# Benoît Delbecq

Benoît Delbecq (born 6 June 1966) is a French pianist and composer.

## Early life

Benoît Delbecq was born in Saint-Germain-en-Laye, and raised in a musical environment. He started studying piano in Bougival at the age of seven with Nicolle Mollard, a former student of Alfred Cortot. He first studied jazz harmony with parisian pianist Jean-Pierre Fouquey, then joined IACP in Paris (in 1982), a jazz and improvised music school founded and directed by bassist Alan Silva, while he continued high school and furthermore sound engineering studies. In 1983 he met Mal Waldron who encouraged him to work on his own music. As he had become an assistant director for films as well as an assistant in sound engineering, Delbecq finally opted to become a professional musician after attending the Banff Centre Jazz Workshop, Canada, in the summer of 1987, where he studied with Dave Holland, Steve Coleman and Muhal Richard Abrams among others. He then studied composition and music analysis with Solange Ancona at the Versailles National Conservatory, studied with pianist Georges Delvallée at Cachan Conservatory. Together with saxophonist Guillaume Orti from France, he went back again to the Banff Jazz workshop in the summer of 1990 where he studied under the direction of Steve Coleman. There he met peers like pianists Ethan Iverson and Andy Milne, saxophonists Tony Malaby and Jorrit Dijsktra, and trumpeter Ralph Alessi among others, as well as British drummer Steve Argüelles, a long-term collaborator.

## Later life and career

Since 1989, Delbecq has participated in nearly a hundred and fifty records. He performs solo piano and solo electronics ("MadMacs"), leads or co-leads a number of bands from duos to quintets, and is involved in many multi-disciplinary productions of theater, dance, the visual arts, cinema, radio etc.

## Awards

Benoît was awarded the Prix de la Sacem in 1995 (with collective Kartet). He was also awarded the Prix de la Villa Médicis Hors les Murs in 2001 and the Civitella Foundation (NY) fellowship in 2009. Both The Sixth Jump and Circles and Calligrams (songlines) were awarded a Grand Prix International de l'Académie Charles Cros,

## Selected discography
### As leader/co-leader

| Year recorded | Title | Label | Notes |
| 1992 | Kartet Hask | Adda | with Guillaume Orti, Hubert Dupont, Benjamin Henocq |
| 1993 | Paintings | Deux Z | Quartet, with Guillaume Orti, Joseph Carver, Steve Argüelles |
| 1994 | Les Amants de Juliette | Doc | with Serge Adam and Philippe Foch |
| 1994 | The Recyclers Rhymes | Deux Z | with Steve Argüelles, Noël Akchoté |
| 1995 | Kartet Pression | Deux Z | with Guillaume Orti, Hubert Dupont, Benjamin Henocq |
| 1995 | The Recyclers Visit | Deux Z | with Steve Argüelles and Noël Akchoté, plus Wolter Wierbos, Kenneth Newby and François Houle |
| 1995 | The Recyclers Live in Canada 1995 | Rectangle | with Steve Argüelles, Noël Akchoté |
| 1999 | Ambitronix We Da Man | Plush | with Steve Argüelles |
| 1999 | Pursuit | Songlines | Quintet, with François Houle and Michael Moore (clarinet), Jean-Jacques Avenel (bass), Steve Argüelles (drums) |
| 2001 | Piano Book | Plush | with Steve Argüelles |
| 2001 | Dice Thrown | Songlines | Duo, with François Houle (clarinet) |
| 2001 | Nu Turn | Songlines | Solo piano |
| 2003 | Phonetics | Songlines | Quartet, with Oene van Geel (viola), Mark Helias (bass), Emile Biayenda (drums) |
| 2006 | 9volt Trippin | Plush | As Ambitronix; duo, with Steve Argüelles |
| 2007 | La Lumière de Pierres | Psy | with Evan Parker, François Houle |
| 2008 | The Bay Window | Songlines | with Guillaume Orti, Hubert Dupont, Chander Sardjoe |
| 2008 | Way Beneath the Surface | Songlines | As Poolplayers; quartet, with Arve Henriksen, Lars Juul, Steve Argüelles |
| 2009 | Where Is Pannonica? | Songlines | with Andy Milne |
| 2010 | Circles and Calligrams | Songlines | Solo piano |
| 2010 | The Sixth Jump | Songlines | with JJ Avenel and Emile Biayenda |
| 2011 | Balance des blancs | Sofa | with Kim Myhr, Nils Ostendorf and Toma Gouband |
| 2011 | Because She Hoped | Songlines | Duo, with François Houle (clarinet) |
| 2012 | Crescendo in Duke | nato | With various others |
| 2013 | Fun House | Songlines | As Benoit Delbecq/Fred Hersch Double Trio; with Fred Hersch (piano), Jean-Jacques Avenel and Mark Helias (bass), Steve Argüelles (drums, electronics), Gerry Hemingway (drums) |
| 2014 | Grand Laps | Songlines | with Guillaume Orti, Hubert Dupont, Stéphane Galland |
| 2013 | Fourth Landscape | NuScope | Trio, with Samuel Blaser (trombone), Gerry Hemingway (drums, percussion) |
| 2014 | Grand Laps | Songlines | with Guillaume Orti, Hubert Dupont, Stéphane Galland |
| 2014 | Les Amants de Juliette s'électrolysent | Doc | Trio, with Serge Adam (trumpet), Philippe Foch (percussion) |
| 2015 | Tout Va Monter | nato | Trio, with Joëlle Léandre (bass), Carnage the Executioner (voice, beatbox, percussion) |
| 2015 | Ink | Clean Feed | Trio, with Miles Perkin (bass), Emile Biayenda (drums, percussion) |
| 2015 | rue Paul Fort | Leo | with Joëlle Léandre, François Houle, Benoît Delbecq 19 |
| 2016 | Illegal Crowns | RogueArt | with Mary Halvorson, Taylor Ho Bynum, Tomas Fujiwara |
| 2016 | Evergreens | dStream | As Plug and Pray; duo, with Jozef Dumoulin (Rhodes, bass station, keyboards, e-drumming) |
| 2017 | Foley | dStream | As Manasonics; trio, with Nicolas Becker (foley, sound design), Steve Argüelles (drums) |
| 2017 | Solo | | Solo piano; in concert; released as download or stream |
| 2017 | Spots on Stripes | Clean Feed | Quartet, with Mark Turner (tenor sax), John Hébert (bass), Gerald Cleaver (drums) |
| 2018 | Davout | dStream | As The Recyclers; trio, with Christophe "Disco" Minck (bass, ngoni, moog, harp), Steve Argüelles (drums, percussion) |
| 2019 | The No-Nosed Puppet | RogueArt | As Illegal Crowns; with Mary Halvorson, Taylor Ho Bynum and Tomas Fujiwara |
| 2020 | Hopetown - Claudia Solal and Benoît Delbecq | RogueArt | rec. 2018. |
| 2020 | Deep Ford - You May Cross Here | | with Robin Fincker and Sylvain Darrifourcq (BMC). |
| 2021 | The Weight of Light - solo piano | Pyroclastic | rec. March 2020. |
| 2023 | Unclosing | Out Of Your Head | As Illegal Crowns; with Mary Halvorson, Taylor Ho Bynum, Tomas Fujiwara |