West Vincent Courtois

• 1 So Much Water So Close To Home 04:12
• 2 1852 Metres Plus Tard 08:24
• 3 Modalités 03:45
• 4 Nowhere 04:36
• 5 L'intuition 03:15
• 6 West 06:07
• 7 Freaks 03:56
• 8 Tim Au Nohic 03:00
• 9 Desarconné 02:57
• 10 Sémaphore 02:41
• 11 1852 Metres Plus Tard Version Courte 04:29
• Total Runtime 47:22

Info zu West

„I feel that my music has become more precise, evolving towards an ideal point or place - great spaces, melodic silences, monumental landscapes one can travel on intimate routes, thanks to mysterious hidden maps' comments Vincent Courtois who lately has been collaborating with other artists of various discipines, be it cinema (he composed the original score for Ernest and Célestine, a César winning and Academy Award nominated animation movie), literature (Raymond Carver's America, a musical play starring Pierre Baux) or photography (Intuition, with Michael Ackerman and Christian Caujolle, Rencontres d'Arles 2014).

'Conceiving, writing and orchestrating notes, almost like they were a travel plan, has become the main axis of my work, one that I cannot do without. A recording studio is a place like no other, these musical roads unwind and come alive'.

The mythical studio La Buissonne, where Vincent Courtois has been once more invited to work, first solo with producer and sound engineer Gérard de Haro, then with pianist Benjamin Moussay and saxophonists Daniel Erdmann and Robin Fincker, is the birth place of quite a unique record: 'While we recorded and mixed it, the title kept playing in my mind, a single word, 'WEST', a direction, almost a decision, a resolution; a journey elsewhere, towards the unknown, and a promise of great discoveries' Vincent Courtois adds.

„West“ is an important record, a testimony to the uncompromising poetic choices of a musician who has chosen to exile voluntarily, to retreat within himself in order to create great new horizons for his audience.

Vincent Courtois, cello, guide chant (4)
Daniel Erdmann, tenor saxophone (on tracks 3, 7, 9)
Robin Fincker, clarinet (on track 3), tenor saxophone (on tracks 7, 8)
Benjamin Moussay, piano, harpsichord, celesta, toy piano (on tracks 3, 4, 6, 8, 9)


Recorded on September 1, 2, 3, 4 and mixed November 20 and 21, 2014 at Studios La Buissonne Recorded and mixed by Gérard de Haro
Mastering by Nicolas Baillard at Studios La Buissonne
Produced by Gérard de Haro and RJAL, la Compagnie de l'Imprévu

Vincent Courtois
was born in Paris in 1968 and began playing the cello when he was six years old .He took classical studies at the conservatory in Aubervilliers and Paris with Erwan Fauré, Xavier Gagnepain, Roland Pidoux and Fréderick Lodéon while discovering jazz and improvisation with Didier Levallet, Dominique Pifarely and Christian Escoudé.

Vincent Courtois began playing in various Parisian groups and his first CD as a leader, titled "Cello News", was released in 1990.Since then Vincent Courtois has recorded more than ten cd's‚ as a leader, among them: "Translucide" (with Michel Godard and Noel Akchoté) , "The Fitting Room" with (Dominique Pifarely and Marc Ducret) both for Enja Records , "What do you mean by silence?" (Le Triton), and " L'homme Avion" ( Chief Inspector).

Vincent played in several of Rabih Abou Khalil's bands ("Yara" and "The Cactus of Knowledge") and plays frequently with clarinetist Louis Sclavis ("L'affrontement des prétendants", "Dans la nuit" and "Napoli's walls" on ECM Records). Vincent also plays regularly with trombonist Yves Robert ( "In Touch" on ECM and "Inspirine" on Chief Inspector) and pianist Sylvie Courvoisier ("Lonelyville" on Intakt and "Asap" on CamJazz)

In the past twenty years Vincent Courtois has played or recorded with artists such as Pierre Favre, James Newton, Laurent de Wilde, Julien Lourau, Jim Black, Tomas Stanko, Dave Douglas, Renaud Garcia Fons, Tom Raney, Mark Nauseef, Joachim Kuhn, Michel Portal, Cyril Atef, Maxime Delpierre, Benoit Delbecq, Henri Texier, Dave Holland, François Corneloup, Wolfang Pouchnick, Mark Feldman , Médéric Collignon, Martial Solal, Michel Petrucciani, Gérard Marais, Rita mitsuko, John Greaves, Michelle Rabbia, Marilyn Crispell, Gerald Cleaver, Ikue Mori and many others great musicians...

Booklet für West