NOTEBOOK LARGE ENSEMBLE
Frantz Loriot viola, composition
Manuel Perovic composition, arrangement
Joachim Badenhorst clarinet, bass clarinet, tenor sax
Sandra Weiss alto sax, bassoon
Matthias Spillmann trumpet, flugelhorn
Silvio Cadotsch trombone
Deborah Walker cello, voice
Dave Gisler guitar
Silvan Jeger double bass, voice
Yuko Oshima drums
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"Everything started because of a little music notebook, bought in a modest store at the corner of rue de Rome and rue de Madrid in Paris…"
The Notebook Large Ensemble is an international tentet reuniting Belgian, Italian, Japanese, Swiss and French creative musicians and was created by French-Japanese violist and improviser Frantz Loriot, around his compositions. These last were arranged by Swiss arranger and composer Manuel Perovic.
The music of this ensemble is a true amalgam of written parts and improvisation, by all means within the jazz vocabulary, but also reaching into free improvisation; leaving room for spontaneous happenings within the arrangements was one of the major aims of this project. The style of the music itself functions only as a carrier, therefore switching effortlessly between jazz, pop and even sometimes classical music. To quote Iannis Xenakis in response to the barrier of style: «it makes no sense!»
Their debut CD, Urban Furrow was released on Clean Feed, Portuguese label specializing in avant-garde jazz and improvised music, in July 2015.
The Story: The pretty small format of a notebook gave the opportunity to French violist, improviser and composer Frantz Loriot, to write down whatever melodies or musical ideas were popping up in his mind. The advantage of having such a small notebook at all times in your pocket is to pencil down all the little ideas and details you may have forgotten by the end of the day. So, for a few years, Frantz put down tunes and sketches in his notebook, inspired by his daily life.
At the same time, the idea of a large ensemble has been in his heart and mind for quite a while. After playing many years in different ensembles and orchestras (a.o. David S.Ware European Strings Ensemble, Anthony Braxton and Walter Thompson Orchestra, Barre Phillips EMIR, Joëlle Léandre strings Ensemble, Joachim Badenhorst Carate Urio Orchestra, Pascal Niggenkemper Vision7 & and the Jürg Wickihalder Orchestra), meeting with Swiss composer and arranger Manuel Perovic was unavoidable. First, a friendship arose, then the idea of a musical collaboration started to grow. Frantz exposed to Manuel the idea of a large ensemble and Manuel jumped at the opportunity. He stretched and turned around the compositions, and – being invited to be Artist in Residence at Moods (Zurich) – gave the dream the opportunity to become true. Thus, the Notebook Large Ensemble was created and played its first show at Moods in Zurich in April 2014.
This first "mise en bouche" gave the ensemble the desire to continue this human and musical adventure. The strength of this international ensemble, with musicians from Belgium, Japan, Italy, France and Switzerland, is its cultural, musical and creative variety.
