Olivier Benoit (conduction), Sakina Abdou (sax), David Bausseron (guitar), Samuel Carpentier (trombone), Nicolas Chachignot (drums), Claude Colpaert (trombone), Pierre Cretel (double bass), Ivann Cruz (guitar), Barbara Dang (keyboard), Vincent Debaets (saxs), Martin Granger (syntesizer), Lune Grazilly (vocals), Patrick Guionnet (vocals), Martin Hackett (flute, melodica), Philippe Lenglet (guitar), Stéphane Lévêque (bass), Yanik Miossec (clarinet), Maxime Morel (tuba), Christophe "Pher" Motury (trumpet), Peter Orins (drums), Christian Pruvost (trumpet), Antoine Rousseau (bass), Jean-Baptiste Rubin (sax)
La Pieuvre was formed in 1999 by an initially informal group of musicians who wanted to try out a new pattern of collective work. It draws its members from a varied musical scene and has brought together players from numerous smaller groups working at the freer end of jazz and rock as well as in electronic and instrumental contemporary music.
This extended unit has its place in the field of European large-group improvisation, but should also be seen in the context of the ‘conduction’ movement, exemplified by the methods of such as Butch Morris – although there is no claim made here for him either as a frame of reference or a point of departure. The music unfolds moment by moment, shaped on the instant by the gestures addressed to the living organism in front of him by Olivier Benoit (in his other role than as guitarist). Signs, looks, gestures and mime, the whole range of body-language is called upon in this exchange. The desire for interaction – implying precision and looseness, interpretation and distortion, the two-way flow of information, in which individual autonomy goes hand in hand with a sense of collective responsibility – makes available a sound-world of great richness, and makes of this singular ensemble perhaps more a platform for research into conducted improvisation than a performing orchestra.
PROSOPÔN
First and most characteristic form of the orchestra la Pieuvre, Prosopôn is a « mood composition », orchestrated by conducting ; it is about an electrical phenomenon (as an electromagnetic field - attraction/repulsion - between the conductor’s gestures and the musicians). It is not really a dialogue, but certainly a whole, an adjustable sound mass…
You can find the albums of la Pieuvre on Circum-Disc website.
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