I am a post-doctoral research fellow working as part of the University of Salford research team. My work over the next 3 years will involve the mapping of jazz cultures in the UK and Norway and undertaking a comparison of jazz scenes in the 5 partner countries.
Between 2006 and 2009 I was the Research Officer for the ESRC-funded Investigating Musical Performance (IMP) working with colleagues from Leeds College of Music, the Institute of Education, the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, and York University.
In addition to my work on Rhythm Changes, I am a French experimental saxophonist and researcher based in the UK. After studying contemporary improvised musics and composition at the Strasbourg conservatoire, I went to Indonesia to learn West Javanese and Balinese gamelan where I became interested in the perceptual ambiguity of music. I then moved to the UK where I completed a Masters and Doctorate (Improvising Ambiguity: An Ecological Approach to Music-Making) at the University of Leeds, whilst becoming actively involved in the music scene. My present research – which draws from ecological psychology, cognitive neuroscience, ethnomusicology and his own performance practice – examines how delusions of control can put the perceptual boundaries of self into question and account for phenomena (such as trance, out of body experiences, and possession) often experienced during intense engagement in musical activities. My related musical interests lie at the fringes of jazz, electronic music, gamelan, DIY, European improvisation and electroacoustic music. I have performed at numerous international contemporary music and jazz festivals/venues around Europe, collaborating with artists from diverse musical backgrounds, such as Christian Sebille, Marc Ducret, Simon Fell, David Murray, Ken Vandemark, Paul Hession, Matthew Bourne, Fred Lonberg-Holm, Frank Vigroux, Chris Sharkey and Dave Kane.
I am also a member of Trio VD (that’s me with the cap).