CONFRONT
RECORDINGS
JOELLE LEANDRE & MICHAEL DUCH - GRAMOLNA
(confront collectors series ccs 31)
***CD EDITION SOLD OUT***
Jöelle Léandre - double bass & voice
Michael Duch - double bass
Recorded by Oscar Grönberg at Gråmølna 01.11.2013
Mixed and mastered by Morten Stendahl at Redroom studio 29.11.2013
On the 31st October 2013 , the two double bass players Joëlle Léandre and Michael Duch played a duo concert together for the first time, at nyMusikk in Oslo. The following day, they made this recording at Gråmølna.The bassists first met at the Molde Jazzfestival in 2011, where Duch played a solo recital and a concert with Trondheim Jazz Orchestra, while Léandre had a guest spot with improv quartet SPUNK. After hearing Duch's solo album Edges from 2010, the two got to know each other and planned a collaboration. The music will be freely improvised and bass's sound possibilities will be explored to the fullest.French double bass player, improviser and composer, Joëlle Léandre is one of the dominant figures of the new European music. Trained in orchestral as well as contemporary music, she has played with l’Itinéraire, 2e2m and Pierre Boulez’s Ensemble Intercontemporain. Joëlle Léandre has also worked with Merce Cunningham and with John Cage, who has composed especially for her – as have Scelsi, Fénelon, Hersant, Lacy, Campana, Jolas, Clementi and about 40 composers. As well as working in contemporary music, Léandre has played with some of the great names in jazz and improvisation, such as Derek Bailey, Anthony Braxton, George Lewis, Evan Parker, Irene Schweizer, William Parker and many others.Michael Francis Duch (1978) was born and raised in Trondheim, Norway, and plays the double bass. He completed his project “Free Improvisation – Method and Genre” as research-fellow at the University of Trondheim (NTNU) late October 2010, where he has been doing research on Free Improvisation and the use of Improvisation in Experimental Music. He has been involved in about 30 recordings released in various formats, and has played solo-concerts in Stavanger, Bergen, Trondheim, Oslo, Tromsø, Glasgow, Gothenburgh, Athens and London. Michael Francis Duch plays in a trio with Rhodri Davies and John Tilbury, the rockband Dog & Sky, the Improvquartet LEMUR with Bjørnar Habbestad, Hild Sofie Tafjord and Lene Grenager, and different other constellations.