Kris Defoort
Encyclopedia
Kris Defoort is a Belgian
avant-garde
jazz
pianist
and composer
. He was born in 1959 in Bruges
. He also teaches at the Brussels
conservatory. His brother is Bart Defoort (saxophonist and composer).
He entered in 1978 the Antwerp conservatory to study early music and flute
. He graduated 4 years later and he then decided to study contemporary music and jazz at the Liège conservatory. Frederic Rzewski
, Henri Pousseur
and Garrett List
were among his teachers. In 1986 Defoort released his first recording with his quintet
Diva Smiles. The next year, he went to New York
to study at New York Long Island University Brooklyn. He recorded there with Vincent Herring
and Jack DeJohnette
. On his return in 1991, he founded his own ensemble
named K.D.'s Pretty Big Basement Party. The following year, he recorded the first CD for De Werf
label (based in Bruges) with K. D.'s Basement Party. They toured in France
, Belgium and the Netherlands
in 1991 and then released a CD called "Sketches of Belgium
" the next year, a reference to Miles Davis
's "Sketches of Spain
". The album, the first edited by De Werf
, included an instrumental cover of Sting's Roxanne
as well as two songs written by Thelonious Monk
. In 1995 Defoort composed (with Fabrizio Cassol
) the Variations On A Love Supreme
. Defoort took part in the Octurn
project in 1996 (he had already composed their 1994 album) and began to play with Mark Turner
. A year later he recorded with Aka Moon
on Elohim. He then formed a new ensemble (Dreamtime). He also has his own quartet
with Mark Turner (tenor saxophone
), Nicolas Thys
(bass guitar
and double bass
) and Jim Black
(drums
).
His first work for them was the dance piece Passages with Fatou Traoré, premiered in 2001.
His first opera, created in collaboration with director Guy Cassiers was The Woman Who Walked into Doors, after the novel of the same name
by Roddy Doyle
. It premiered in November 2001 at deSingel in Ghent, before a very successful tour of Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, and the Festival d'Automne in Paris, the Musica festival in Strasbourg and the Ruhrtriennale
in Germany. In October 2003, there were three performances in Dublin (the setting of the novel), at the Gaiety Theatre. Defoort split the orchestration between his own Dreamtime jazz ensemble and the classical Beethoven Academy (the Prometheus Ensemble in later performances). On the stage, the role of the main character, Paula Spencer, was also split between the soprano Claron McFadden
and the actress Jacqueline Blom, with all other characters being represented by pre-recorded video and projected texts.
In 2003, Defoort worked again with McFadden and Dreamtime in ConVerSations/ConSerVations, a project to synthesise Renaissance and contemporary musics.
His second opera, again with Cassiers, was The House of Sleeping Beauties based on the eponymous novella
by Yasunari Kawabata
. It received its world premiere at La Monnaie
, in May 2009, as part of the kunstenFESTIVALdesArts, before touring the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg and France. The actor Dirk Roofthooft played and sang the lead character of Eguchi, the old man who visits a brothel to lie alongside the bodies of anaesthetized young women, to reflect on the poignant passage of time, the process of ageing and death. Defoort emphasises the emotional differences between the unreal, timeless floating world
inside the brothel and the mundane world outside, by using only sung voice inside, and only spoken voice outside.
The Brodsky Concerts, premiered in Geneva in September 2010, pairs the poetry of the Russian Nobel prize winner Joseph Brodsky
, recited by Roofthooft, with improvisations at the piano from Kris Defoort to express "that which is impossible to say with words".
The Aix-en-Provence Festival
has commissioned an opera from Defoort and the Canadian writer/ director Wajdi Mouawad
for the 2013 festival.
He has recorded as a member of:
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
avant-garde
Avant-garde
Avant-garde means "advance guard" or "vanguard". The adjective form is used in English to refer to people or works that are experimental or innovative, particularly with respect to art, culture, and politics....
jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
pianist
Pianist
A pianist is a musician who plays the piano. A professional pianist can perform solo pieces, play with an ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers, solo instrumentalists, or other performers.-Choice of genres:...
and composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
. He was born in 1959 in Bruges
Bruges
Bruges is the capital and largest city of the province of West Flanders in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is located in the northwest of the country....
. He also teaches at the Brussels
Brussels
Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...
conservatory. His brother is Bart Defoort (saxophonist and composer).
He entered in 1978 the Antwerp conservatory to study early music and flute
Flute
The flute is a musical instrument of the woodwind family. Unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is an aerophone or reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air across an opening...
. He graduated 4 years later and he then decided to study contemporary music and jazz at the Liège conservatory. Frederic Rzewski
Frederic Rzewski
Frederic Anthony Rzewski is an American composer and virtuoso pianist.- Biography :Rzewski began playing piano at age 5. He attended Phillips Academy, Harvard and Princeton, where his teachers included Randall Thompson, Roger Sessions, Walter Piston and Milton Babbitt...
, Henri Pousseur
Henri Pousseur
Henri Pousseur was a Belgian composer.-Biography:Pousseur studied at the Academies of Music in Liège and in Brussels from 1947 to 1953. He was closely associated with Pierre Froidebise and André Souris...
and Garrett List
Garrett List
Garrett List is an American trombonist, vocalist and composer.In 1950, he moved with his family to Southern California. At the age of 18, he already was busy teaching, playing and composing music . In 1965 he left California and settled in New York, where he attended the famous Juilliard School of...
were among his teachers. In 1986 Defoort released his first recording with his quintet
Quintet
A quintet is a group containing five members.It is commonly associated with musical groups, such as a string quintet, or a group of five singers, but can be applied to any situation where five similar or related objects are considered a single unit....
Diva Smiles. The next year, he went to New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
to study at New York Long Island University Brooklyn. He recorded there with Vincent Herring
Vincent Herring
Vincent Herring is an American jazz hard bop and post-bop saxophonist and flautist.-Biography:Herring's formal musical education began at age 11, when he started playing saxophone in school bands and studying privately at Dean Frederick's School Of Music in Vallejo, California...
and Jack DeJohnette
Jack DeJohnette
Jack DeJohnette is an American jazz drummer, pianist, and composer. He is one of the most influential jazz drummers of the 20th century, due to extensive work as leader and sideman for musicians like Miles Davis, Joe Henderson, Freddie Hubbard, Keith Jarrett and Sonny...
. On his return in 1991, he founded his own ensemble
Musical ensemble
A musical ensemble is a group of people who perform instrumental or vocal music. In classical music, trios or quartets either blend the sounds of musical instrument families or group together instruments from the same instrument family, such as string ensembles or wind ensembles...
named K.D.'s Pretty Big Basement Party. The following year, he recorded the first CD for De Werf
De Werf
De Werf is a Belgian arts center based in Bruges. It organizes concerts and records CDs for jazz musicians. The first record it released was Sketches of Belgium by K. D.'s Basement Party, a band led by Kris Defoort. The next year, Octurn's first album went out on this label...
label (based in Bruges) with K. D.'s Basement Party. They toured in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, Belgium and the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
in 1991 and then released a CD called "Sketches of Belgium
Sketches of Belgium
Sketches of Belgium is a 1993 album by jazz band K. D.'s Basement Party led by Kris Defoort. It is the first release of De Werf label, and the only release by K. D.'s Basement Party. The three musicians from Aka Moon play on the album...
" the next year, a reference to Miles Davis
Miles Davis
Miles Dewey Davis III was an American jazz musician, trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. Widely considered one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Miles Davis was, with his musical groups, at the forefront of several major developments in jazz music, including bebop, cool jazz,...
's "Sketches of Spain
Sketches of Spain
Sketches of Spain is an album by Miles Davis, recorded between November 1959 and March 1960 at the Columbia 30th Street Studio in New York City....
". The album, the first edited by De Werf
De Werf
De Werf is a Belgian arts center based in Bruges. It organizes concerts and records CDs for jazz musicians. The first record it released was Sketches of Belgium by K. D.'s Basement Party, a band led by Kris Defoort. The next year, Octurn's first album went out on this label...
, included an instrumental cover of Sting's Roxanne
Roxanne (song)
"Roxanne" is a hit song by the rock band The Police, first released in 1978 as a single and on their album Outlandos d'Amour. It was written from the point-of-view of a man who falls in love with a prostitute.- History :...
as well as two songs written by Thelonious Monk
Thelonious Monk
Thelonious Sphere Monk was an American jazz pianist and composer considered "one of the giants of American music". Monk had a unique improvisational style and made numerous contributions to the standard jazz repertoire, including "Epistrophy", "'Round Midnight", "Blue Monk", "Straight, No Chaser"...
. In 1995 Defoort composed (with Fabrizio Cassol
Fabrizio Cassol
Fabrizio Cassol is a Belgian saxophonist and the first user of the aulochrome .He was born in Ougrée, Belgium. Between 1982 and 1985, he studied at the Liège conservatory and obtained a first prize for saxophone while majoring in chamber music. He graduated in improvisation and composition...
) the Variations On A Love Supreme
Variations on A Love Supreme
Variations on A Love Supreme is a jazz album composed by Fabrizio Cassol and Kris Defoort. It contains variations on A Love Supreme, the classic jazz album by the John Coltrane quartet...
. Defoort took part in the Octurn
Octurn
Octurn is a Belgian polyrhythmic jazz ensemble led by Bo Van Der Werf . Its lineup as well as the composers are changed for every album...
project in 1996 (he had already composed their 1994 album) and began to play with Mark Turner
Mark Turner (musician)
Mark Turner is a jazz saxophonist and clarinetist with several recordings to his credit.-Biographical information:Born in Fairborn, Ohio, and raised in Southern California, Turner originally intended to become a commercial artist. In elementary school he played the clarinet, followed by the alto...
. A year later he recorded with Aka Moon
Aka Moon
Aka Moon is a Belgian avant-garde jazz band. Saxophonist Fabrizio Cassol, bassist Michel Hatzigeorgiou, and drummer Stéphane Galland are the founding members of the core trio...
on Elohim. He then formed a new ensemble (Dreamtime). He also has his own quartet
Quartet
In music, a quartet is a method of instrumentation , used to perform a musical composition, and consisting of four parts.-Western art music:...
with Mark Turner (tenor saxophone
Saxophone
The saxophone is a conical-bore transposing musical instrument that is a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet. The saxophone was invented by the Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax in 1846...
), Nicolas Thys
Nicolas Thys
Nicolas Thys is a Belgian bassist. He graduated in 1994 from the Hilversum Conservatory , where he also taught bass and double bass. Thys took private lessons with Dave Holland, Marc Helias and Marc Johnson. He received several awards, most notably the Golden Django award for best young talent in...
(bass guitar
Bass guitar
The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
and double bass
Double bass
The double bass, also called the string bass, upright bass, standup bass or contrabass, is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra, with strings usually tuned to E1, A1, D2 and G2...
) and Jim Black
Jim Black
Jim Black is a jazz drummer who has performed with Tim Berne and Dave Douglas, among others. He attended Berklee College of Music....
(drums
Drum kit
A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
).
Opera and music-theatre
In 1998, Defoort became a composer-in-residence at LOD, a production company specialising in contemporary music theatre in Ghent.His first work for them was the dance piece Passages with Fatou Traoré, premiered in 2001.
His first opera, created in collaboration with director Guy Cassiers was The Woman Who Walked into Doors, after the novel of the same name
The Woman Who Walked Into Doors
The Woman Who Walked Into Doors is a novel by Irish writer Roddy Doyle, adapted from the 1994 RTÉ/BBC miniseries Family.-Plot summary:The novel tells the struggle and survival of an abused wife named Paula Spencer. It is narrated by the victim...
by Roddy Doyle
Roddy Doyle
Roddy Doyle is an Irish novelist, dramatist and screenwriter. Several of his books have been made into successful films, beginning with The Commitments in 1991. He won the Booker Prize in 1993....
. It premiered in November 2001 at deSingel in Ghent, before a very successful tour of Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, and the Festival d'Automne in Paris, the Musica festival in Strasbourg and the Ruhrtriennale
Ruhrtriennale
The Ruhrtriennale is an annual music and arts festival in the northwestern area of Germany which runs between mid-August and mid-October. It was founded in 2002 by the government of North Rhine-Westphalia with Gerard Mortier, the impresario and former artistic director of the Salzburg Festival, as...
in Germany. In October 2003, there were three performances in Dublin (the setting of the novel), at the Gaiety Theatre. Defoort split the orchestration between his own Dreamtime jazz ensemble and the classical Beethoven Academy (the Prometheus Ensemble in later performances). On the stage, the role of the main character, Paula Spencer, was also split between the soprano Claron McFadden
Claron McFadden
Claron McFadden is an American soprano. McFadden studied voice at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York, finishing her degree in 1984....
and the actress Jacqueline Blom, with all other characters being represented by pre-recorded video and projected texts.
In 2003, Defoort worked again with McFadden and Dreamtime in ConVerSations/ConSerVations, a project to synthesise Renaissance and contemporary musics.
His second opera, again with Cassiers, was The House of Sleeping Beauties based on the eponymous novella
The House of the Sleeping Beauties
House of the Sleeping Beauties is a novella by Nobel Prize winning author Yasunari Kawabata.A story about a lonely man, Old Eguchi continuously visits the House of the Sleeping Beauties in hopes of something more....
by Yasunari Kawabata
Yasunari Kawabata
was a Japanese short story writer and novelist whose spare, lyrical, subtly-shaded prose works won him the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1968, the first Japanese author to receive the award...
. It received its world premiere at La Monnaie
La Monnaie
Le Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie , or the Koninklijke Muntschouwburg is a theatre in Brussels, Belgium....
, in May 2009, as part of the kunstenFESTIVALdesArts, before touring the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg and France. The actor Dirk Roofthooft played and sang the lead character of Eguchi, the old man who visits a brothel to lie alongside the bodies of anaesthetized young women, to reflect on the poignant passage of time, the process of ageing and death. Defoort emphasises the emotional differences between the unreal, timeless floating world
Ukiyo
Ukiyo described the urban lifestyle, especially the pleasure-seeking aspects, of Edo-period Japan . The "Floating World" culture developed in Yoshiwara, the licensed red-light district of Edo , which was the site of many brothels, chashitsu tea houses, and kabuki theaters frequented by Japan's...
inside the brothel and the mundane world outside, by using only sung voice inside, and only spoken voice outside.
The Brodsky Concerts, premiered in Geneva in September 2010, pairs the poetry of the Russian Nobel prize winner Joseph Brodsky
Joseph Brodsky
Iosif Aleksandrovich Brodsky , was a Russian poet and essayist.In 1964, 23-year-old Brodsky was arrested and charged with the crime of "social parasitism" He was expelled from the Soviet Union in 1972 and settled in America with the help of W. H. Auden and other supporters...
, recited by Roofthooft, with improvisations at the piano from Kris Defoort to express "that which is impossible to say with words".
The Aix-en-Provence Festival
Aix-en-Provence Festival
The festival international d'art lyrique is an annual international music festival which takes place each summer in Aix-en-Provence, principally in the month of July. Devoted mainly to opera, it also includes concerts of orchestral, chamber, vocal and solo instrumental music.-Establishment:The...
has commissioned an opera from Defoort and the Canadian writer/ director Wajdi Mouawad
Wajdi Mouawad
Wajdi Mouawad, OC is a Canadian writer, actor and director born in Lebanon in 1968. After living in France for a short time, he moved to Quebec in 1983.- Biography :He obtained his diploma from the National Theatre School of Canada in 1991....
for the 2013 festival.
Bands
He leads (or led):- Diva Smiles
- K. D.'s Basement Party
- K.D.'s Decade
- Variations On A Love SupremeVariations on A Love SupremeVariations on A Love Supreme is a jazz album composed by Fabrizio Cassol and Kris Defoort. It contains variations on A Love Supreme, the classic jazz album by the John Coltrane quartet...
- Kris Defoort's Dreamtime
- Kris Defoort quartet
- Kris Defoort trio
He has recorded as a member of:
- Garrett List Ensemble
- Deep In The Deep
- OcturnOcturnOcturn is a Belgian polyrhythmic jazz ensemble led by Bo Van Der Werf . Its lineup as well as the composers are changed for every album...
Performances
- Past and future performances (all genres) from Kris Defoort's website
- Recent and future performances of Defoort operas from OperabaseOperabaseOperabase is an on-line database of opera performances, opera houses and companies, performers themselves as well as their agents. Operabase, found at operabase.com, is owned and operated by Operabase Ltd, a company located in Luton, England. The site started in 1996 as the hobby of Mike Gibb,...