| François Cotinaud | |
| Birth Date: | 1956 8, df=y |
| Birth Place: | Casablanca, Morocco |
| Instrument: | Tenor saxophone, clarinet |
| Genre: | Jazz |
| Occupation: | Musician, composer, soundpainter |
| Years Active: | 1976–present |
| Label: | Musivi, Ayler Records |
| Associated Acts: | Walter Thompson |
| Website: | www.jazzbank.com |
François Cotinaud (born 9 August 1956) is a French saxophonist, clarinetist, composer, and soundpainter.[1]
François Cotinaud studied music with Alan Silva, Cecil Taylor, George Russell, Kenny Wheeler, and Steve Lacy. He then created the label Musivi, recorded several albums and led various experiences with Denis Colin (Texture), Bobby Few, Ramón López, Glenn Ferris, Enrico Rava, Pascale Labbé, and Serge Adam.
In 1985, he created a quartet with Ramón López, Heriberto Paredes, Thierry Colson, and later with Gilles Coronado. His solo CD Loco Solo (1998) around Luciano Berio displays his trend for contemporary music and provocation. He performed with percussionist, Pierre Charpy (electro-acoustics device) around Arthur Rimbaud's texts ("Rimbaud and M.A.O.").
After a stint in the Tierra del Fuego group led by Pablo Nemirovsky, he showed in "Yo M'enamori" its Mediterranean sensibility through the prism of a contemporary re-reading, free of tradition, with pianist Sylvie Cohen.
He stands apart from other jazz musicians of his generation in his formal research between text (poetry) and music (improvised or written) in various formations, such as the duet with cellist Deborah Walker ("Poetica Vivace"), the ensemble Text'up (texts by Raymond Queneau and Arthur Rimbaud), and the ensemble Luxus (Pascale Labbé, vocals/Jérôme Lefebvre, guitar) with Rainer Maria Rilke.
He played with the Spoumj (Soundpainting Orchestra of the Union of Jazz Musicians, directed by François Jeanneau), and founded the group Algèbre with Pierre Durand (guitar) and Daniel Beaussier (winds). Involved in Soundpainting, a composition language created by Walter Thompson, he founded the ensemble Klangfarben in 2010 (dance, music and actors), which records and does performances dedicated to Arnold Schoenberg and John Cage at museums and theaters.
He organized and produced the two first Soundpainting Festivals in Paris (2013–2014), with 101 artists, major Soundpainting formations like: Spoumj, Klanfarben, Amalgammes, TSO, the Spang, Walter Thompson Orchestra, Batik, Helsinki Soundpainting Ensemble.
He recorded pieces based on an open form, in the spirit of Earle Brown, melding written contemporary music and Soundpainting, with a Multilateral ensemble (contemporary ensemble) and the composer Benjamin de la Fuente.
From the age of eight, Cotinaud would write the melodies and musical phrases he invented in a notebook. In 1975, the pedagogue Alan Silva had his students work with motifs that are to decline in musical modes, and had them write their improvisations. Cotinaud continued this work by writing hundreds of themes for the groups he belongs to, both for pedagogy and professional purposes. From 1989, it began to converge around more elaborate constructions, creating precise universes, and already around the poetic work of Raymond Queneau, then Victor Hugo, a research project extending until 2017 with the ensemble Luxus. In 2007, his compositions for clarinet and cello with Deborah Walker (Dedalus ensemble) turned towards a more contemporary, chiseled writing.He began a series of studies for clarinet, which only had a name since the architecture and articulation with the Lydian system of George Russell and the melodic virtuosity make it a concert experience.He received a commission for a cappella mixed choir from the festival Les Voix des Cairns (Quiberon, France), and founded his own publishing company in 2021, Poetica Vivace Editions.
Cofounder with A. Silva, then director of an improvisation music school in Paris from 1977 to 1987 (I.A.C.P.), Cotinaud taught musical improvisation not only as an idiomatic jazz language, but also in a much freer environment, and has led collective improvisation courses since 1978. He teaches Soundpainting in Paris (Mozart conservatory), with his first official class in Finland, and in many towns in France.He has contributed to the international think tanks of soundpainters (in Bordeaux, London, Barcelona, Paris, Milano, Valencia, Madrid).
Pieces for clarinet: Oreille-Caresse, Jadis-Plume, Puit-Lumière, Eclat-Noir, Cristal-Feuille, Epi-Tambour, Singe-Lune, Bleu-Orange, Phénix (Lydian progressive studies volumes 1, 2 and 3) commissioned by Poetica Vivace Publisching, 2019-2020
Pieces for saxophone: Inventaire, Mode à la joie, Boire, Oribe, Obéir (around Sequenza IX by Luciano Berio) 1998
Pieces for pour various duos: La perte, Poetica Vivace, Dialogue, Hypothesis, Temps perdu (cello-clarinet) 2007-2008Pluie-Chemin (flute-clarinet) 2019 – 2'40"Ombre-Jardin (piece for clarinet and bass-clarinet) 2020 - 2'25"
Pieces for voice, harp and clarinet/tenor saxophone: J'ai rarement vu, Des goûts et des couleurs, Pauvre Jean, Toujours dans la chaussure?, 2009
Pieces for voice, clarinet/tenor saxophone and electric guitar: Crier le Hasard, Prodige, Éternité, Verwandlung, La Bête, spiegele Malerei (around the sonnets to Orpheus of Rainer Maria Rilke), commissioned by label Musivi, 2015 – 30'
Pieces for quartetTikkun Olam for saxophone quartet, 2024 - 19'02" ; Tikkun Olam for string quartet, 2024 - 19'02"
Small jazz ensembles: Le Crotoy (1983), Casa del sol, Acrobaties, Dix-huit carats, Princesse, Temakatamawo, (1989), Métakynesis (1990), Ficus, Voix interdites, Pyramides, Circus (1992), Jeux de mains (1994)Algorithme, Topologie d'un manège, Diagramme, Hologram, Le pendule du Fou, Monoïd, I Would like to be Free, Mes filles commissioned by label Musivi, 2013 – 58'39", Strange Big Sockets for Accordeon, Contralto clarinet and percussions, commissioned by Cie Les Musiques à Ouïr, 2022 - 7'50"
Big jazz ensemble: Chasse-mouche (1983), Ilperel, Indigo, Tishri (1998), Terre libre commissioned by Orchestre de Jazz Départemental - Seine Saint-Denis 2004No it is open on one position commissioned by Orchestre de Jazz Départemental - Seine Saint-Denis 2005World premiere Mue du Monde for 72 children choir and jazz ensemble, on the composer's poetry, commissioned by DRAC Champagne-Ardenne 2006Et le diable a tremblé..., Listes en vrac commissioned by département de la Seine Saint-Denis, 2014Like et Vous m'avez dit, sur un poème d'Emile Verhaeren commissioned by département de la Seine Saint-Denis, 2018
Jazz ensembles and improvised music, with poetry: Le festin des ogres, Jambe de Dieu, Danse avec les fous (pieces around Victor Hugo) 1995, Traversée de la page, Suppositions, Le calligraphe du vide (words by Franz Bartelt), la Sieste, Les Généreuses (words by Dominique Pagnier and François Rabelais), Épouvantails (words by André Velter) 1999Déchiffrage, Modestie, Art Popo, Marine, Silence Coi, Rush, (words by Raymond Queneau), Text'up, Ydol Nabdous (words by the composer) commissioned by label Musivi 2002Enfance, Parade, Voyelles, Being Beauteous, À la Musique, Rêvé pour l'hiver, The Bridges, Barbare, Démocratie (words by Arthur Rimbaud), commissioned by label Musivi 2005Je vis, je meurs, written on the famous poetry of Louise Labé 2018Sacacorchos 2024
Traditional arrangements or pieces: Mis amigos me dan esperanza, Judish-Spanish traditional arrangements 2000, Deki, El rey que tanto madruga 2004
Pieces for ensemble: Variations sur une collection de timbres 2010 Monologue de Schönberg, Palette Cage (Klangfarben ensemble) commissioned by label Musivi, 2012 Fleeting Patterns (2013)Onomatopée, Tadouda-ta, AcrabilA (Klangfarben ensemble) commissioned by ville de Chelles, 2016Découper-colorier-coller, Cités abacules, Dons des pierres qui parlent, La fin de Pompei, L'usage des couleurs, Du nu dans les bleus, Clé de voûte, Aire de jeux acoustiques (ensemble Multilatérale) with Benjamin de la Fuente, commissioned by label Musivi ; 2017 – 51'Ocre-vent (violin/clarinet/tuba/piano) 2'10, Vague-Lune (violin/clarinet/tuba/ piano) 2020 – 4'43
Pieces for a cappella choir: World premiere Orpheus : Un temple dans l'écoute, Elle était une enfant, Le pavot des morts, triptych for a capella mixed choir, commissioned by the DRAC Bretagne 2021 – 13'
Pieces for choir and piano: Exotica on the Charles Baudelaire's poetry : Parfum exotique 2'47"Sommeil paradoxal on the Arthur Rimbaud's poetry : Le Dormeur du Val, 2021 – 4'24"Omnis stultos insanire, 2024 - 6'07"
Pieces for choir, soprano voice, symphonic orchestra: Tempus fugit, utere words by Isabelle Normand, commissioned by festival Les Musicales de Quiberon and Sacem, 2022 - 15' (Festival Les Musicales de Quiberon, Eglise Notre-Dame du Travail 2023/06/04)
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