Joëlle Léandre

Since emerging in the early 1980s the French bassist, composer, and vocalist Joëlle Leandre has ignored the gaps between improvised and composed music, jazz and new music, inventively braiding post-Cagean concepts with the free jazz ferment she witnessed first-hand growing up in Paris. Accordion master and fellow countryman Pascal Contet was initially rooted in contemporary music, helping to bring it back as a viable, versatile instrument in experimental music, but throughout his long career he’s also increasingly embraced free improvisation. Those diverse backgrounds and shared curiosity has made them natural artistic partners, a relationship that has endured for 30 years. Together they have forged a unique duo language built from deep experience and wide open ears. Their joint practice is all about creating connections in real-time, but that development has only been documented on recordings a handful of times, each new transmission providing bracing updates on their collaboration.