Because She Hoped Benoît Delbecq & François Houle

• 1The Mystery Song06:40
• 2Pour Pee Wee02:01
• 3Le bois debout01:31
• 4Because She Hoped04:33
• 5Clichés06:55
• 6Le concombre de Chicoutimi02:04
• 7Binoculars05:24
• 8Ando06:36
• 9Nancali (live)08:17
• 10Pour Pee Wee (live)07:23
• Total Runtime51:24

Info for Because She Hoped

So with all this expressive fire-power at their disposal it's striking how serene yet playful much of the music feels, reflecting how two old friends went about re-inventing their musical relationship for a few hours in the studio (and on a subsequent short tour) after a rather long hiatus. As François puts it: 'Duo playing is about the most intimate way to communicate with another musician. I have grown to have a deeper understanding of Benoît's language and sound world, which always provides me with clues as to how to execute ideas in different ways. But the beauty with this sound world is that there are so many mysteries yet to investigate....How this plays out is that we don't try to formulate premeditated structures, or to ever adopt a traditional call and response, solo/accompaniment thing, except for the Ellington and Lacy pieces, which seemed to require a certain structural rigour. Our improvisations are much more akin to embroidery, painstakingly paying attention to the kind of fabric we want to create, working symbiotically to achieve that by complementing each other. Of course solos emerge, but that is in consideration of what each individual has to state in the context of the performance....Most of Benoît's music has an intrinsic poetic quality which manifests itself in liquid melodic lines. I respond to that very deeply, in some ways even more than to the rhythmic aspects of his music. Almost all my compositions on this recording are all about melody, instilling a slower pacing to the proceedings than in past recordings where the accent was perhaps slightly more focused on rhythm and virtuosity.'

Even the sound of this high-res (24bit/96K) recording is special, thanks to the work of Delbecq's collaborators: recording/mixing engineer Etienne Bultingaire, who has done live sound diffusion for Boulez and Pierre Henry; and cinema sound designer Nicolas Becker, who contributed a set of impulse responses he recently created in the huge greenhouse of a French chateau. Benoît explains: 'Using such an IR means that you're placing the duo virtually inside this greenhouse, just as if we had played in it; it simulates ambient mics catching the resonances of that space. [In mixing] you send some of the mics into this preset, then you just have to adjust the general tone of the reverb returns - there might be two or three different presets mixed together. I like the feeling of constructing an imaginary ideal venue.' Beyond such questions of expressive means however there is a contemplative core to this music, something indeed mysterious and enigmatic, that continues to fascinate.

'...highly polished improvisers, responding to the unexpected as the vital current in their playing, yet maintaining extraordinary poise.' (Julian Cowley, The Wire)

Benoît Delbecq, Piano
François Houle, Clarinet

Benoît Delbecq - Piano
Born in 1966, Parisian pianist Benoît Delbecq gures today among the innovators of the international contemporary jazz scene. His reputation and in uence have been growing steadily since the early 90’s, and the New York Times recently described him as « an original and unconventional pianist » who « expertly » invents a « serene » music. An inspired adventurer, a goldsmith of prepared piano and a visionary poet in the art of electronically recycling his own statements, he actively participates in the new aesthetic breakthroughs of today.
A former student of Mal Waldron, Alan Silva, Muhal Richard Abrams and Steve Coleman among others, Benoît’s international pro le took o around 1992 from appearances at Paris’s cutting-edge club « Les Instants Chavirés », in parallel with the founding of Kartet, The Recyclers and the Hask Collective, all of which helped revitalize the Paris creative music scene. Since then Benoît has been touring around the globe. He performs solo piano and solo electronics, leads or co-leads a number of bands from duos to quintets, and is involved in many multi-disciplinary productions of theater, dance, the visual arts, cinema etc. His music features mesmerizing grooves that shake out ashing, lunar melodies. An invitation to a voyage into a magic land (in Le Monde).

"Prix de la Sacem" in 1995 (with the collective Kartet), Benoît was awarded the « Prix de la Villa Médicis Hors les Murs » in 2001, and received the prestigious fellowship of the Civitella Fundation New York (2009). His last CDs, The sixth Jump (trio with bass player Jean-Jacques Avenel et drummer Emile Biayenda) and Circles and Calligrams (solo) both received the « Grand Prix International du Disque Charles Cros » 2010 and are part of the ten albums of the year for the New-York Times and Le Monde.

François Houle - Clarinet
Clarinetist François Houle has established himself as one of today’s most inventive musicians, in all of the diverse musical spheres he embraces: classical, jazz, new music, improvised music, and world music. Whether he’s performing works by Mozart or Messiaen, appearing as a featured soloist with orchestra, or improvising and embracing live, interactive electronics, François demystifies music for audiences everywhere.
Inspired by collaborations with the world’s top musical innovators, François has developed a unique improvisational language, virtuosic and rich with sonic embellishment and technical extensions. A sought after soloist and chamber musician, he has actively expanded the clarinet’s repertoire by commissioning some of today’s leading Canadian and international composers and premiering over one hundred new works. He has collaborated with leading ensembles in Canada, including Turning Point Ensemble, Standing Wave, Bozzini Quartet, Fibonacci Trio, among others. He has twice been listed by Downbeat magazine as a “Talent Deserving Wider Recognition” and was hailed as a “Rising Star” in Downbeat’s 2008 Critics’ Poll.
His extensive touring has led to solo appearances at major festivals across Canada, the United States and Europe, and he has released more than a dozen recordings, earning multiple Juno Award and West Coast Music Award nominations. In 2006, François was the featured soloist in Lutosławski’s Dance Preludes with the CBC Radio Orchestra, a performance hailed by the Los Angeles Times. In 2007, he composed and premiered a concerto for clarinet which he went on to record with the Turning Point Ensemble for a 2009 world wide release on the ATMA Classique label.
François studied at McGill University, went on to win the National Debut competition, and completed his studies at Yale University. He has been an artist-in-residence at the Banff Centre for the Arts and at the Civitella Ranieri Foundation in Umbria, Italy, and was a featured soloist in the International Clarinet Association’s 2007 and 2008 ClarinetFests. He is a faculty member at the Vancouver Community College School of Music, and in 2006 he became Artistic Director of the Vancouver Creative Music Institute. In 2008 he was appointed as “Associate Composer” of the Canadian Music Centre.

Booklet for Because She Hoped