Michel Delville
Encyclopedia
Michel Delville is a musician, writer and teacher born in Liège
, Belgium
, in 1969.
He has been performing and composing alternative music since the mid-1980s. His most recent projects include the quintet The Wrong Object
(which he founded in 2002 and for which he has written nearly all the songs that have been released so far ), Belgian-Swiss punk
-jazz quartet Trank Zappa Grappa in Varèse, Alex Maguire's Electric 6tet, the New Texture Pan Tonal Fellowship (under the direction of Stanley Jason Zappa), the Ed Mann Project, and the new Belgo-Dutch combo the Moving Tones. He has played and recorded with Elton Dean
, Annie Whitehead
, Harry Beckett
, Richard Sinclair
, Ed Mann
, Alex Maguire, Chris Cutler
, Benoît Moerlen
(who joined the Moving Tones for a series of gigs in 2008), Tony Bianco, Karen Mantler
, Geoff Leigh
, Guy Segers, Dirk Wachtelear and others. The last few years have been a productive period, with recording and touring taking Delville to many different countries (including Japan, England, Germany, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Wales, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Greece, Luxembourg and Belgium). Radio programmes about his musical works - and about the music he has written for The Wrong Object
since 2002 - have been aired by RTBF, RAI3, RTC, VPRO, and many other independent TV and radio channels, and received positive reviews from publications such as Jazzwise
, Downbeat
, Guitar Player
,Signal to Noise
, Allmusic, Musica Jazz (July 2008), Jazz Review, Exposé
(September 2008), and others independent magazines, e-zines and blogs.
In the Summer of 2009 he teamed up with [Alex Maguire] (Michael Moore
, Elton Dean
, Sean Bergin
, ...) and [Tony Bianco] (Dave Liebman
, Paul Dunmall
, Evan Parker
, Peter Brötzmann
) to create a new power-trio named douBt. Their debut release, Never Pet a Burning Dog, features Richard Sinclair
on guest vocals and bass. The project toured Japan and Europe in 2010.
Delville was voted one of the 10 best electric guitarists of the year 2010 by Arnaldo DeSouteiro's Annual Jazz Station Poll, which also voted douBt
3rd best Instrumental Group.
In 2010 he was invited to join and coordinate Comicoperando
, a tribute to the music of Robert Wyatt
whose line-up includes Dagmar Krause
, Richard Sinclair
, Annie Whitehead
, Gilad Atzmon
, Alex Maguire, Chris Cutler
, John Edwards
and Cristiano Calcagnile. In the Spring of that same year, Delville officially joined the international collective 48 Cameras.
Delville currently teaches literature and comparative literature at the University of Liège
, where he directs the Interdisciplinary Center for Applied Poetics. He is the author of several books pertaining to comparative poetics and interdisciplinary studies (see the selected bibliography below). He has also edited four volumes and published about one hundred articles dealing with contemporary poetics and interdisciplinary studies. His awards and distinctions include the 1998 SAMLA Book Award, the Choice Outstanding Book Award, the Léon Guérin Prize, the 2001 Alumni Award of the Belgian American Educational FoundationBAEF 2001 Alumni Award, the rank of Officer of the Order of Leopold (Belgium) I (2009), and the 2009 Prix Wernaers pour la recherche et la diffusion des connaissances.
As editor or co-editor:
Liège
Liège is a major city and municipality of Belgium located in the province of Liège, of which it is the economic capital, in Wallonia, the French-speaking region of Belgium....
, Belgium
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...
, in 1969.
He has been performing and composing alternative music since the mid-1980s. His most recent projects include the quintet The Wrong Object
The Wrong Object
The Wrong Object is an avant-garde jazz fusion band from Belgium. Its current line-up is Michel Delville on guitar, guitar-synth, voice and compositions, Bart Maris on trumpet, Joe Higham on saxophone and clarinet, Antoine Guenet on keyboards, Pierre Mottet on bass and electronics, and Laurent...
(which he founded in 2002 and for which he has written nearly all the songs that have been released so far ), Belgian-Swiss punk
Punk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
-jazz quartet Trank Zappa Grappa in Varèse, Alex Maguire's Electric 6tet, the New Texture Pan Tonal Fellowship (under the direction of Stanley Jason Zappa), the Ed Mann Project, and the new Belgo-Dutch combo the Moving Tones. He has played and recorded with Elton Dean
Elton Dean
Elton Dean was an English jazz musician who performed on alto saxophone, saxello and occasionally keyboard....
, Annie Whitehead
Annie Whitehead
Annie Whitehead is an English jazz trombone player.-Career:Annie learned trombone at school; at 14 she was already busy playing with brass bands, local dance groups and the Manchester Youth Jazz Orchestra and began her professional career at sixteen. Among her initial influences were Miles Davis,...
, Harry Beckett
Harry Beckett
Harold Winston "Harry" Beckett was a British trumpeter and flugelhorn player.-Biography:A resident in the UK since 1954, Harry Beckett had an international reputation. In 1961, he played with Charles Mingus in the film All Night Long. In the 1960s he worked and recorded within the band of bass...
, Richard Sinclair
Richard Sinclair
Richard S. Sinclair is a progressive rock bassist, guitarist and vocalist who has been a member of several bands of the Canterbury scene.-Biography:...
, Ed Mann
Ed Mann
Ed Mann has been "a drummer and piano dabbler since childhood", best known for his mallet percusion recorded and live work with Frank Zappa from 1977 to the end of Zappa's career.- Career :...
, Alex Maguire, Chris Cutler
Chris Cutler
Chris Cutler is an English percussionist, composer, lyricist and music theorist. Best known for his work with English avant-rock group Henry Cow, Cutler was also a member and drummer of a number of other bands, including Art Bears, News from Babel, Pere Ubu and Gong/Mothergong...
, Benoît Moerlen
Benoît Moerlen
Benoît Moerlen is a French percussionist, best known for his work in Gong, Pierre Moerlen's Gong and a later off-shoot Gongzilla.-History:...
(who joined the Moving Tones for a series of gigs in 2008), Tony Bianco, Karen Mantler
Karen Mantler
Karen Mantler is an American jazz musician, harmonca player, singer and composer. She is the daughter of Carla Bley and Michael Mantler....
, Geoff Leigh
Geoff Leigh
Geoff Leigh is an English jazz and progressive rock musician, playing primarily soprano sax and flute. He was a member of the English avant-rock group Henry Cow and founded several bands himself, including Red Balune, Random Bob, Black Sheep, Mirage, and Ex-Wise Heads.-Biography:Geoff Leigh's...
, Guy Segers, Dirk Wachtelear and others. The last few years have been a productive period, with recording and touring taking Delville to many different countries (including Japan, England, Germany, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Wales, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Greece, Luxembourg and Belgium). Radio programmes about his musical works - and about the music he has written for The Wrong Object
The Wrong Object
The Wrong Object is an avant-garde jazz fusion band from Belgium. Its current line-up is Michel Delville on guitar, guitar-synth, voice and compositions, Bart Maris on trumpet, Joe Higham on saxophone and clarinet, Antoine Guenet on keyboards, Pierre Mottet on bass and electronics, and Laurent...
since 2002 - have been aired by RTBF, RAI3, RTC, VPRO, and many other independent TV and radio channels, and received positive reviews from publications such as Jazzwise
Jazzwise
Jazzwise Publications Limited is a UK-based specialist jazz music publisher and education company. It was founded in 1984 as a mail-order company promoting jazz and improvisation through catalogues and short courses and workshops for musicians...
, Downbeat
Downbeat
Downbeat, down beat or Down Beat may refer to:*Downbeat, the first beat of a measure in music. This terms originated from orchestral conducting, where the lowest point on the baton signals the first downbeat in a given measure...
, Guitar Player
Guitar Player
Guitar Player is a popular magazine for guitarists founded in 1967. It contains articles, interviews, reviews and lessons of an eclectic collection of artists, genres and products. It has been in print since the late 1960s and during the 1980s, under editor Tom Wheeler, the publication was...
,Signal to Noise
Signal to Noise
Signal to Noise is a graphic novel written by Neil Gaiman and illustrated by Dave McKean. It was originally serialised in the UK style magazine The Face, beginning in 1989, and collected as a graphic novel in 1992, published by Victor Gollancz Ltd in the UK and by Dark Horse Comics in the US.The...
, Allmusic, Musica Jazz (July 2008), Jazz Review, Exposé
Expose
Expose, exposé, or exposed may refer to:-Technology:* Exposé , a window management tool for Mac OS X** Exposé clone, computer software which mimics the Mac OS X feature-Music:...
(September 2008), and others independent magazines, e-zines and blogs.
In the Summer of 2009 he teamed up with [Alex Maguire] (Michael Moore
Michael Moore
Michael Francis Moore is an American filmmaker, author, social critic and activist. He is the director and producer of Fahrenheit 9/11, which is the highest-grossing documentary of all time. His films Bowling for Columbine and Sicko also place in the top ten highest-grossing documentaries...
, Elton Dean
Elton Dean
Elton Dean was an English jazz musician who performed on alto saxophone, saxello and occasionally keyboard....
, Sean Bergin
Sean Bergin
Sean Bergin is an avant-garde jazz saxophonist and flautist originally from South AfricaBergin was born in Durban on June 29, 1948. He is saxophonist, flautist, composer, educator and bandleader....
, ...) and [Tony Bianco] (Dave Liebman
Dave Liebman
Dave Liebman is an American saxophonist and flautist. In June 2010, he received a NEA Jazz Masters lifetime achievement award from the National Endowment for the Arts.-Biography:...
, Paul Dunmall
Paul Dunmall
Paul Dunmall is a British jazz saxophonist who plays tenor and soprano saxophone as well as the baritone and the more exotic Saxello and the Northumbrian pipes.He has a long discography on the Duns Limited Edition label....
, Evan Parker
Evan Parker
Evan Shaw Parker is a British free-improvising saxophone player from the European free jazz scene.Recording and performing prolifically with many collaborators, Parker was a pivotal figure in the development of European free jazz and free improvisation, and has pioneered or substantially expanded...
, Peter Brötzmann
Peter Brötzmann
Peter Brötzmann is a German artist and free jazz saxophonist and clarinetist.Brötzmann is among the most important European free jazz musicians. His rough, lyrical timbre is easily recognized on his many recordings.-Early life:...
) to create a new power-trio named douBt. Their debut release, Never Pet a Burning Dog, features Richard Sinclair
Richard Sinclair
Richard S. Sinclair is a progressive rock bassist, guitarist and vocalist who has been a member of several bands of the Canterbury scene.-Biography:...
on guest vocals and bass. The project toured Japan and Europe in 2010.
Delville was voted one of the 10 best electric guitarists of the year 2010 by Arnaldo DeSouteiro's Annual Jazz Station Poll, which also voted douBt
Doubt
Doubt, a status between belief and disbelief, involves uncertainty or distrust or lack of sureness of an alleged fact, an action, a motive, or a decision. Doubt brings into question some notion of a perceived "reality", and may involve delaying or rejecting relevant action out of concerns for...
3rd best Instrumental Group.
In 2010 he was invited to join and coordinate Comicoperando
Comicoperando
Comicoperando is a musical collective dedicated to the music of Canterbury scene legend, singer and songwriter Robert Wyatt. The band's debut concert, which world-premiered at the Teatro Communale Luciano Pavarotti in Modena, Italy, in March 2010...
, a tribute to the music of Robert Wyatt
Robert Wyatt
Robert Wyatt is an English musician, and founding member of the influential Canterbury scene band Soft Machine, with a long and distinguished solo career...
whose line-up includes Dagmar Krause
Dagmar Krause
Dagmar Krause is a German singer, best known for her work with avant-rock groups like Slapp Happy, Henry Cow and Art Bears. She is also noted for her coverage of songs by Bertolt Brecht, Kurt Weill and Hanns Eisler...
, Richard Sinclair
Richard Sinclair
Richard S. Sinclair is a progressive rock bassist, guitarist and vocalist who has been a member of several bands of the Canterbury scene.-Biography:...
, Annie Whitehead
Annie Whitehead
Annie Whitehead is an English jazz trombone player.-Career:Annie learned trombone at school; at 14 she was already busy playing with brass bands, local dance groups and the Manchester Youth Jazz Orchestra and began her professional career at sixteen. Among her initial influences were Miles Davis,...
, Gilad Atzmon
Gilad Atzmon
Gilad Atzmon is an Israeli-born British jazz saxophonist, novelist, political activist and writer.Atzmon's album Exile was BBC jazz album of the year in 2003. Playing over 100 dates a year, he has been called "surely the hardest-gigging man in British jazz." His albums, of which he has recorded...
, Alex Maguire, Chris Cutler
Chris Cutler
Chris Cutler is an English percussionist, composer, lyricist and music theorist. Best known for his work with English avant-rock group Henry Cow, Cutler was also a member and drummer of a number of other bands, including Art Bears, News from Babel, Pere Ubu and Gong/Mothergong...
, John Edwards
John Edwards
Johnny Reid "John" Edwards is an American politician, who served as a U.S. Senator from North Carolina. He was the Democratic nominee for Vice President in 2004, and was a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2004 and 2008.He defeated incumbent Republican Lauch Faircloth in...
and Cristiano Calcagnile. In the Spring of that same year, Delville officially joined the international collective 48 Cameras.
Delville currently teaches literature and comparative literature at the University of Liège
University of Liège
The University of Liège , in Liège, Wallonia, Belgium, is a major public university in the French Community of Belgium. Its official language is French.-History:...
, where he directs the Interdisciplinary Center for Applied Poetics. He is the author of several books pertaining to comparative poetics and interdisciplinary studies (see the selected bibliography below). He has also edited four volumes and published about one hundred articles dealing with contemporary poetics and interdisciplinary studies. His awards and distinctions include the 1998 SAMLA Book Award, the Choice Outstanding Book Award, the Léon Guérin Prize, the 2001 Alumni Award of the Belgian American Educational FoundationBAEF 2001 Alumni Award, the rank of Officer of the Order of Leopold (Belgium) I (2009), and the 2009 Prix Wernaers pour la recherche et la diffusion des connaissances.
Selected discography
- The Wrong Object, The Wrong Object feat. Ed MannEd MannEd Mann has been "a drummer and piano dabbler since childhood", best known for his mallet percusion recorded and live work with Frank Zappa from 1977 to the end of Zappa's career.- Career :...
- Zappanale 2004 (Maximalist Records, promo CD, 2004) - The Wrong Object, The Unbelievable Truth (Moonjune Records, 2006) featuring Elton DeanElton DeanElton Dean was an English jazz musician who performed on alto saxophone, saxello and occasionally keyboard....
- The Wrong Object, Platform One (Voiceprint, 2007) feat. Harry BeckettHarry BeckettHarold Winston "Harry" Beckett was a British trumpeter and flugelhorn player.-Biography:A resident in the UK since 1954, Harry Beckett had an international reputation. In 1961, he played with Charles Mingus in the film All Night Long. In the 1960s he worked and recorded within the band of bass...
and Annie WhiteheadAnnie WhiteheadAnnie Whitehead is an English jazz trombone player.-Career:Annie learned trombone at school; at 14 she was already busy playing with brass bands, local dance groups and the Manchester Youth Jazz Orchestra and began her professional career at sixteen. Among her initial influences were Miles Davis,... - Trank Zappa Grappa in Varèse, More Light (Fazzul Music, 2007)
- The Wrong Object, Stories from the Shed (studio release; Moonjune Records, January 2008)
- Alex Maguire Sextet, Brewed in Belgium (Moonjune Records, 2008)
- Trank Zappa Grappa in Varèse, TZGIV Play ZappaZappaZappa may refer to:*Zappa confluentus, a goby from Papua New Guinea*Pachygnatha zappa, a spider*Zappa , the computer chess program that won the 13th World Computer Chess Championship...
(Fazzul Music, 2009) - PaNoPTiCoN, Dawn of the New World (After-Z Productions, 2009)
- PaNoPTiCoN, Dusk of the New World (After-Z Productions, 2009)
- The Wrong Object feat. Stanley Jason Zappa and Nick Shrowaczewski, Live at Zappanale 2008 (Fazzul Music, 2009)
- douBtDoubtDoubt, a status between belief and disbelief, involves uncertainty or distrust or lack of sureness of an alleged fact, an action, a motive, or a decision. Doubt brings into question some notion of a perceived "reality", and may involve delaying or rejecting relevant action out of concerns for...
(Alex Maguire/Michel Delville/Tony Bianco), Never Pet a Burning Dog (Moonjune Records, 2010) - Machine Mass Trio (Tony Bianco/Michel Delville/Jordi Grognard), As Real as Thinking (Moonjune Records, 2011)
- 48 Cameras, So Like My Father in Our Fathers' Absence (Interzone, 2011)
- douBtDoubtDoubt, a status between belief and disbelief, involves uncertainty or distrust or lack of sureness of an alleged fact, an action, a motive, or a decision. Doubt brings into question some notion of a perceived "reality", and may involve delaying or rejecting relevant action out of concerns for...
(Alex Maguire/Michel Delville/Tony Bianco), Mercy, Pity, Peace and Love (Moonjune Records, 2011) - Tony Bianco & Michel Delville, As Yet Untitled (forthcoming, 2012)
Selected bibliography
As author:- Eating the Avant-GardeAvant-gardeAvant-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....
(Routledge, 2008) - Frank ZappaFrank ZappaFrank Vincent Zappa was an American composer, singer-songwriter, electric guitarist, record producer and film director. In a career spanning more than 30 years, Zappa wrote rock, jazz, orchestral and musique concrète works. He also directed feature-length films and music videos, and designed...
, Captain BeefheartCaptain BeefheartDon Van Vliet January 15, 1941 December 17, 2010) was an American musician, singer-songwriter and artist best known by the stage name Captain Beefheart. His musical work was conducted with a rotating ensemble of musicians called The Magic Band, active between 1965 and 1982, with whom he recorded 12...
and the Secret History of Maximalism (cowritten with Andrew Norris; Salt Publishing, 2005) - Le Troisième corps (Le Fram, 2004) (poetry collection). Translated into English by Gian Lombardo as Third Body (Florence, MA: Quale Press, 2009)
- Hamlet & Co (cowritten with Pierre Michel; Editions de l'ULg, 2003)
- The American Prose Poem (The University of Florida Press, 1998)
- J.G. Ballard (Northcote House/The British Council, 1998)
As editor or co-editor:
- L’œuvre en morceaux : Esthétiques de la mosaïque (Paris : Les Impressions Nouvelles, 2006)
- Le Rossignol instrumental : Poésie, musique, modernité. (Leuven, Paris, Dudley, MA : Peeters/Vrin, 2004)
- Sound as Sense: US Poetry &/In Music (Brussels, Bern, Frankfurt, New York : Presses Interuniversitaires Européennes-Peter Lang, 2003)
- Postwar American Poetry: The Mechanics of the Mirage (Liège: L3, 2000)