Sylvain Darrifourcq - Sunday Interview

Photo by: Sylvain Gripoix

1.  What is your greatest joy in improvised music?
   
   I believe the most exciting moment in improvisation happens in those rare instances of balance when all the musicians contribute to shaping a piece. It’s an incredible feeling, but to be honest, it’s very rare! This is why I am now committed to finding a balance between constraints and improvisation. I think, in fact, that freedom is nothing more than a way of choosing one’s own constraints.
   
   
2. What quality do you most admire in the musicians you perform with?
   
   I’d be hard-pressed to rank these qualities. There are too many, and they’re very diverse. For example, I greatly admire musicians who are able to make their colleagues sound good. It’s a quality that’s especially valuable because it often goes unnoticed by the audience. I also love working with musicians who are able to organize other people’s ideas—a quality that’s also invisible since it’s part of the process of composing or shaping the form.
   
   
3. Which historical musician/composer do you admire the most? If you could resurrect a musician to perform with, who would it be?
   
   As before, I can’t answer this question simply, because as we grow, our expectations change, and we don’t admire the same things at 20 as we do at 45. But I must say that the work of John Coltrane (for his ability to delve ever deeper into a concept), György Ligeti (for opening up new ways for me to explore rhythmic combinations), and Hector Berlioz (for his romantic personality, or at least what history has retained of it) have all played a major role in my development.
   
   
4. What would you still like to achieve musically in your life?
   
   What I would be most proud of is to stop before I make too much uninteresting music (at least in my eyes). I’ve chosen to focus on musical research, and I believe it’s possible to reach the end of what one can contribute to research, and that it’s important to know when to stop. I hope to have enough clarity to do so.
   
   
5. Are you interested in popular music and, if yes, what music/artist do you particularly like?
   
   Of course! It’s actually what I listen to the most. For several years now, I’ve been a huge fan of the hip-hop/noise band Clipping. I never get tired of them! I still listen often to albums by Fantômas and Meshuggah, each of which I love for very different reasons. And then, for the same reasons I hated it when I was 20—that particular sound of drum machines and the DX7—I am now a big fan of cold wave. I’m rediscovering albums by Tears for Fears, Genesis, Heaven 17...
   
   
6. If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?
   
   I would like to be more sociable and tolerant of others. I love interacting with people, whoever they are, sharing worldviews, listening to other people’s stories, but my social energy tank is very limited, and I often need to be alone to recharge.
   
   
7. Which of your albums are you most proud of?
   
   I think the two albums I would keep from my discography are Stretchin with MILESDAVISQUINTETORCHESTRA! and Coitus Interruptus by In Love With, because they are representative and complementary to my vision of musical time. The first is focused on infinite repetition and the sensation of elastic time with neither beginning nor end, and it represents my work on horizontality. The second album adds complexity to this approach by inserting sudden breaks into these infinite temporalities, a more vertical logic of handling musical time.
   
   
8. Once an album of yours is released, do you still listen to it? And how often?
   
   It can happen, but there have also been times when I didn’t even listen to one of my albums in full. It all depends on where I am in my musical thinking and how an album does or doesn’t align with these reflections. I have to admit I would gladly throw out a good number of the albums I’ve produced in my life. Listening to my own albums was something I perhaps did more when I was younger, when my ideas weren’t as clear, and I could still surprise myself.
   
   
9. Which album (from any musician) have you listened to the most in your life?
   
   There are albums I’ve been listening to for over 20 or 25 years! I think Live at the Village Vanguard by Coltrane, Tosca by Puccini (the version with Maria Callas and Giuseppe di Stefano), and both Rage Against the Machine albums are among those I’ve worn out over time.
   
   
10. What are you listening to at the moment?
    
    For the past few weeks, I’ve been obsessively listening to liturgical music. In particular, the requiems of Gabriel Fauré, Maurice Duruflé, and the Stabat Mater by Francis Poulenc.
    
    
11. What artist outside music inspires you?
    
    There are too many! The visual artist Zimoun, choreographers Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker and Tomeo Verges, and video artist Bill Viola are among them. Each has a very unique relationship with time and rhythm that, in one way or another, has influenced my own research.
    
    

Sylvain Darrifourcq on the Free Jazz Blog:

• Jazzfest Berlin 2024 - Part I
• Jean-Brice Godet - Lignes De Crêtes (Clean Feed, 2017) ***½
• Eve Risser White Desert Orchestra - Les Deux Versants Se Regardent (Clean Feed, 2016) *****
• Xavier Camarasa, Valentin Ceccaldi & Sylvain Darrifourq - Shapin' With Milesdavisquintet (Becoq, 2015) ****
• Emile Parisien Quartet – Chien Guêpe (Laborie Jazz, 2012) ****½