The French saxophonist
Daunik Lazro combines a tart, piercing tone with a quick mind and a flexible philosophy of music-making. His professional start was in bassist
Saheb Sarbib's orchestra, a relationship he maintained through most of the '70s, which included three recordings. His first steps playing his own music involved a radical resizing of the cast on-stage, going from orchestra playing to solo saxophone concerts and duets. In the '80s, he busily played with many on the European improvised music scene, including bassist
Jean Jacques Avenel, cellist
Tristan Honsinger, violinist
Carlos Zingaro, drummer Christian Rollet, and saxophonist
Evan Parker, among others. In the mid-'80s,
Lazro expanded his partnerships to include dance and theater projects, including work with the Company of the Chance.
He formed a particularly fine trio in 1987 with fellow saxophonist
Michel Doneda and the brilliant ppercussionist
Lê Quan Ninh, playing at many of the major European festivals and also touring in Canada. Duets with the American free improviser
Joe McPhee are a 1991 discographical highlight, during a period when
Lazro also began playing viola. In 1993, he started his own orchestra as well as a quartet called Outlaws in Jazz with
Jac Berrocal,
Didier Levallet, and
Dennis Charles. In 1995, he toured Europe in a triple-threat combination with both
McPhee and
Parker, and the former artist also joined him in a quartet the following year with the superb British contrabassist
Paul Rogers. In the late '90s, he continued involvement with a series of orchestra projects, often as a guest soloist. ~ Eugene Chadbourne