Noted French Jazz artist, Richard Bonnet (guitar) will be coming to Bloomington June 21-23 with Sylvain Darrifourcq (French, percussion) and Michaël Attias (NY: Saxophonist) to perform and meet with local artists and students. Bonnet, Darrifourcq and Attias have been providing live accompaniments to films, along with recording and performing in concert venues. During their time at Bloomington, they will be conducting an open public symposium, holding a master class, and performing alongside Bloomington avant-jazz group Ortet in a special performance at the Blockhouse. Some media students will be making a documentary about the performers and the event. Scenes from the film will be posted on the Center for Documentary Research and Practice website in the fall.
Schedule
5:00 p.m.
A public symposium and discussion in the performance space attached to Bonne-Fête, 112 W 6th Street. Admission is free and open to the public.
10:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.
A masterclass with students and interested community members in Wells Library, Moving Image Archive Screening Room. If you do not have a parking permit, but would like to attend, please contact Joan Hawkins for a day pass.
7:00 p.m.
A performance with Ortet at the Blockhouse, 205 S. College Avenue. Cover $10.
Artists' Bios
Steeped in the blues, composer and improviser Richard Bonnet is a French avant-garde guitarist from French Alps. He has performed with many artists, including Tony Malaby, Tom Rainey, Gerald Cleaver, Hasse Poulsen… On his CD “Morning Bear, ” he composes for solo guitar, infusing 20th century European classical language with the freedom of the blues.
Percussionist, improviser and composer, Sylvain Darrifourcq (born in 1979) studied classical percussion. He chose the drums late in his career and discovered rock, jazz and improvised music. A well-known figure from a generation of improvisers intrigued by boundaries, he is a musician in high demand. He has collaborated with several French, European and American personalities such as: Joëlle Léandre, Tony Malaby, Michel Portal, Louis Sclavis, Marc Ducret, Andrea Parkins, Aksoh S, Kit Downes, etc. In 2009, he won a “Victoire du Jazz” with Emile Parisien Quartet. He was the quartet’s drummer for more than 10 years.
Michaël Attias has earned a reputation as one of the most questing and keenly collaborative figures on the 21st-century New York jazz scene, with a background and outlook that make him “an emphatically cosmopolitan saxophonist and composer,” according to The New York Times. Migrations spanning North Africa, the Middle East, Western Europe and the American Midwest ultimately brought Attias to New York City in 1994, where he continues to pursue his muse as improviser, composer and bandleader.
Sponsors
Sponsored by the French American Cultural Exchange, The Media School, IU Cinema and Media Studies, IU Media Arts and Production, Center of Excellence of the French Embassy at IU, IU Office of the Vice Provost for Research, IU Center for Documentary Research and Practice, Urban Deer Recording Co., Bloomington Arts Commission, The Bloomington Urban Enterprise Association, the Writers Guild at Bloomington, and some private donors.