Joëlle Léandre

About Joëlle Léandre

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’Itineraire, 2e2m and Pierre Boulez’s Ensemble Intercontemporain. She has also worked with Merce Cunningham and with John Cage, who has composed especially for her – as have Scelsi, Fenelon, Hersant, Lacy, Campana, Jolas, Clementi and about 40 composers. Léandre has played with some of the great names in jazz and improvisation, such as Derek Bailey, Anthony Braxton, Evan Parker, Irene Schweizer, William Parker, Barre Phillips, Pascal Contet, Steve Lacy, Peter Kowald, Urs Leimgruber, John Zorn, Mark Naussef, Marilyn Crispell, India Cooke, etc. She has written extensively for dance and theater, and has staged a number of multidisciplinary performances. She received the DAAD at Berlin, was welcomed as artist resident at Villa Kujiyama, Kyoto. In 2002, 2004 and 2006, she was Visiting Professor at Mills College, Oakland, CA, Chaire Darius Milhaud. Her work as a composer and a performer has put her under the lights of the most prestigious stages of Europe, the Americas and Asia. From 1981 to date, Joëlle Léandre has over 150 recordings to her credit.
www.joelle-leandre.com