Louis Sclavis (born 2 February 1953) is a French

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

musician. He performs on clarinet,

bass clarinet The bass clarinet is a musical instrument of the clarinet family. Like the more common soprano B clarinet, it is usually pitched in B (meaning it is a transposing instrument on which a written C sounds as B), but it plays notes an octave bel ...

, and

soprano saxophone The soprano saxophone is a higher-register variety of the saxophone, a woodwind instrument invented in the 1840s. The soprano is the third-smallest member of the saxophone family, which consists (from smallest to largest) of the soprillo, sop ...

in a variety of contexts, including

avant-garde jazz Avant-garde jazz (also known as avant-jazz and experimental jazz) is a style of music and improvisation that combines avant-garde art music and composition with jazz. It originated in the early 1950s and developed through to the late 1960s. Orig ...

free jazz Free jazz is an experimental approach to jazz improvisation that developed in the late 1950s and early 1960s when musicians attempted to change or break down jazz conventions, such as regular tempos, tones, and chord changes. Musicians during ...

free improvisation Free improvisation or free music is improvised music without any rules beyond the logic or inclination of the musician(s) involved. The term can refer to both a technique (employed by any musician in any genre) and as a recognizable genre in its ...

and contemporary classical.

Life and career

He was born in

Lyon Lyon,, ; Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the third-largest city and second-largest metropolitan area of France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of t ...

, France. Sclavis played with the Henri Texier Quartet. He has won numerous awards, including: the

PRIX DJANGO REINHARDT The Prix Django Reinhardt is an award granted by the French Académie du Jazz for the best French jazz musician of the year. It is named after Django Reinhardt. The prize is determined by a jury of jazz journalists, producers, and musicians. In 20 ...

“best French jazz musician” (1988); First Prize in the Barcelona Biennale (1989); the British Jazz award at the

Midem Midem is the acronym for Marché International du Disque et de l'Édition Musicale, which is organised annually in and around the Palais des Festivals et des Congrès in Cannes, France. The trade show, organized by Reed MIDEM, a subsidiary of Re ...

for “Best Foreign Artist” (1990/91); the

DJANGO D’OR The Golden Django, named after guitarist Django Reinhardt, is an award for jazz musicians in Europe. The trophy is a creation of the French painter Raymond Moretti. It was first introduced in France (in 1992), then in Belgium (1995), in Sweden ...

“Best French jazz record of the year” (1993); and the GRAND PRIX SACEM 2009. He was one of the first to combine jazz with French

folk music Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has b ...

, working most prominently with the

hurdy-gurdy The hurdy-gurdy is a string instrument that produces sound by a hand-crank-turned, rosined wheel rubbing against the strings. The wheel functions much like a violin bow, and single notes played on the instrument sound similar to those of a vio ...

player

Valentin Clastrier French musician Valentin Clastrier (born 1947) is one of the few performers in the world specializing in contemporary music for the hurdy-gurdy; before Clastrier, the instrument was used primarily in the performance of European Medieval and folk mus ...

Discography

* ''Ad Augusta Per Argustia'' (Nato, 1981) * ''Clarinettes'' (

Label Bleu Label Bleu is a French jazz record label founded by Michel Orier. Orier established the label in the mid-1980s in Amiens and soon after took over directorship of Amiens's cultural center, where he was able to build a recording studio. Label Bleu ...

, 1985) * ''Chine'' (Ida, 1987) * ''Chamber Music'' (Ida, 1989) * ''Ellington on the Air'' (Ida, 1991) * ''

Rouge Rouge is the French word for "red" and may refer to: Compounds * Rouge (cosmetics), a cosmetic used to color the cheeks and emphasize the cheekbones * Jeweler's rouge or iron(III) oxide * Rouging, a form of corrosion applicable to stainless ...

'' ( ECM, 1991) * ''Trio de Clarinettes: Live'' ( FMP, 1991) * ''

Acoustic Quartet Acoustic may refer to: Music Albums * ''Acoustic'' (Above & Beyond album), 2014 * ''Acoustic'' (Deine Lakaien album), 2007 * ''Acoustic'' (Everything but the Girl album), 1992 * ''Acoustic'' (John Lennon album), 2004 * ''Acoustic'' (Love Amo ...

'' (ECM, 1994) * ''Carnet de Routes'' (Label Bleu, 1995) * ''Ceux qui veillent la nuit'' (JMS, 1996) * ''Danses et Autres Scenes'' (JMS, 1998) * '' Les Violences de Rameau'' (ECM, 1996) * ''Suite Africaine'' (Label Bleu, 1999) * ''

L'Affrontement des Prétendants ''L'Affrontement des Prétendants'' is an album by French clarinetist Louis Sclavis recorded in 1999 and released on the ECM label.

'' (ECM, 1999) * '' Dans la Nuit'' (ECM, 2000) * ''

Napoli's Walls ''Napoli's Walls'' is an album by French clarinetist Louis Sclavis recorded in 2002 and released on the ECM label.

'' (ECM, 2002) * '' Bow River Falls'' ( Koch, 2004) * ''Roman'', (2004); * ''African Flashback'' (Label Bleu, 2005) * '' L'Imparfait des Langues'' (ECM, 2007) * '' Lost on the Way'' (ECM, 2009) * '' Eldorado Trio'' (

Clean Feed Clean may refer to: * Cleaning, the process of removing unwanted substances, such as dirt, infectious agents, and other impurities, from an object or environment * Cleanliness, the state of being clean and free from dirt Arts and media Music A ...

, 2010) * ''Sources'' (ECM, 2012) * ''Silk and Salt Melodies'' (ECM, 2014) * ''Characters On A Wall'' (ECM, 2019) * ''Les Cadances Du Monde'' (JMS-Cream, 2022)

Filmography

* 1999: '' Ça commence aujourd'hui'' by

Bertrand Tavernier Bertrand Tavernier (25 April 1941 – 25 March 2021) was a French director, screenwriter, actor and producer. Life and career Tavernier was born in Lyon, France, the son of Geneviève (née Dumond) and René Tavernier, a publicist and writer, s ...

(

Sony Music Sony Music Entertainment (SME), also known as simply Sony Music, is an American multinational music company. Being owned by the parent conglomerate Sony Group Corporation, it is part of the Sony Music Group, which is owned by Sony Entertainment ...

France) * 2002: ''

Un moment de bonheur The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmonizi ...

'' by Antoine Santana * 2002: '' Dans la nuit'' by

Charles Vanel Charles-Marie Vanel (21 August 1892 – 15 April 1989) was a French actor and director. During his 76-year film career, which began in 1912, he appeared in more than 200 films and worked with many prominent directors, including Alfred Hitchcock, ...

( ECM) * 2002: '' Vivre me tue'' by Jean-Pierre Sinapi * 2007: '' Après lui'' by

Gaël Morel Gaël Morel (born 25 September 1972) is a French film director, screenwriter and actor. Life and career Morel was born in Villefranche-sur-Saône, Rhône (department), Rhône, France, a town of 30,000 inhabitants outside Lyon. He grew up in the ...

* 2009: '' Plus tard tu comprendras'' by

Amos Gitaï Amos Gitai ( he, עמוס גיתאי; born 11 October 1950) is an Israelis, Israeli filmmaker, who was trained as an architect. Gitai's work was presented in several major retrospectives in Pompidou Center in Paris, the Museum of Modern Art (M ...

* 2009: '' Portraits-autoportraits'' by Gilles Porte * 2011: ''

Roses à crédit ''Roses à crédit'' () is a 2010 French drama film co-written and directed by Amos Gitai and starring Léa Seydoux and Grégoire Leprince-Ringuet. It is based on the 1959 novel of the same name by Elsa Triolet. It received its premiere at the 2 ...

'' by

References

External links

FMP releases
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sclavis, Louis 1953 births Living people Post-bop clarinetists Post-bop saxophonists Chamber jazz clarinetists Chamber jazz saxophonists Bass clarinetists French jazz saxophonists Male saxophonists Musicians from Lyon French jazz clarinetists French composers Avant-garde jazz clarinetists Avant-garde jazz saxophonists 21st-century saxophonists 21st-century clarinetists 21st-century French male musicians French male jazz musicians Brotherhood of Breath members Clean Feed Records artists Label Bleu artists ECM Records artists FMP/Free Music Production artists