazz musicians, she started in a school band, in her case with a clarinet. After a couple of years, the band needed a saxophonist, and she seized the opportunity and became the band’s only saxophonist. In secondary school, she had saxophonist Tor Ytredal as her music teacher. She says that without him, she probably never would have become a jazz musician. She then studied at the Grieg Academy in Bergen for four years, but much of that time was during the corona pandemic, which she believes was good for her in many ways. She had a lot of time to practice, and it opened up a number of playing assignments as a substitute, since musicians could not be hired from the outside.

In her second year at the Academy, Paal Nilssen-Love had a project there. After they met there, he asked if she wanted to come to Stavanger to take part in something called Jazzkappleiken. Here she played with, among others, saxophonist Kristoffer Alberts, and later with fiddle- and violin player Nils Økland and organist Nils Henrik Asheim. With that she was ‘lost’ she says and taken by the free improvisation and free jazz.

Why Voss?
During the corona period, she heard accordionist Nils Asgeir Lie from Voss, giving a concert at the Grieg Academy, which inspired her greatly. She immediately wanted to learn to play the accordion, and she moved to Voss. She tells me that she had no previous relationship with the instrument, other than that it was an instrument she thought was only used to play “gammeldans” (old folk dances). But then she discovered that a modern accordion had much greater possibilities than the regular accordions used in these contexts. You can play more intricate melody lines, with greater intensity and variation. The concert with Nils Asgeir Lie really opened up her interest in the accordion. She went ahead, buying an accordion and learning the art of playing it.

Accordion and free jazz?
– I think the reason I like both playing free jazz on the saxophone and folk music on the accordion, is because I’m a bit restless and unsettled – I need both, she says – I enjoy the togetherness and community that arises when you improvise freely on the stage. But when I have been doing a lot of free improvisation, I very often long for something else, something more classically structured. So, I need both, really.

We’re talking for a long time about her unsettledness. Playing folk music on the accordion, free improv on the saxophone, relatively straight music in a big band, and her love for (the freedom in) free jazz. And in addition, she often plays in the orchestra at the theater Den Nasjonale Scene in Bergen. She tells me that she wants to try out several genres before she decides which musical path she wants to take. She agrees that she moves freely between many genres. But nevertheless, she feels that she belongs most in improvisational music and jazz. Even though the reason why she ended up there was really a coincidence. – I never thought I would be good at exactly this or that, … it just happened that way, she says.

Inspirations
She says that she has been inspired by many jazz musicians. Lately she has been listening a lot to the German saxophonist Daniel Erdmann, and she has been listening a lot to a record with the Polish saxophonist Angelica Niescier,  The Norwegian drummer Paal Nilssen-Love and the bass player Ingebrigt Håker Flaten have obviously featured prominently in here listening habits. But there are no single records that have become regular, that she listens to a lot. I prefer to hear the music live, she says. But the record Soapsuds, Soapsuds with the Ornette Coleman and Charlie Haden duo from 1977, is, nevertheless, an exception.

She says that she personally likes the duo and trio formats best. In many ways she feels that she knows the clarinet the best, but she works hard with both the alto and tenor saxophone. But the sound of the clarinet is too “flat”, according to her. For a long period, when she was becoming more interested in the alto saxophone, many alto saxophonists she listened to didn’t sound good, she told me.

– Then I worked a lot on getting a “fatter” sound in the horn, by experimenting with mouthpieces and reeds, and I even used tenor reeds on the alto, to achieve a sound I liked better.

As for her tenor saxophone playing, for a long period she almost didn’t dare to play the tenor saxophone, because there were so many incredibly talented tenor saxophonists. It’s only in the last year that she has started to focus seriously on the tenor.

Before she have to run to catch the train to Bergen for a gig(?), we talk a little about why there are so many talented Danish female alto saxophonists, but almost none from Norway. But then we agree that this is completely okay: Most of the Danish alto players have moved to Norway anyway. Personally, I think there is and should be room for both Mette Rasmussen, Signe Emmeluth, Amalie Dahl and Heidi Kvelvane in the rich flora of incredibly exciting, improvised saxophone music from the many young, female saxophonists living in Norway.

Este artículo se publica simultáneamente en las siguientes revistas europeas, en el marco de “Groovin’ High”, una operación para destacar a las jóvenes músicas de jazz y blues : Citizen Jazz (Fr), JazzMania (Be), Jazz’halo (Be), Salt Peanuts (DK/SE/NO), Jazz-Fun (DE), In&Out Jazz (ES) y Donos Kulturalny (PL).

This article is co-published simultaneously in the following European magazines, as part of « Groovin’ High » an operation to highlight young jazz and blues female musicians : Citizen Jazz (Fr), JazzMania (Be), Jazz’halo (Be), Salt Peanuts (DK/SE/NO), Jazz-Fun (DE), In&Out Jazz (ES) and Donos Kulturalny (PL).

#Womentothefore #IWD2025

By Jan Granlie for Salt Peanuts

March 07, 2025

Adèles Viret’s Opinion

Adèles Viret’s Opinion

by | Mar 6, 2025 | Album review, Interview

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ADÈLES VIRET’S OPINION

06

March, 2025

Text: Yves Tassin / Jazzmania

Photos: Julia Gat & Robert Hanssene

Adèle Viret has recently been interviewed for the release of her debut album Close to the Water. The Franco-Brussels cellist reveals a little more of herself in this IWD (International Women’s Day) meeting.

Jazzmania: We already spoke about the album Close to the Water in an interview published in October. We’re now going to take a closer look at your personality. But first of all, how is your first album doing?

Adèle Viret: Well, the feedback from the press has been very positive and the public seem to like it too… So, I’m very happy about that.

I enjoyed attending the concert you gave in Liège with your quartet. It sounded like a real group effect. It was not necessarily Adèle and her quartet, with each musician in his or her own performance space… Was this a deliberate choice, or does it come naturally to you?

I think it’s quite natural, at least with this quartet. We had worked together and I wanted everyone to have the right to decide, especially during concerts. The other projects in which I am involved, whether Mosaïc or Medinea, are collective projects. We make progress by exchanging ideas, with everyone making suggestions. Well I guess I feel most comfortable in this system.

Now let’s talk about you in more detail… What are your earliest musical memories?

It’s no easy question. Perhaps this memory is blurred / distorted due to the fact that the video was shot when I was four years old. On this recording, my father offers me a cello. And that’s the reason why I went on to play this instrument. In fact, my father (Jean-Philippe Viret – Editor’s note) was playing with five other double bass players in a group for which he had written a song for me, because I had trouble falling asleep. The track was a minor hit, and a video was shot. But I don’t particularly remember the filming. I only found out later…

Your dad is a professional musician. Could you plan a career outside music? Did your father ever encourage you to follow this path?

Yes, and he has always made it possible. I’ve never felt like I was forced to make music, there was no pressure. He ìs opened doors for me, with the idea that it would be possible if I felt like it. So, the influence arose naturally. I have played the cello from the age of eight or nine and I was then convinced that I would make a career out of it.

Even though it’s a relatively unstable profession, and you can go through hard times?

There was, of course, a period of reflections in adolescence. I wondered whether I should invest myself completely or if I really felt like going on.

Your dad plays the double bass while you play the cello. Is it a way of gently  standing out?

When I started playing the cello, I couldn’t tell the difference between the two instruments. Then, the cello became an obvious choice for me. As far (back) as I can remember, this instrument has always been part of my life. (…)

Your quartet includes your younger brother Oscar, who plays the trumpet and sings beautifully. Was it an obvious choice for you, to the point of composing music and having his participation in the project in mind?

Not at all. In fact, I composed the repertoire for the record before I knew which musicians I was going to work with. These songs CAME NATURALLY. In fact, we started out as a trio. I first proposed the songs to Wajdi Riahi and Pierre Hurty, but I quickly realised that something was missing and that we needed to go to four musicians. And that’s when my brother’s presence became so obvious.

You’re only twenty-five years old, yet your music is already very mature.

When the quartet was born, just after the pandemic, we spent a lot of time searching. We rehearsed over two years before giving our first concert.This was my requirement, while the other members of the quartet were impatient to take the next step. But I knew where the bar was that I had set for this repertoire.There was no question of me going any further until we had reached that goal. I was a bit stressed but I held OUT. And we were ready the first time we performed in front of an audience. Since then, we’ve been improving, gig by gig.

You have been willing to make sacrifices to progress in music, including moving to Brussels to continue your studies at the Conservatoire. Would you advise young musicians to embark on this adventure?

I don’t know… Probably not. Let’s stop saying: “This is the right method, this is the way to go”. The method I chose was perhaps the best suited to what I wanted to achieve and become. Above all, I know that each musician has to listen to himself and follow his own path. Well, personally, I didn’t go to the Conservatoire for jazz. I had learnt a lot from my father and from the musicians with whom I share projects.

As well as the musicians in your family, there must have been other important meetings, Fabrizio Cassol or Magic Malik, for example.

Yes, certainly. These two people have been very important to me, especially in terms of the confidence they gave me. I met Magic Malik at a master class in Montreuil. He then invited me to join him on stage for a project he was putting together with bassist Hilaire Penda. As for Fabrizio, he got me involved in the Medinea project (an album has just been published by Fuga Libera – see our article on Chronique Jazzmania). We met again when I arrived in Brussels. He asked me to join him in one of his projects for the Klara Festival. I’ll be there as an assistant artistic director, so to speak (a concert to be held in Brussels on 22 March). Fabrizio gives me the opportunity to do things I wouldn’t have imagined. It helps me move forward and gives me confidence.

When you’re on your own, what kind of music do you like to listen to?

[laughs] Unfortunately, I don’t have much time to listen to music at the moment. Things are going so fast ! I miss it. I’d like to take the time to discover new things. When you come out of a day that’s already been entirely devoted to music, you want to do something else.

What kind of music could you listen to? Rap, for example, like a lot of young people your age?

No, rap’s not really my thing… Actually, I generally listen to the other projects put together by the musicians I work with. Mostly jazz. Well, I mainly discover things by going to concerts.

Like the sounds of London’s New Jazz, for example?

No, not really, I stick to the scenes around me, in France, in Belgium, or in Portugal, where I am regularly invited by musicians from the Lisbon scene for concerts and projects, and the Netherlands as well. But I also like some Brazilian music, which is completely different, just for the sheer pleasure of listening.

Now, let’s move on to the section devoted to the International Women’s Day. You ìre a young musician working in jazz, which is a very male-dominated field. How do you feel about that?

As far as I’m concerned, it’s a bit ambiguous. When I was younger, I felt rejected for a long time. I didn’t feel I fitted in. I wondered if it wasn’t because of the instrument I was playing. The cello is a special instrument, not very common in jazz, even if things are changing a little bit…So much so that I can’t say whether I felt excluded because I’m a woman or because of the cello… Things are very different for a double bass or drums, which are virtually indispensable jazz instruments. That’s the reason why I set up this quartet, to compose my own repertoire for the cello. It might encourage leaders to include me in their groups.

Indeed, we’ve seen cellos in some very fine projects, such as Le Cri du Caire and Naïssam Jalal’s performances …

Indeed, it’s more common. When I was younger, I didn’t get into the jam circuit either, because the instrument didn’t lend itself to it. And I’m not particularly interested in playing standards with a cello. To put it in a nutshelI, I didn’t fit into the traditional boxes. But, generally speaking, it’s fair to say that there are more and more women in the jazz world.

A French musician and Ondes Martenot player, Christine Ott, once told me that she felt distrust. She said that when it came to composing, she had to “prove herself” more than a man. What do you think about that?

Well, I think she’s right. But I also believe that this is the case for many other professions. It’s not just music…

Este artículo se publica simultáneamente en las siguientes revistas europeas, en el marco de “Groovin’ High”, una operación para destacar a las jóvenes músicas de jazz y blues : Citizen Jazz (Fr), JazzMania (Be), Jazz’halo (Be), Salt Peanuts (DK/SE/NO), Jazz-Fun (DE), In&Out Jazz (ES) y Donos Kulturalny (PL).

This article is co-published simultaneously in the following European magazines, as part of « Groovin’ High » an operation to highlight young jazz and blues female musicians : Citizen Jazz (Fr), JazzMania (Be), Jazz’halo (Be), Salt Peanuts (DK/SE/NO), Jazz-Fun (DE), In&Out Jazz (ES) and Donos Kulturalny (PL).

#Womentothefore #IWD2025

By Yves Tassin for Jazzmania

March 06, 2025

Adia Vanheerentals – Hyperfocus On Sound Defines The Trio Bodem

Adia Vanheerentals – Hyperfocus On Sound Defines The Trio Bodem

by | Mar 5, 2025 | Album review, Interview

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ADIA VANHEERENTALS

Hyperfocus On Sound Defines The Trio Bodem

05

March, 2025

Text & Photos: Jazz’Halo

After Adia Vanheerentals (26) graduated on soprano and tenor saxophone from the jazz department of the Antwerp Conservatory, she was selected by Klara Radio as a promising musician for the fourth edition of the radio programme ‘De Twintigers’ in early 2024. In the process, she received air-play and visibility via VRT Max. With her own band Bodem (with Anke Verslype and Willem Malfliet), she released the debut album ‘Kleine Mars’ on Nicolas Rombouts’ new label Mokuhi Sonorities in 2023. This was followed by performances across the country last year, including at Jazz in’t Park and the European Jazz Conference in Ghent and the Jazz Middelheim launch event in Antwerp.

Adia Vanheerentals has been playing sax since she was 9 years old and discovered jazz through her aunt Véronique who runs the bistro ‘Take Five Minutes in Paris’ in Antwerp. The first jazz record she remembers was ‘Women In Jazz’ featuring Nina Simone and Ella Fitzgerald, among others. In art college, she took lessons from Tom Van Dyck and as a result started listening to jazz more consciously: Branford Marsalis, Michael Brecker, Dave Liebman, but Steve Lacy is still and by far the one her heart goes out to.

At the conservatory, she took lessons with Kurt Van Herck and Ben Sluijs, among others, in a final period alternating with Frederik Leroux. That was a different approach to music in general which she tackled after a temporary break from the conservatoire.

Jazz’Halo: What made you decide to temporarily quit your studies?

I didn’t feel so resilient then. I swallowed the criticism, but continued to struggle with it. As a result, I decided to temporarily leave my sax aside for a while. I then started composing to figure out for myself what kind of music I wanted to make myself. I have little feeling with traditional jazz. For me, that is something from America and from a distant past. I don’t really know how to deal with that. I really needed to follow my own path, to express myself in my music. It feels so much easier to make my own music than to reach for music from a hundred years ago.

How would you describe your music? 

I think my music definitely has a lot to do with jazz, because it always involves improvisation, but within a clear framework. That framework consists of personal ideas that I start to work with on the piano, sing to it, intuitively find a melody over a harmony, until something beautiful emerges. I keep improvising until it all adds up, until it sounds circular. I’m not a fan of complicated time signatures or difficult intervals. It has to be off the cuff, then it’s perfect. What the exact sources of inspiration are is hard to determine, because I listen to so many kinds of music. That comes together when I sit at the piano. I write as I empathise with music, I want to create personal music from within myself. What I write may not always fit what is understood by jazz, but how to describe it however, I wouldn’t know.

Who do you see as influences or role models?

Very early on Steve Lacy. I prefer playing soprano saxophone myself and with Lacy a whole world opened up to me, from traditional jazz, classical to free, especially Monk and modern jazz. I find German-born but New York-based Ingrid Laubrock impressive on both soprano and tenor saxophone. She gave a master class at the conservatory and writes original compositions where she tries to approach standard jazz in a different way. Who I also admire is Icelandic saxophonist Óskar Guðjónsson, which is mellow folk-like jazz. In the contemporary scene, British saxophonist Shabaka Hutchings stands out, who temporarily quit Sons of Kemet and playing saxophone, who also influenced me.

How did you form your own trio Bodem?

In my 2019 sabbatical year, I made a list of musicians my music would sound best with. That included guitarist Willem Malfiet and drummer Anke Verslype. What appeals to me is that they are both concerned with sound rather than virtuosity. That hyperfocus on sound is what I find strong and what defines my trio Bodem. I didn’t know Anke personally at first, who was busy with her project Aki. She was open to new projects, though. Willem I know through mutual friends. The first Summer after covid broke out, he had received a budget to make an album with musicians in Volta, a music centre in Molenbeek. In doing so, he invited me. Unlike the first album ‘Little Mars’, for the latest Bottom album ‘Lush and Alive’ we took more time in the studio and worked with overdubs to make the trio sound even grander.

You give your compositions special titles: ‘Bosaardig’, ‘Fluiting’ ‘Tranende Meneren’…

For the new album ‘Lush and Alive’, I waited a long time before making the titles. I first wanted English titles, but I thought less in that language, so I chose half of them in Dutch. I often think in associations, I listen and imagine things. There is always the composition first and only then the title. With ‘Bosaardig’ (forest friendly), for instance, I had to think of nature. I thought that was a funny word, as I came up with ‘Parkelen’ in a previous album, a bit Nature Point-like. With ‘Tranende Meneren (Gentlemen in Tears)’, it’s about a mourning song. I didn’t want to make that too explicit about it. I prefer to leave it to the listeners to imagine something for themselves.

How do you approach it live?

At the Singel Antwerp, we will go into residency on March 22 to try out a few things live. As ‘Lush And Alive’ was recorded with overdubs, it will be a matter of finding out how we convey that live. In any case, we won’t be playing with effects. We want to keep it as open as possible. I do want to keep the jazz feeling, letting it happen in the moment. I decide the setlist but apart from that we aim for musical freedom. We do invite visual artist Joris Perdieus to the residency. While making music, he provides projections on ourselves, which we take with us into the JazzLab tour.

In addition to Bodem, you will be active with other projects…

Solo, I released a single LP with Ultra Eczema , ‘Here Are 5 Reasons To Meditate’, free improv. For the New York based label, Relative Pitch Records , I am writing for a solo saxophone album. Last year I had a residency with Waarlijk at Rataplan Antwerp and that will get a follow-up at Schouwburg De Kern in Wilrijk on 27 April. On that Sunday afternoon, I will perform several acts. With Waarlijk I introduces a new quintet together with Hanne De Backer on saxophone, Gregory Van Seghbroeck on sousaphone, João Lobo on drums and Fien Desmet on vocals. As in Rataplan, I want to encourage the audience to experience the music with dance and interaction. I have also invited classical pianist Maya Dhondt for a solo performance. And Frederik Leroux and Ruben Machtelinckx will present ‘Poor Isa’. A fourth act is still a surprise at the moment…. These are projects that start from within myself. I still play together in a trio with violinist Elizabeth Klinck and pianist Maya Dhondt , classically trained musicians. That’s chamber music in which I improvise on sax. And completely rooted in jazz, I accompany jazz singer Anaïs Vijgen , swinging in quintet. 

Do you have any particular dreams?

I hope to be able to play across the language border with Bodem, which is still not to be taken for granted. And if we break through in the Benelux first, then further conquer Europe. With Waarlijk, I will continue as a band and want to play out the dynamic Brass Band effect more in interaction with the audience. Jazz concerts tend to be rather static, the stage on the one hand, the audience on the other. I want to break that. By the way, I’m not very good at big dreams. Sometimes people come my way, like Fire! Orchestra , Mats Gustafsson ‘s orchestra with Johan Berthling and Andreas Werlin . These are musicians in my line of thinking that I really dream of playing with. Another one I look up to is Ambrose Akinmusire. Another special experience was playing at the Brand! Jazz Festival (Mechelen) in November 2024. Because Cel Overberghe was unable to come, I spontaneously formed a trio with Hanne De Backer and Ornella Noulet , which was 40 minutes of pure improvisation, super cool!

Do you want to pursue a particular vision?

There is a tendency to transform your identity into music, that you create from a certain origin. I find the activist nature interesting, which is how Isaiah Collier appeals to me. Also what Max Roach and Abbey Lincoln pursued. That really does belong in jazz, but that’s not my reality. I have African roots, of course, but I was born and raised in the heart of Antwerp. And yes, I am a woman. But that doesn’t determine how I think musically. Although a feminist statement sneaks in at times. I seek my own vision in my living world here and now as a free improvising musician. I think my music is quite accessible. And with my trio Bodem, I am also being programmed outside the jazz world, then hopefully I appeal to another even wider interested audience.

Este artículo se publica simultáneamente en las siguientes revistas europeas, en el marco de “Groovin’ High”, una operación para destacar a las jóvenes músicas de jazz y blues : Citizen Jazz (Fr), JazzMania (Be), Jazz’halo (Be), Salt Peanuts (DK/SE/NO), Jazz-Fun (DE), In&Out Jazz (ES) y Donos Kulturalny (PL).

This article is co-published simultaneously in the following European magazines, as part of « Groovin’ High » an operation to highlight young jazz and blues female musicians : Citizen Jazz (Fr), JazzMania (Be), Jazz’halo (Be), Salt Peanuts (DK/SE/NO), Jazz-Fun (DE), In&Out Jazz (ES) and Donos Kulturalny (PL).

#Womentothefore #IWD2025

By Bernard Lefèvre for  Jazz’halo

March 05, 2025

Monika Roscher

Monika Roscher

by | Mar 4, 2025 | Interview

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MONIKA ROSCHER

04

March, 2025

Text: Jazz-Fun.de

Photos: Jacek Brun

jazz-fun.de: Monica. It’s great to see you. Great to have you here in the Hanover Cultural Center and Pavilion. How do you feel?

Monika Roscher: I just feel amazed. I’m really looking forward to the concert tonight, and it’s been a year since we were here, so I’m really excited to come back.

You have already been here once or has it been several times?

One time. And it was great because it was our first time in Hanover. And so, um, yeah, it’s exciting because we are from Nuremburg and Munich, so they’re quite far away.

I see, you had a pretty long drive.

Yes. Six hours.

So tell me something about yourself. Where do you come from?

I’m from Nuremburg, but I went for music studies, guitar, to Munich, and we formed the big band in Munich. Most band members are still in Munich, but some are also in Berlin as well as Leipzig and Karlsruhe. In other words, all over Germany.

I see; so you are more or less connected with everyone around Germany. But what also interests me is what was your first contact with music? What do you remember? What was your first contact to music? Making music?

I would say probably my parents. We had a piano at home, a double bass and guitar. My dad bought all the instruments, and my brother played the double bass and my mom guitar. And so I also wanted to play. And after a while, I started making up stuff. And then, yeah, I really liked the instrument.

So you started by playing around and not methodically, but you learned to play the instrument.

And my mom taught me the stuff she knew, but mostly it was all about fun making music, because every time I heard music my heart was like, oh, it’s so great, let’s sing, let’s do something wild.

Cool. Do you remember what shaped your sensitivity for music in the past? Maybe a specific band or a specific instrument?

I think I went to a youth club or something like that. I’m from a small town near Nuremberg, where there were a lot of hip hop bands and metal bands, and all the metal bands had great guitar players. I was really fascinated by them, so I decided that I needed to learn guitar. It’s amazing. They can play so fast. I really liked the music and I liked the approach of the singers, but I also listened to jazz, and I asked myself, “what are they doing?” I don’t understand what the thing is. How can they communicate? Yeah. And I like all these mixtures in music.

You definitely have to have had some role models over the years who played guitar, some people who influenced your guitar playing. And you already told me that you listened to metal music a little bit because you were fascinated by the playing. Have you any specific guitarists you like?

Yes. I went to a Mars Volta concert and I liked how Rodriguez-Lopez played because it’s a very unique way of playing. So I really liked that. And yeah, but there are tons of guitar players such as all the jazz guitar players, because I went to study jazz, so I listened to all of them such as Wes Montgomery and all the old classics. So yeah, I’m fascinated by that as well.

The next question I want to ask is a little bit outdated, but it’s definitely something we find interesting. Are there any female guitarists you look up to?

Of course I know Jennifer Batten from Michael Jackson’s band. Yeah. And there is St. Vincent. She’s amazing. And let me think. Hmm. You know, the thing is that I’m actually not really interested in the people that much, because I simply like a piece of music at times. I like the idea of music. So I’m not just interested in which musicians I find fascinating, but rather which ones impress me. Wow. How fast they can play or something like that. But it’s the music that touches me, the something inside of it.

And I think many people look at this differently and in another way. They like the person who is making the music. But for me, there are artists that make stuff that I like and stuff that I don’t like that much. And that’s okay.

Yes. And you can even take it bit further and say what kind of person is that? Yeah, actually, I’m not really interested in the person behind the music, because I don’t know if I would like the person or not. So yeah, I really like music, so I don’t want to know too much.

Kind of differentiating between music and the personality. Exactly. Yes. I think that’s a very healthy attitude.

I do too. And after a while you think, oh, I don’t want to hear about the person.

Your music and your orchestra have some notable influences. How many of those influences maybe came from Frank Zappa?

Actually, I’m not quite sure how conscious this has been, because I didn’t listen to Frank Zappa in the beginning. I just started listening to him when people came after our concert and said you have to check out this and that from Frank Zappa. And I thought, okay. yeah, of course I know the name. And I know his big hits. But I hadn’t heard that song. And then I started getting deeper into his music, and then I felt like there might be a connection because he thought of a guitar as a guitar player and a composer, and that’s what I am. So this might be a connection where we think in the same way.

Like on the same wavelength in terms of personality?

Maybe. Yeah, I don’t know. But I don’t know him too well, just bits from interviews and the like. He was very political. So maybe.

It’s like the music is more important than Frank Zappa.

That’s what I think.

That what we said. Yeah. So let’s talk about the time when social media was evolving with respect to your creativity in music; how did the effect of social media influence you or how did it impact your creativity in music?

Well, at first–I must confess–I didn’t like it, didn’t want to be a part of it. I thought that I want to just make my music and then perform concerts. And after a while, you notice that people need to find you somehow. So you have to be on social media. Yeah. So okay, so I started posting on them and then I thought, oh, how amazing. I can connect to people in different countries, for example. Yeah. So that that’s amazing for me. I didn’t realize that before because you are in your own little world, you’re functioning in it, you’re playing and you’re having fun. Right now I think, okay, yes, we’re involved in it. That’s cool. But the most fun is, of course, the music.

So of course. Yeah. So the social media type of thing is like another world. But it’s starting to affect creativity. Do you think that you have to change part of your creativity because of the pressure that social media puts on musicians?

Yeah, but I’m not gonna give into that because I have music that is 12 minutes long, nine minutes long. If I play the Spotify game, for example, I’m gonna play it. So I have also split up my pieces into smaller bits. But when I’m playing live, I play the song and it takes 12 minutes. I’m not going to change my way of composing music just to have the chorus in the first 30 seconds or something like that. Exactly. That’s not what I want to do.

I understand that.

I might do it sometimes if I want to do it. But right now I’m not into something like that.

I see that’s not your main mission right now. And that’s very, very cool. I’m very cool with that. I know a band which has a Spotify song that lasts an hour and oh, wow! And I also think that when I want to listen to it, I listen to it, and I listen to it 15 times. So where’s the problem exactly?

Yeah, yeah.

Yeah. But not only the songs are big in the sense of long, but your band is also very big. Yeah. And you are a leader of a big band and also an electric guitarist in the band. And I think you’re the only guitarist in such a big band I know who is active today. I don’t know if it’s true, but what do you think about that? How does it feel to be a guitarist leader of a big band?

Well, normal. Nothing more.

Normal. Okay.

Because that’s what I started to do. In the beginning, I thought that I was going to form a guitar trio, and then we composed for a big band in school, and I thought, wow, I want to do that because now I have a much bigger playground to mess with. So I thought, okay, let’s try it. And after I graduated from the university, I called the other musicians and said let’s try this, try different stuff. And now we are all friends, and we know each other very well. I know all the musicians. I know their strong points and what their best moments are. So I can really compose for them. So that’s the best thing for me.

So it wasn’t planned, but it just started, right?

Oh, yeah. It was not planned. There was never a plan. Actually, I was not a big band fan at all.

Yeah, but it just depends on what you think a big band is. And you can make a big band in whatever way you want to.

Exactly.That’s true. Yeah. And then you start listening to big bands and then you think, okay, you can play it like this, or you can do totally differently. And I decided that I was gonna try something different, which is a lot of fun.

It’s very cool. I like that a lot. But there’s also very much commitment, time and work with so many people. How many people are there in your band exactly.

We are 18 on stage, and we have our mixer with us and band organizer who helps us, for example, arranging for coffee or other things.

And it’s gotta be a lot of work to organize that, isn’t it?

Yes. Yeah, terrible.

It’s terrible. And speaking of that, you have to have some someone who is taking care of bookings, planning and logistics. Are you doing that or is someone else doing it?

Yeah, I do it because I tried to contract someone a couple of times, but usually I got the feedback that the band is too big to take on the road. And I didn’t want to change it, because that’s what we want to do. So I just keep on doing this myself, and I really like it. We might not have the biggest tour, but that’s okay. Our tours are really big enough. So I do it.

It can be small but impactful. You know what I mean?

And it’s real. We are all friends. I don’t want to say we want to get rid of four people. No, everyone’s part of the band. And we play as this band.

That’s very cool. Going back to the orchestra and to the size of your orchestra and all the people playing in it. There are a lot of instrumentalists, a lot of capable instrumentalists who maybe are capable of having their own projects or something else. How do you work with them and which roles do those instrumentalists have in your band?

In the beginning, we all basically come from jazz. So it’s normal for us to have different projects. Everybody in the band has his or her own band where they play. And my project is also a band where we play, so it’s not as if we depend on the band. We do it all parallel. And I know each of my musicians, their strengths. I can hear the sound for this song and know this is a flute solo. So I know who I can ask to play this solo. And I also want the audience at a concert to experience all the musicians, all the colors. It’s not just solo guitar all the time, because I would want to hear all voices of the band if I go to a concert. So I want to hear all personalities, and I want to show that it’s beautiful.

Yeah, that’s very beautiful. And speaking of the solos, you have some soloists, I guess not every member of your band is a soloist.

Yeah, but actually they all are.

Oh, really? And do they have a determined time when they can play solos, because we are speaking of a lot of people and we want to make it fair. Is there any communication about that.

Yes. And we even change sometimes in the beginning because I’m always playing different setlists, of course. We have a lot of fun with that, I can say I’m taking your solo tonight, okay? And you’re taking hers or she’s taking yours. You know, we mix it up a bit. Yeah. We have some that are fixed, but we mess around with all of them a bit.

That’s very cool. Good to hear that you interact so much.

Yeah, I think it’s important so that everybody is part of it.

It might be time-consuming with 18 people and more, but it’s extremely important to express the essence, isn’t it?

Yes, I think so. And the thing is also that these musicians are not machines. They are humans. And I really want to have a good time with them. We want to be able to have good talks backstage and say what did you like today or what do you want to try? It’s important that everybody’s also involved.

Very cool. We have been speaking about every one of your members. But let’s get back to you. And what I really like about your performance is your own characterization on the stage. And where do you get the ideas from? From where do your inspiration to have these nice outfits?

Yeah, it’s all a bit out there, you know, it’s just like with the music. By composing it, you also think, oh, this could be like a song about what? What is moving you. And then when I find it, I think, okay, this might look like this, for example for The Witch’s Song, I look for a witchy outfit. I need a crown of woods. Or I need big sticks or something. I don’t know, I play around with these ideas, and I’m never finished because I’m still adding stuff to it, and I’m still searching for something. And then when I see something, I think, okay, I’m gonna wear that to be more a part of this song.

Very cool. And for all the individualists out there, maybe the main question, do you make your costumes yourself or do you have someone helping you with that?

I just go on the internet and check out where I can find stuff. Yeah, it would be amazing if somebody would make them for me, but…

But that’s even cooler. Like, you make your own outfits. It’s exactly what you want.

Yeah, but I don’t make them. I just buy them.

Okay, okay. I didn’t want to say too much. Of course, I didn’t want to say something to make you uncomfortable. Very cool. Do you have any favorite outfit?

Well, I still wear a witchy crown that I like. And, um, right now I still wear a mask that is like a, hmm, how do you say it? I’m guessing, I’m searching for the word: vampires, okay. And it depicts a rather strange person, and I think it’s fascinating.

I think I see what you mean. Vampires are depicted in many ways in different cultures, but I really understand that. I guess they have a charismatic dominance, also visually.

And it there’s some connection to nature, but maybe it’s also power from nature.

I think I understand what you mean.

Yeah. I’m just messing around with that stuff or with witches, with everything. That’s all stuff which inspires me. Very much. So I’m reading books about it.

I can understand that well. So we get to the more personal questions right here, because there’s some things that I wanted to ask. But don’t worry, they’re not too specific because I just want to know, what ambitions do you have in addition to music? Um.

Oh, ambitions? Besides music?

I don’t know, maybe outfits?

Uh, yeah. okay. I made a little label for my band, so that’s what I’m doing. And it’s always been about music, actually. But, you know, I like playing some sports and exercising. Yeah, but actually not with a lot of ambition. So I’m just doing those things for fun.

So no plans, no baking.

Not so much. No. Oh, okay. So I’m just doing a lot of stuff, you know, but it’s not like I’m ambitious doing them. I need to try other things out.

So you’re putting all your energy into the music. Yes. And it pays off.

I don’t know, I would say, but it’s fun. I mean, you know, that’s the thing. I wake up in the morning and I start doing something that has to do with music. Yeah. And even if it doesn’t have anything to do with it, I’m still thinking about music.

Very cool. So I have only two questions left and they are not specific either. The first one is what is your favorite place to enjoy looking at your surroundings, for example at a mountain or somewhere else. Do you have something like that?

Um. So um, mountains are amazing. Of course. Do you mean a specific place to go to.

A specific place with personal space where you go.

Since I live in Munich, there’s a river called Isar. And you can take long walks along it and or go by bike. And at some point you can see the Alps, but you have to go quite far, for example approximately two hours by bike. And there are moments when you go around the corner and then–if it’s a nice day–you see and the river and the Alps in the background. It’s really beautiful. Yeah, I like that.

And do you have a specific drink that you would take on the ride there? Your favorite drink?

Probably coffee.

I see. Yeah I’m also completely sold on that. Very cool. Monica, it was a pleasure talking to you.

Yes. And thank you.

I would have continued for longer, but we have no more time. And you also have to get to the soundcheck because you’re playing in two hours. I wish you very, very much luck. And I’m really looking forward to seeing you up there on the stage.

Cool. Thanks. I’m also looking forward to it.

Bye.

Bye.

Este artículo se publica simultáneamente en las siguientes revistas europeas, en el marco de “Groovin’ High”, una operación para destacar a las jóvenes músicas de jazz y blues : Citizen Jazz (Fr), JazzMania (Be), Jazz’halo (Be), Salt Peanuts (DK/SE/NO), Jazz-Fun (DE), In&Out Jazz (ES) y Donos Kulturalny (PL).

This article is co-published simultaneously in the following European magazines, as part of « Groovin’ High » an operation to highlight young jazz and blues female musicians : Citizen Jazz (Fr), JazzMania (Be), Jazz’halo (Be), Salt Peanuts (DK/SE/NO), Jazz-Fun (DE), In&Out Jazz (ES) and Donos Kulturalny (PL).

#Womentothefore #IWD2025

By: Jazz-Fun.de

March 04, 2025

Clémetine Ristord: Petite Lucette

Clémetine Ristord: Petite Lucette

by | Mar 3, 2025 | Album review, Posts

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CLÉMETINE RISTORD: PETITE LUCETTE

03

March, 2025

Text and photos: Franpi Barriaux

CLÉMENTINE RISTORD: PETITE LUCETTE

A portrait is more than a frozen moment, like a photograph; it requires exploration beyond the image. Multi-anchor Clémentine Ristord is a prime example of an artist who must be presented from various angles to fully understand her journey thus far and the path ahead. She is the founder of the Petite Lucette quintet and a member of the Raffut Collectif. She is a musician who is making her mark.

 

There is a very interesting duality that emerges when you look at the different orchestras of this Grenoble-born musician, who graduated from the CNSMDP jazz section in 2022. It is a duality that brings more coherence than rupture. From Tisser les Ombres, the trio she leads with her alter-ego, double bassist Pierre-Antoine Despatures, an improvisational orchestra that lays claim to the notion of Folklore Imaginaire, to Petite Lucette, the explosive quintet selected in the ninth cohort of Jazz Migration, you might think there’s a world out there, or even several. But that would be a mistake. Each of these musicians has a hidden side and an attraction that draws them together. It is in these connections and limbo that Clémentine Ristord’s true musical personality lies hidden. “I belong to the vast field of jazz, or rather improvised music. I compose, and I mainly work as a leader. While it’s my more ‘easy-listening’ projects that have come to the fore recently, from a media or other point of view, there’s another part of me that still cultivates a very improvised music, with a radical approach”.

 

But Petite Lucette is unquestionably radical, with sudden ruptures and small explosions, like bubbles of joy. Born in the context of Uzeste: “It was in 2019 that I created Petite Lucette, following several experiences of a ball at the Uzeste festival, with jazz and improvised musicians who, when night fell, changed costume and became ball musicians. I soon discovered the importance of this complementarity and how essential these different postures of the musician are if he is not to shut himself away in an ivory tower of creation or in a role of soulless entertainment. That’s why I created Petite Lucette. Initially, we blended the two styles, aiming to get people dancing with our compositions. However, sometimes the complexity of our pieces proved too overwhelming, hindering the dance’s momentum. This experience taught us a lot, especially since we were accustomed to the ‘concert’ format. Ballroom is incredibly demanding, and it’s a continuous learning process.

 

[[a clear reflection of our feelings about today’s society and the undesirable future that awaits us]]

 

Clémentine Ristord and the quintet are not just another dance band from Uzeste and elsewhere. The travelling stage trailer designed for the occasion was a quick and independent way to get around, and the side roads were easy to take. The selection by Jazz Migration accelerated a process of broadening the repertoire that went much deeper than a simple mutation. For the upcoming album {Incendier les tristesses}, the orchestra is set to explore new, freer directions, with each piece telling a story and infused with a cinematic flair, often with a touch of humor. The repertoire is more inward-looking and darker compared to our first album and our ball. It’s a clear reflection of our feelings about today’s society and the undesirable future that awaits us. It’s a catharsis, a way to find joy in the collective before dancing. It’s a political approach, underpinning many of the aesthetic choices and the desire to {do collectively} that belonged more to the previous generation, that of the Vibrants Défricheurs, of whom Papanosh is a model for Ristord and Petite Lucette. “I was struck by the extent to which my fellow musicians, students, colleagues, or perhaps just our generation, are obsessed or caught up in our individual trajectories. The highly cohesive collective shows a definite taste for the traditional music of the different French basins, as is evident in Tisser les Ombres, or more certainly in La Cozna, the most accomplished orchestra of Clémentine Ristord and the Raffut Collectif. An orchestra with cellos, led the usual soprano saxophone player to turn to the bass clarinet – where she excels – to work on an orchestral texture close to the voice.

 

You can have both feet in jazz, cite Lee Konitz, the Liberation Music Orchestra and Carla Bley as references, and still have more in common with the trad music scene, if only in terms of a political stance: “It raises the question of heritage, where the music you play comes from, why you play it, what you’re part of? Trad opens up the question of territory, on a very small scale (…). I identify more with the demands made by musicians in this environment, in their positioning as artists, than with the current state of jazz, where I feel political questions are being sidelined in favour of {pure} artistic research turned in on itself. That’s not the kind of practice I want to be part of”. Following in the footsteps of orchestras and collectives such as La Novia and Sourdure, and in the footsteps of what ARFI has been producing for decades, Clémentine Ristord presents a new and radical facet of this ongoing discussion between contemporary creation and traditional music. She looks at this from a distance, but with a strong connection to the city’s life. The young musician has a lot more to show us. She is undoubtedly a major player on today’s music scene, and she will continue to surprise us.

Este artículo se publica simultáneamente en las siguientes revistas europeas, en el marco de “Groovin’ High”, una operación para destacar a las jóvenes músicas de jazz y blues : Citizen Jazz (Fr), JazzMania (Be), Jazz’halo (Be), Salt Peanuts (DK/SE/NO), Jazz-Fun (DE), In&Out Jazz (ES) y Donos Kulturalny (PL).

This article is co-published simultaneously in the following European magazines, as part of « Groovin’ High » an operation to highlight young jazz and blues female musicians : Citizen Jazz (Fr), JazzMania (Be), Jazz’halo (Be), Salt Peanuts (DK/SE/NO), Jazz-Fun (DE), In&Out Jazz (ES) and Donos Kulturalny (PL).

#Womentothefore #IWD2025

By: Citizen Jazz

March 03, 2025

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