French pianist and jazz musician Eve Risser Risser in 2018 Background information Born| 1982 (age 40-41) Colmar, France Genres| Jazz, improvised music Occupation(s)| Musician, composer, arranger Instrument(s)| Piano, harpsichord Years active| 2000s–present Website| everisser.com Musical artist Eve Risser (born 1982) is a French jazz and improvised music performer, composer and arranger. She mostly plays piano and prepared piano, but also plays harpsichord and other instruments. ## Life and career[edit] Risser was born in 1982[1] in Colmar, France.[2] She had piano lessons as a child and first saw graphic notation at the age of 11.[3] This "set her imagination free. But those desires were quashed by her instructor, who situated that sort of interpretational freedom within a larger, rigorous practice of study."[3] Risser lived in Colmar until she was 18.[2] She then studied in Strasbourg for four years, playing improvised music and jazz on the piano and contemporary music on the flute.[2] She decided to concentrate on the piano after completing her studies.[3] She reported that "When I stopped the flute, I felt so limited in my improvisations with timbres that I started to explore the inside of the piano to be able to imitate trumpets, percussions and saxophones [...] I realized that building stuff with my hands for the piano was super fun."[3] Risser was pianist in the Orchestre national de jazz from 2009 to 2013.[2] The premiere of her White Desert, for a tentet with amateur choirs, was in March 2015.[4] ## Playing style[edit] A reviewer described her playing on the 2012 trio album En Corps as being "anything but conventional, highly percussive, full of muted strings, extended techniques, and repetitive phrases".[5] A Down Beat reviewer of her solo piano record Des Pas Sur La Neige commented on Risser's "arsenal of techniques and tools that transform her instrument into a kaleidoscopic sound machine, producing unexpected tones and timbres."[3] ## Discography[edit] An asterisk (*) indicates that the year is that of release. ### As leader/co-leader[edit] Year recorded | Title | Label | Personnel/Notes | | | 2007* | Ouature | Umlaut | As Donkey Monkey; duo, with Yuko Oshima (drums, vocals, samples) 2010 | Split | Umlaut | Duo, with Joris Rühl (clarinet); released with recordings by OBLIQ (2) and Christof Kurzmann 2011* | Fenêtre Ovale | Umlaut | Duo, with Joris Rühl (clarinets) 2011* | Hanakana | Umlaut | As Donkey Monkey; duo, with Yuko Oshima (drums, vocals, samples) 2012* | En Corps | Dark Tree | Trio, with Benjamin Duboc (bass), Edward Perraud (drums) 2012* | A Nest at the Junction of Paths | Umlaut | As The New Songs; quartet, with Sofia Jernberg (vocals), David Stackenäs (guitar), Kim Myhr (guitars, zither) 2013 | Des Pas Sur La Neige | Clean Feed | Solo piano ### As sidewoman[edit] Year recorded | Leader | Title | Label | | | 2009* | Orchestre national de jazz | Around Robert Wyatt | Bee Jazz 2010* | Orchestre national de jazz | Shut up and Dance | Bee Jazz 2011* | PAK | Secret Curve | Tzadik 2012* | Orchestre national de jazz | Piazzolla! | Jazz Village 2013* | Orchestre national de jazz | The Party! | Jazz Village 2013* | Pascal Niggenkemper | Lucky Prime | Clean Feed 2014* | Jean-Jacques Birgé | Game Bling | ## References[edit] 1. ^ "Moment Festival – Festival" Archived 2015-04-13 at the Wayback Machine. Vi Musiker. Retrieved 9 April 2015. 2. ^ a b c d Scotney, Sebastian (8 March 2015) "Interview: Eve Risser (Banlieues Bleues, Jazzahead, Jazzdor Strasbourg-Berlin) / #IWD2015". London Jazz News. 3. ^ a b c d e Margasak, Peter (March 2015) "Risser's Prepared Piano Work Defies Categorization". Down Beat. p. 16. 4. ^ Scotney, Sebastian (25 March 2015) "Review: Eve Risser White Desert Premiere at La Courneuve". London Jazz News. 5. ^ Stef (24 September 2012) "Eve Risser – En Corps (Dark Tree, 2012)". freejazzblog. Authority control General| * ISNI * VIAF * WorldCat National libraries| * France (data) * Germany Other| * MusicBrainz artist * IdRef