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 Risser was born in 1982"Moment Festival – Festival" . Vi Musiker. Retrieved 9 April 2015. in Colmar, France. She had piano lessons as a child and first saw graphic notation at the age of 11. 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."Margasak, Peter (March 2015) "Risser's Prepared Piano Work Defies Categorization". Down Beat. p. 16.
Risser lived in Colmar until she was 18. She then studied in Strasbourg for four years, playing improvised music and jazz on the piano and contemporary music on the flute. She decided to concentrate on the piano after completing her studies. 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."
Risser was pianist in the Orchestre national de jazz from 2009 to 2013.Scotney, Sebastian (8 March 2015) "Interview: Eve Risser (Banlieues Bleues, Jazzahead, Jazzdor Strasbourg-Berlin) / #IWD2015" . London Jazz News. The premiere of her White Desert, for a tentet with amateur choirs, was in March 2015.Scotney, Sebastian (25 March 2015) "Review: Eve Risser White Desert Premiere at La Courneuve" . London Jazz News.
Playing style 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".Stef (24 September 2012) "Eve Risser – En Corps (Dark Tree, 2012)". freejazzblog. 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."
Discography An asterisk (*) indicates that the year is that of release.
As leader/co-leader Year recordedTitleLabelPersonnel/Notes2007*OuatureUmlautAs Donkey Monkey; duo, with Yuko Oshima (drums, vocals, samples)2010SplitUmlautDuo, with Joris Rühl (clarinet); released with recordings by OBLIQ (2) and Christof Kurzmann2011*Fenêtre OvaleUmlautDuo, with Joris Rühl (clarinets)2011*HanakanaUmlautAs Donkey Monkey; duo, with Yuko Oshima (drums, vocals, samples)2012*En CorpsDark TreeTrio, with Benjamin Duboc (bass), Edward Perraud (drums)2012*A Nest at the Junction of PathsUmlautAs The New Songs; quartet, with Sofia Jernberg (vocals), David Stackenäs (guitar), Kim Myhr (guitars, zither)2013Des Pas Sur La NeigeClean FeedSolo piano
As sidewoman Year recordedLeaderTitleLabel2009*Around Robert WyattBee Jazz2010*Shut up and DanceBee Jazz2011*Secret CurveTzadik2012*Piazzolla!Jazz Village2013*The Party!Jazz Village2013*Lucky PrimeClean Feed2014*Game Bling
References