F R A N C K
A V I T A B I L E
p i a n i s t
1980-1989 1971 24th
November
Born in Lyon, France. Son of Alain, urban architect (arrived from Algeria in 1965) and of Francine, official at Conservatoire National Superieur de Musique, born Badak, civil servant (daughter of a political refugee, arrived from ex-Yugoslavia in 1948). Paternal Grandfather is Italian (Agerola, Napoli, Italy).
1976 Shows a fascination for music and astonishingly quickly develops his natural abilities; reproduces TV theme tunes on a toy piano.
Associates music with form (spatial synesthete)
1980
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1988
Enters the Conservatoire à Rayonnement Regional (C.R.R. Lyon) after six months of private lessons. His musical teaching (Mme Thomasson, Mme Poncet) focusses exclusively on the classical repertoire: Mozart, Bach, Brahms, Fauré, Debussy.
1985 Parents divorce ; moves into the Saint-Paul quarter of Lyon, above a Jazz Club run by the pianist Tchangodeï.
1988 Discovers new horizons with the release of two CD : Chick Corea and Keith Jarrett, can’t stop listening to it. Finds his classical apprenticeship too strict, where personal interpretations seemed impossible. Having gained his diploma in musical training, he takes a class in introductory improvisation for classical pianists with Mario Stanchev.
1990-1997 1990
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1994
Accepted into the C.R.R Jazz Class. Listens and learns the repertoire of the keyboard masters, impressing successive panels of judges; picking up the gold medal in 1994. The previous year he wins the Rive de Giers Big Band Competition with a duet, piano and drums (C. Perrot).
1993
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USA) with the Russian researcher Victor Pan who had completely forgotten he was coming! He jams frequently at the Blue Note et Small’s, which had just opened, takes lessons (and a big reality check) with Fred Hersch and discovers the music of Bud Powell under the fingers of a young unknown pianist.
1995
Accepted into l’École Normale Supérieure de Lyon for a Masters Degree in Fundamental Informatics, obtaining a Masters in Discreet Mathematics, a D.E.A. (online recognition of series-parallel posets) and a Ph D scholarship. Takes an internship for two months at The IRCAM around the Sieves of Y. Xenakis.
Goes to live for three months in New York to do an internship at CUNY (City University of New York,
1995 Joins the Collectif Mu, a gathering of young Jazz musicians (Mâcon), founder of Crescent Jazz Club in tribute to John Coltrane.
Records a first tribute to Bud Powell. Fifty copies will be burned unofficially at Cryo Interactive thanks to the kindness of a friend working in the development of video games.
1996 His departure for military service (Paris, Versailles) allows him for the first time to have enough time to concentrate entirely on music, and to prepare and gain entry to the Conservatoire de Paris. He finishes two years later having raced through his studies at breakneck speed and excelling, gaining a special exemption from the Director. Unanimous winner of the First Prize.
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Franck. The response is negative. In December wins the competition of Vanves (92) presided by Martial Solal, with the prize being the production of an album, Lumières, and a thousand copies made. In the company of the double bassist Louis Petrucciani (met during a Roy Haynes master class) and the young drummer Thomas Grimmonprez, it contains Franck’s first compositions.
The magazine Jazzman cites his name amongst the hundred new talents and awards a *** to Lumières, maximum marks at the time for a non-commercial album : « More than technique already well asserted, Avitabile has got music within him. Intense and personal. »
1997 Participates in the project Silent Call by Riccardo Del Fra with François Jeanneau, Benjamin Henocq and a string orchestra at the Auditorium des Halles and at the jazz festival in La Défense (92).
First magazine covers : Jazz Notes, Blablah Thema, and record of the month on FIP radio, who fall in love with the young unknown artist.
Wins Second Grand Prize for the Martial Solal International Jazz Piano Competition in Paris which helps to finance his Steinway.
1998
1998-2003 1998 Michel Petrucciani listens to a bad cassette copy of Lumières in his brother Louis’ car, in the middle of the night. The latter, an enthusiast, convinces Francis Dreyfus to sign him and decides to sponsor and produce his first disc.
France Music Radio broadcasts a live concert of the Franck Avitabile Trio, in a program titled “Les surprises de Martial Solal”. On this occasion, the latter asks Louis Petrucciani if his brother Michel knows
a critical and commercial success.
Finding the compositions needing more work, Michel Petrucciani proposes constructing the album around Bud Powell and giving it the title ‘In Tradition’. Franck, hungry for his precious advice, doesn’t need much persuading. On release it is
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2000
Resident at the Cité Internationale des Arts, on the banks of the Seine in the Saint-Paul quarter (Paris 4°).
1999 Wins a Django d’Or in the Best Prospect category.
The death of Michel Petrucciani affects Franck who since then has played one of the pianist compositions at every concert.
This year is highlighted by the number of concerts and festivals, including the Parc
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c o m p o s e r
Floral de Paris, Nice Jazz Festival, San Sebastian Jazz Festival in Spain, Le Printemps des Arts in Monaco... Stops his teaching activities (Limay, 78) to concentrate entirely on being a concert pianist and composer.
An anecdote that made the front cover of Lyon’s newspaper Le Progrès: It happened on July 6th at Troisgros, the famous three stars restaurant. No sound mixing or concert involved, but a feast of delights for Avitabile, a lunch with a very tasty story. A few days earlier the young jazzman had been interviewed on the French radio Europe 1 by Dominique Souchier, a journalist from the town of Roanne. He didn’t know that one of his most faithful listeners was none other than the ex minister Jean Auroux. The Mayor of Roanne then learned that the big hope of French jazz had composed a piece called Trois Gros. Avitabile added that he dreamt of going for lunch at the famous restaurant (of the same name). The next day, the town’s first magistrate offered Avitabile to come to Troisgros in Roanne, which he gladly did!
2000
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2001
Records his second opus for Dreyfus Jazz : Right Time in the company of the legendary Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen (last
F R A N C K A V I T A B I L E album of N.H.Ø.P) on double bass and Roberto Gatto on drums. He publishes several compositions. The album receives **** reviews in the American publications Down Beat, Jazz Times, All About Jazz, Jazz Journal International, as it does in France. First concerts abroad: Bologna (Italy), Warsaw (Poland), Grenada (Spain), Portimao (Portugal).
Concerts with Wynton Marsalis, Herlin Riley, Leon Parker at Jazz in Marciac, Steve Grossman in Paris and live on France Musique. With a Jazz trio at Ramatuelle, l’Opéra de Lyon, the Château de Grignan, and the Théâtre de Hyères. He is promoted to Talent in Midem and appears on the news at 1pm and 8pm on TF1 French Television.
p i a n i s t
TCB Record (Swiss label), directed by Alex Tassel & Guillaume Naturel, with André Ceccarelli on drums.
2002 The producer and director Claude Berri calls him for original music in his film Une Femme de Ménage (Jean-Pierre Bacri, Emilie Duquenne). Records improvisations around the music of the composer Frédéric Botton.
Records an album The Paris Jazz Quintet in Holland for
Mezzo TV broadcasts a documentary on the life of Franck Avitabile, ‘88 touches de plaisir’ directed by Patrick Savey. The magazine Télérama attributes TT to this program.
2004-2008 2004
2002 Records a third opus for Dreyfus Jazz : Bemsha Swing with the old double bassist Rémi Vignolo and the Belgian drummer Dré Pallemærts, who make up his working trio. Introduced to a new concept of trompe l’œil. Concerts in Switzerland, Greece, Belgium, Canada, France.
2001 Jazzman magazine publishes a long interview with Franck about his system of discreet reharmonisation which allows you to hear an old record like a brand new composition. He is named artist of the month.
2003
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2008
Decisive encounter at Manège Theatre (Maubeuge) with the electric bass guitar player Pino Palladino and the drummer Manu Katché following the withdrawal of the guitarist Dominic Miller to go on tour with Sting. Formation of the group Manu Katché Tendances, with about a hundred or so concerts worldwide. Franck also plays with a Fender Rhodes and a Nordlead, the repertoire subtely flirting with electro jazz.
2004 2002 Violently attacked just before the release of Bemsha Swing leaving him completely unable to work for fifteen days.
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Records his fourth and fifth opus for Dreyfus Jazz from two successive piano solo albums: Just Play and Short Stories. Both obtain the CHOC from Jazzman magazine. Telerama (Michel Contat) even awards - for the first time - all four clefs (ƒƒƒƒ) for the second solo album. The newspaper Le Monde (Francis Marmande) dedicates a full page to him on his birthday. RTL Radio describes the first solo album as astounding. Guest of Philippe Lefait, France 2 (Les Mots de Minuit). Franck manages to establish more and more his independence and prominence in the highly competitive and cluttered French Jazz pianists scene.
2007 Arièle Butaux commissions a Quintet entitled Opus 52 to Franck who collaborates with the Modigliani String Quartet for a first performance at the Petit Palais (Paris). A movement from the Schumann Quintet is also on the programme.
“Victoire du Jazz” Awarded in category Revelation of the Year (Frank Tenot Prize). Deauville.
2007 2005
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2006
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2009
First gigs with Aldo Romano and Diego Imbert for a repertoire based on Michel
F R A N C K A V I T A B I L E Petrucciani. His trio continues working together with Franck’s original compositions.
p i a n i s t
2010-2014
2008 Moves to Issy les Moulineaux (92) and marries privately.
Un an auparavant, c’est Franck qui était invité au coté de Martial Solal et 4 autres pianistes français pour interpréter une étude pour 60 doigts, 6 pianos à queue sur la scène du festival de Vienne.
Sortie du DVD On Air réalisé par Gildas Boclé, qui réunit une sélection d’images d’archives, un vidéo clip tourné en pleine séance de studio pour l’album Paris Sketches ainsi qu’un titre de tous les albums de Franck, dvd produit grâce à une aide d e l a S p é d i d a m .
2008 DVD release of the Dreyfus Night recorded at the Monte Carlo Jazz Festival. In the company of Steve Grossman, Bireli Lagrène, …
2009 Records his sixth album for Dreyfus Jazz, Paris Sketches with electric bass guitarist Pino Palladino and the drummer Manu Katché. It’s the first time that an entire album is constructed solely from Franck’s compositions. Guest on the Arte Television show One Shot Not, this opus firmly establishes Avitabile as a superb composer, few of his French contempories have got his sense of melody.
Création à deux pianos avec le pianiste Wilhem Latchoumia, commandé par Ariele Butaux pour le Petit Palais. Répertoire original composé et arrangé mais aussi interprétation des 7 Microkosmos à deux pianos de Bela Bartok et diffusé sur France Musique.
Franck est le premier parrain du festival de Cavalaire-sur-Mer, lancé en 2010. Il prend son rôle très à cœur, officie en véritable maître de cérémonie en présentant tous les concerts, rejoint les artistes invités sur scène pour des Jam session mémorables.
L’invitation aux Flâneries de
c o m p o s e r
Black Swan, et qui exige de travailler avec des « vrais » musiciens et non des doublures. Un duo a été monté pour l’occasion avec l a c h a n t e u s e M a t h i l d e F e r r y .
2008 First solo tour of China and the Piano aux Jacobins festival. Beijing, Shanghai.
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Reims se renouvelle en 2010 avec une création pour les 20 ans du festival «‘Round About Chopin» pour 8 pianistes, 4 pianos et 80 doigts.
C’est un hommage à Schubert sous forme de réponse qui lui est proposé pour le lancement de l’Académie de Fourvière à Lyon en 2014.
Il est invité au festival Piano aux Jacobins à Toulouse pour un concert au Cloître des Jacobins, à l ’ a c o u s t i q u e e x c e p t i o n n e l l e .
Quelques cinés concerts passionnants sur des courts métrages de Buster Keaton, Charlie Chaplin, ou sur des longs métrages de Sergueï Eisenstein, Ernst Lubitsch. Au Ciné 104 de Pantin (93), au Mélies à Montreuil (93) et au Forum des Images er ( P a r i s 1 ) .
Une expérience qu’il n’est pas prêt d’oublier lui a valu de se retrouver au coté de Vincent Cassel pour le tournage d’une publicité pour le parfum La Nuit de l’Homme, d’Yves Saint Laurent. Le réalisateur n’était autre que Darren Aronofsky, oscarisé pour
Quelques premières parties qui resteront comme des moments privilégiés sont à noter : l’ouverture en piano solo au Théâtre du Vésinet du concert de Kenny Barron et Mulgrew Miller ou de celui en trio à Seignosse de Stanley Clarke, Jean Luc Ponty et Biréli Lagrène.
La collaboration avec Aldo Romano prend plusieurs formes, entre quintet avec Stéphane Belmondo, trio autour de Michel Petrucciani, quintet autour de Boris Vian avec Elise Caron, quartet avec Géraldine Laurent pour fêter l’anniversaire de la radio FIP, ou avec Francesco Bearzatti à Dinard, ou plus récemment en trio avec Henri Texier pour le Sunside Jazz Club, ou Jazz en Baies au Mont Saint Michel en 2 0 1 4 .
Masterclass et conférences sur des sujets variés se succèdent à l’E.N.S. de Cachan, l’Université des Sciences de Marseille, l’Université Rennes 2, Jazz in Marciac, le centre culturel Moulin d’Andé, la médiathèque de Lyon Valmy, l’académie de Coaraze, les rencontres internationales de contrebasse à St Vincent d e T y r o s s e , F l o i r a c , …
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Des soirées spéciales autour de Michel Petrucciani sont organisées. Le principe : une première partie de soirée avec la projection du film documentaire de Michael Radford et une deuxième partie de soirée avec un récital en piano solo entièrement acoustique. Espace des Arts (Les Pavillons-Sous-Bois), Ciné 104, Festival Django Reinhardt à Samois-surSeine. Ce film documentaire signe par ailleurs la dernière apparition de Francis Dreyfus, un des derniers producteurs indépendants.
La visite de l’usine des pianos Steinway & Sons à Hambourg (Allemagne) fut l’occasion de découvrir le modèle B spécialement revu par le designer Dakota Jackson. Un CD « Arabesque » produit en 2013 pour l’occasion vaut à Franck de se trouver aux cotés de Evgeny Kissin, Piers Lane, Jean Yves Thibaudet sur des Arabesques composées par Brahms, Debussy, …
A signaler une séance d’enregistrement en quartet pour l’album de José Fallot, Another Romantic vol 2 ( 2 0 1 4 ) .
Christophe Ungar pour RTS (Radio Télévision Suisse
p i a n i s t
Romande) est venu interroger Franck sur son rapport à la synesthésie et sa capacité à voir des images et formes tridimensionnelles associées à certaines harmonies, et qu’il utilise pour improviser e t c o m p o s e r .
A propos de piano, Franck a revu intégralement sa technique pianistique trois fois : une première fois lorsqu’il a commencé le jazz et l’improvisation une seconde fois lors de sa collaboration avec Michel Petrucciani, la découverte d’Arturo Beneditti Michelangeli, qu’Hélène Dreyfus avait fait découvrir à Michel une troisième fois lors de sa rencontre avec Marcela Roggeri, ancienne élève de Bruno Leonardo Gelber et avec Manuel Schweizer, ancien élève d’Eric Heidsieck.
2015Trio with double bass player Mathias Allamane and the drummer Matthieu Chazarenc, new c o m p o s i t i o n s , …
Franck has played in around fourty countries with Stanley Clarke, Pino Palladino, Manu Katché, Jan Garbarek, Wynton Marsalis, Steve Grossman, Bireli Lagrène, Martial Solal, Bendik Hofseth, Trygve Seim, Tore Brunborg, Niels-Henning Ørsted-Pedersen, Aldo Romano, Laurent Vernerey, Lisa Ekdahl, Sheila Jordan, Elise Caron, Anne Ducros, Kim Thompson, Herlin Riley, Leon Parker, Lionel Belmondo, Stéphane Belmondo, Alex Tassel, Guillaume Naturel, Minino Garay, André Ceccarelli, Daniel Humair, Stéphane Huchard, George Brown, Roberto Gatto, Tony Rabeson, Riccardo Del Fra, Cesarius Alvim, Eric Le Lann, Sylvain Luc, Louis Winsberg, Olivier Louvel, Stefano di Battista, Rosario Giuliani, Martial Solal, Pierre de Bethmann, Manuel Rochman, Baptiste Trotignon, Daniel Huck, David Linx, Jean Loup Longnon, Yves Rousseau, Maria Schneider, Rick Margitza, Gene Perla, Gildas Boclé, Diego Imbert, Frank Agulhon, Lemon Minassian, Christophe Monniot, Virginie Techeyné, Jérôme Regard, David Sauzay, Hadrien Feraud,
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Henri Texier, Yodelice, Geraldine Laurent, Louis Petrucciani, Marcela Roggeri, Wilhem Latchoumia, Modigliani String Quartet, Laurent Mignard, Sodi Brade, Lise Baudouin, Igor Levit, Mickael Lifits, Einav Yarden, Varduhi Yeritsyan..
Franck Avitabile is a Steinway Artist since 1999.
Translation : James Simpson (Rev. 30/12/2013)
F R A N C K
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Paris Sketches (2009)
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Right Time (2000)
Tribute to Bud Powell (1996)
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Arabesque – Steinway (2013)
Jazz Around The Ritz (2012) Short Stories (2006)
In Tradition (1998)
On Air (DVD, 2009)
Coffret TSF Jazz (2009) Dreyfus Jazz 20 ans 20 CD (Coffret, 2011)
Just Play (2005)
Monaco Dreyfus Night (DVD, 2009) Jazz Magazine (2009)
B.O.F. Une Femme de Ménage (2002)
Bemsha Swing (2002)
Lumières (1997)
Essential Jazz (2008)
F R A N C K
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Piano Trio (2011)
Opus 2, FIllet of Soul (2005) Talents Midem (2000)
The Paris Jazz Quintet (2001)
In The Mood Of... Monk (2011) Classique & Jazz (2008)
West Side Story, Ludovic de Preissac Septet (2010)
FNAC Collector (1999)
Food for Thought, Tassel & Naturel (2007)
Les Légendes du Jazz (2009) J a z z S p i r i t ( 2 0 1 0 )
A Child is Born (2004)
DJ Cam presents Fillet of Soul (2002) Duc des Lombards, Jazz Club (2004)
Piano Solo (2011)
The Song Seeker, JP Gallis (2005) Les Inrockuptibles (2006)
Drummers (2011)
Diamond Suite, DJREG (2006)
Be Hip Be Bop, Christian Ton Ton Salut (2001)
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15 Years of Dreyfus Jazz (2007)
