Sylvain Rifflet
Origin: France
It is not only one of the best current saxophonists that we will come to applaud, but also one of his most successful works. Sylvain Rifflet has risen to a European musical level and is one of the most popular musicians to follow.
About us
Saxophonist, clarinetist, Sylvain Rifflet is one of the most brilliant jazz musicians of his generation. After "Mechanics", best french jazz album of the year 2016 then "Re Focus", released on the prestigious label Verve in reference to the historical album "Focus" by Stan Getz, "Troubadours " that received "Choc " award of the year from Jazz Magazine, he released a new album "Aux Anges" in February 2022 that received many awards and great reviews.
Saxophonist, Clarinettist and French composer, graduated from the Conservatoire de Paris, Sylvain Rifflet is the winner of the competition of La Defense and has received several awards including a "victoire du jazz" and a "Django d’or".
He has performed or recorded with many musicians, including some of the "must-see" performers on the European scene (Louis Sclavis, Aldo Romano, Michel Portal, Kenny Wheeler, Riccardo Del Fra ...) but also alongside American musicians such as Joey Baron, Jon Irabagon, Jon Hollenbeck, or Michael Formaneck ...
Spearheading the young generation of jazz musicians from the first decade of the 21st century, he has collaborated with those who are today on the front of the European "new scene": Verneri Pohjola, Airelle Besson, Thomas de Pourquery , Alban Darche, Jocelyn Mienniel, Pascal Schumacher, Rembrandt Freirichs, Florian Weber, Eve Risser, Sébastien Boisseau, Henning Sieverts and Fred Pallem ...
Noticed as a composer in 2011 after the publication of "Alphabet" he subsequently published two albums on behalf of the Jazz Village label: "Perpetual Motion - a celebration of Moondog" in 2014 and "Mechanics" in 2015.
He has also been a resident or associated artist of the following structures Jazz au fil de l'Oise, Festival Banlieues Bleues, national scene of Alençon, Conservatoire de Besançon, Festival Like a jazz Machine, (Luxembourg.) Festival Jazztopad (Poland) ...
Quoting Stan Getz as his main saxophonist influence, the composer gladly draws in the field of American repetitive and minimalist music to develop a writing mixing improvisation, repetition, rupture, "bruitism" and even sometimes trance.
External links:
WebsiteAssociated Projects
Line-up: Sylvain Rifflet - saxophone & Shruti box, Verneri Pohjola - trumpett, Philippe Gordiani - guitar, Benjamin Flament - percussion
In the ten years since he opened his discography with Mechanics (winner of a Victoire du Jazz award), Sylvain Rifflet has demonstrated a definite taste for demanding, skilfully-constructed programmes. Aux Anges is no exception to the rule, although it does show a more personal side to the saxophonist's work, with each of the pieces on offer honouring a reference. Abbey Lincoln, Moondog, Stan Getz, Jon Irabagon, Steve Reich and even James Baldwin or Claude Sautet are all featured on a highly written, dynamic and relatively electric, even electronic, framework between Philippe Gordiani's guitars, Verneri Pohjola's trumpet and effects and Benjamin Flament's percussion...
Line-up: Sylvain Rifflet - sax, Bétina Kee - keyboards, Vincent Taeger - drums
TRi!PLE is a new kind of trio. Free from influences.
A jazz trio ... but not just jazz. Melodic and danceable, written and free, acoustic and electronic.
Tailor-made for drummer Vincent Taeger and keyboardist Bettina Kee.
A sonic shift with this singular formula, but also an aesthetic shift.
Borrowing heavily from the codes of electronic music and rock, the trio's music is built around rhythms, combinations of timbres and precise atmospheres, developing spaces that are sometimes dreamlike and soaring, sometimes more muscular and committed.
> listen to 4 demo tracks ICI
Line-up: Sylvain Rifflet, saxophone, shruti box
In the langue d'oc, Trobador means 'finder', a creator, composer and performer of poetry and music. Sylvain Rifflet is a worthy descendant of those twelfth-century troubadours whose portrait his latest quartet paints: from project to project, he finds new ways of combining and making the word jazz resonate. By taking an interest in monodic medieval music, accompanied at the time by a drone, he has adopted a shruti-box, an Indian instrument with free reeds and a bellows. Alone on stage, he confronts the wonderful muffled, airy sound of his saxophone with this fascinating drone, around the first musical poems of love and a few jazz standards.
Line-up: Sylvain Rifflet - sax / Jon Irabagon - sax / Sylvaine Hélary - flûte / Philippe Gordiani - guitare / Benjamin Flament - percussions / Rembrandt Frerichs - piano
Saxophonist Sylvain Rifflet revisits in sound and image the somewhat forgotten personality and music of Moondog, an extravagant figure in the New York underground of the 50s and 70s, a friend of Leonard Bernstein and Charlie Parker, and a source of inspiration and influence for the pioneers of repetitive music...
The surrealist may have left the world of the living, but his soul still lives on in many musicians.
Perpetual Motion', the event-creation conceived by Sylvain Rifflet with fellow American saxophonist Jon Irabagon, takes this approach, inviting his brilliant Alphabet quartet, pianist Eve Risser and even two choirs of schoolchildren from Bobigny.
The aim is to reinterpret Moondog's music, to explore the sprawling, spectacular city (video has its place here), and to take off into other imaginary worlds.
Created for the Banlieues Bleues festival, with the support of the French American Jazz Exchange and the Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation
Press
aux anges
telerama
citizen jazz
Concerts
| Date | Concert | Place |
|---|---|---|
| 21 May | Sylvain Rifflet / Théâtre de Sénart | Lieusaint cedex (77) Théâtre de Sénart |
| 22 May | Sylvain Rifflet / Atmac / Centre Culturel Paul Baillart | {20:30-00:00} Massy (91) Atmac / Centre Culturel Paul Baillart |
| 12 Jun | Sylvain Rifflet / L'arsenal | Metz (57) L'arsenal |