The Squid's Ear Magazine


Leandre, Joelle / Phillip Greenlief: That Overt Desire of Object (Relative Pitch)

Relative Pitch Records debuts with the excellent duo of bassist Joelle Leandre and Bay Area woodwind improviser Phil Greenlief in 11 variations for contrabass and woodwinds.
 

Price: $13.95


Quantity:

Out of Stock

Quantity in Basket: None

Log In to use our Wish List
Shipping Weight: 3.00 units

Sample The Album:





Product Information:

Personnel:



Joelle Leandre-contrabass, voice

Phillip Greenlief-woodwinds, voice

Click an artist name above to see in-stock items for that artist.



UPC: 616892152866

Label: Relative Pitch
Catalog ID: RPR1002
Squidco Product Code: 14578

Format: CD
Condition: New
Released: 2011
Country: USA
Packaging: Digipack
Cuts 1-10 recorded by Oliver DiCiccio at Mobius, SF. Cuts 11 & 12 recorded by Karen Stackpole at Evander Music Presents, 21 Grand, Oakland.
Descriptions, Reviews, &c.

Artist Biographies

"Joëlle Léandre is a famous French Bassist and is known for her collaborations with other musicians in the field of improvised music. Born in France on September 12th, 1951, she made her music debut in 1984 with Les Douze Sons. Her childhood was filled with music, and she was particularly interested in the piano during her early years. In her later years, she developed an interest in double bass, which won her many honors and scholarships during her education. Her double bass teacher Pierre Delescluse encouraged her to apply to the Conservatoire National Superieur de Musique de Paris, where she was formally trained and noticed for her talent in the bass. Her outstanding musicianship took her to the United States and to the Centre for Creative and Performing Arts in Buffalo through a scholarship. In the United States, she expanded her network and met some of the best composers, such as John Cage, Giacinto Scelsi, and Morton Feldman. Among them, John Cage greatly influenced her music and compositions. Her time in the United States also enabled her to experience downtown New York music, which was another significant influence that led to her continued involvement in the field of improvised music.

Some of her notable collaborations in the field of contemporary music are with Pierre Boulez, Merce Cunningham, John Cage, and Giacinto Scelsi. Among them, John Cage and Giacinto Scelsi were the biggest influences in her life and music. In an interview, Joëlle Léandre said that John Cage was her spiritual father and changed her perception of sound and music. In another interview, she tells how Giacinto Scelsi allowed her to discover her own music and how his music transported her into a new world of improved consciousness. In the field of jazz music, she collaborated with Derek Bailey, William Parker, and Sebi Tramontana. Her music was owned and distributed by different music labels, including FMP, Leo, RougueArt, and Red Toucan. Some memorable songs and albums she released throughout the years include Instant Replay, Les Douze sons, Trios, Sweet Zee, Frerebet, Joelle et Tetsu, Philippe Fenelon, Voyages, etc. Some of the recent releases include Can You Hear Me and Unleashed. She has also performed live at the Tampere Jazz Festival twice, where popular international artists compete with each other.

Joëlle Léandre is also the member of European Women's Improvising Group (EWIG). The group evolved from the Feminist Improvising Group, and Joëlle Léandre joined the group in 1983. In the early 1900s, she co-founded Les Diaboliques with Irene Schweizer and Maggie Nicols, who were her long-time musician friends. Besides that, she also teaches several classes in prestigious universities about contemporary and improvised music. She has lived in France, Germany, and U.S during her lifetime, teaching at academic institutions in the religions and playing concerts. In 2002, she was invited to Canada as a visiting professor for music and composition."

-Joelle Leandre Website (https://www.joelle-leandre.com/biography/2/)
1/26/2026

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.

"Since his emergence on the west coast in the late 1970s, Evander Music founder and saxophonist Phillip Greenlief has achieved international critical acclaim for his recordings and performances with musicians and composers in the post-jazz continuum as well as new music innovators and virtuosic improvisers. He has performed and recorded with Fred Frith, Meredith Monk, Nels Cline, and They Might Be Giants; albums include THAT OVERT DESIRE OF OBJECT with Joelle Leandre, and ALL AT ONCE with FPR (Frank Gratkowski, Jon Raskin, Phillip Greenlief). Recent residencies have included Headlands Center for the Arts and from 2012 to 2014 he was the curator at Berkeley Arts, a home for progressive music. He is the recipient of a San Francisco Bay Guardian Goldie Award."

-Evander Music (http://www.evandermusic.com/artist_detail.asp?artist_id=117)
1/26/2026

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.


Track Listing:
Related Categories of Interest:


Improvised Music
Jazz
West Coast/Pacific US Jazz
Staff Picks & Recommended Items
Duo Recordings
Friends of Squid

Search for other titles on the label:
Relative Pitch.


Recommended & Related Releases:
Leandre, Joelle / Pascal Contet
Miniatures
(Trost Records)
A collaboration that goes back 30 years, French improvising bassist Joëlle Léandre and avant accordionist Pascal Contet in their fifth album together, turning from their more typically extended conversations to a series of 10 "Miniatures", shorter and diverse dialogs recorded live in 2022 at the beautiful Arsenal Concert Hall in Metz, France.
Greenlief, Phillip / Scott Amendola
Stay with it
(Clean Feed)
Their first duo album, Collect My Thoughts released in 1995 on Nine Winds, these live improvisations captured at Berkeley's The Shinebox in 2017 show the two West Coast collaborators--Phillip Greenlief on alto & tenor saxophones plus clarinet, and drummer/percussionist Scott Amendola--'staying with it' in an energetic set of five informed dialogs.
Leandre, Joelle / Vinicius Cajado
Storm Dance
(Not Two)
Six "Dances" of a deeply turbulent nature as legendary French bassist Joëlle Léandre meets Brazilian bassist Vinicius Cajado for a 2022 live concert in Vienna at Alte Schmiede, both employing massively powerful techniques, Léandre vocalizing at times to push their dialog into tempestuous territory; at times darkly explosive but illuminated by incredible creative intent.
Leandre, Joelle / Nuria Andorra
BLA BLA BLA duo
(Listen! Foundation (Fundacja Sluchaj!))
A brooding meeting between free improvising double bassist Joëlle Léandre and Catalonian drummer/percussionist Nuria Andorra (Icarus Ensemble, Barcelona 216, Patchwork Ensemble), two generations of improvisers finding common ground through a simmering boil of intelligent improvisation, imaginative technical skill and passionately assertive playing.
Leandre, Joelle / Paul Lovens
Off Course !
(Fou Records)
Bringing together two masterful and legendary players from the European Free Improv scene -- French double bassist and vocalist Joëlle Léandre and UK drummer & percussionist Paul Lovens -- heard in this live performance at Les Temps du Corps, in Paris, free playing in two parts with an incredible sense of communication, timing, humor, virtuosity and finesse.
Leandre, Joelle
At Souillac en Jazz
(Ayler Records)
An extraordinary solo double bass set recorded at Saint-Jacques church of Cales, Lot, France in 2021 as part of the Souillac en Jazz festival from Joëlle Léandre, reaching into the depths for an incomparable and intensely concentrated display of technical skill and passion on the deep strings; captivating, visceral and cathartic.
Greenlief, Phillip
Barbedwire: 37 Graphic Scores For Trio Volume One
(Creative Sources)
Four trios perform selections from composer and reedist Phillip Greenlief's BARBEDWIRE - 37 Graphic Scores For Trio, featuring John Bischoff, Kyle Bruckmann, Mark Clifford, Evelyn Davis, Tim Decillis, Gabby Fluke Mogul, Jane Rigler, and Tim Perkis, each composition a unique sonic sculpture, creating a diverse set of unique recordings realized by consummate performers.
Leandre, Joelle / Marc Ducret
Chez Helene
(Ayler Records)
Jean-Marc Foussat recorded the French improvising duo of electric guitairst Marc Ducret and double bassist Joelle Leandre at 19PaulFort in May, 2018, the title drawn from a poem by Edgar Allen Poe, as the two trade acoustic and electric string approaches in a sophisticated dialog of exceptional technique and inventive approaches; superb.
Leandre, Joelle
A Woman's Work [8 CD BOX SET]
(Not Two)
A thorough overview of bassist and vocalist Joelle Leandre's recent work in a boxed set of 8 CDs and a 16 page booklet of essays, photos and credits, each CD bringing a unique grouping from Les Diaboliques to duos with Mat Maneri, Fred Frith, Lauren Newton, & Jean-Luc Cappozzo, plus one solo disc and a quartet with Zlatko Kaucic, Evan Parker and Augusti Fernandez; magnificent.
Duthoit, Isabelle / Franz Hautzinger
Lily
(Relative Pitch)
French free vocalist Isabelle Duthoit met world traveling improviser and Zeitkratzer trumpeter Franz Hautzinger in New York City to record these highly unusual duos, using extreme techniques and inexplicable intent to create 9 uniquely aberrant accompaniments to your most subtle and strange dreams; reference Phil Minton, Axel Dorner, Freddie Kruger.
Rodrigues / Greenlief / Swafford
Sidereus Nuncius
(Creative Sources)
An extended and far-ranging acoustic free improvisation from the trio of Ernesto Rodrigues on viola, Phillip Greenlief on tenor sax, and Tom Wafford on violin, recorded live at the Gallery 1412 during the Seattle Improvised Music Festival of 2006.
Bourdreuil, Leila / Michael Foster
The Caustic Ballads
(Relative Pitch)
Two bright stars of DIY Brooklyn improvisers with unusual approaches to their instruments through extended techniques, processing and odd acoustic effects from saxophonist Michael Foster and cellist Leila Bourdreuil, together since 2009 creating racous & beautiful sound.
Leandre, Joelle / Jerome Bourdellon
Evidence
(Relative Pitch)
The duo of French bassist Joelle Leandre and flautist Jerome Bourdellon, two tremendously skilled improvisers in an impressive dialog on a variety of flutes, bass clarinet, bass, voice, with one solo piece from each.
Virelles, David
Continuum
(Pi Recordings)
Cuban-born pianist David Virelles in a collaborative effort with legendary drummer Andrew Cyrille, bassist Ben Street, and Cuban folkloric percussionist/poet Roman Diaz, inspired by various aspects of Afro-Cuban religious practices.
Way Out Northwest (John Butcher / Tortsen Mueller / Dylan van der Shyff)
The White Spot
(Relative Pitch)
The UK and Vancouver meet for a second release under the Way Out Northwest name - British saxophone master John Butcher with bassist Torsten Muller and drummer Dylan van der Schyff - recording for Sonarchy Radio.
Threadgill Zooid, Henry
Tomorrow Sunny / The Revelry, Spp
(Pi Recordings)
Henry Threadgill and his Zooid band follow up the 2 part "This Bring Us To" series with this exceptional album of NY jazz, abstracting the jazz idiom in persuasive and stunning ways through great writing and playing.



Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought:
Mines, Kelsey
Look Like
(Relative Pitch)
The first complete solo release from Seattle, Washington bassist and vocalist Kelsey Mines, active in both classical music as a member of Yakima Symphony, Symphony Tacoma and the Paramount Orchestra, and as an improviser, here presenting a series of improvised solo-duets that explore how listening to our on-going internal dialogue helps us conjure honest, outward expressions.
Honsinger's, Tristan Hopscotch
Cloud Reading Society [VINYL]
(Umlaut Records)
An idiosyncratic and wonderfully wild improvisational music theater group revolving around composer & cellist Tristan Honsinger, using spoken word and song through eclectic and active free improvisation including strings, reeds, trumpet, toy piano, tap dance, bass & drums, a truly unique and joyfully quirky album that fulfills Honsinger's goal of uniting music, theater & poetry.
Malaby, Tony / Angelica Sanchez / Tom Rainey
Huapango
(RogueArt)
Updating their collaboration since the 2004 Alive in Brooklyn album from the trio of saxophonist Tony Malaby, drummer Tom Rainey and Angelica Sanchez on piano & Wurlitzer electric piano, contrasting that double album with a set of 10 succinct collective improvisations, inspired work of intuitive playing and a creative chemistry that only such long association can bring.
Pavone, Jessica
When No One Around You is There but Nowhere to be Found
(Relative Pitch)
Extending her interest in new forms for the solo viola, augmented by effects and voice, New York composer and improviser Jessica Pavone's fourth solo album of composed viola pieces is the result of years of concentrated long tone practice and an interest in repetition, song form and sympathetic vibration, a uniquely, sometimes quirky, and compelling album.
Courvoisier / Halvorson
Searching For The Disappeared Hour
(Pyroclastic Records)
The second collaboration between pianist Sylvie Courvoisier and guitarist Mary Halvorson, six years after Crop Circles and a product of their tours together and the result of their both writing compositions specifically for their duo project, showing a level of communication that allows incredible inventiveness and moments of poignant exchange; exceptional.
Sinton, Josh
b.
(FiP recordings)
The third solo saxophone record from Brooklyn improviser Josh Sinton, and his first recorded solely on the baritone saxophone, an instrument for which Sinton explains he has dedicated half his life, heard in this remarkably diverse set on the lower horn that he approaches lyrically, technically, emotionally and with startling singularity.
Arcane Device
Ruins
(No Rent)
Four mysteriously untitled and extended works of electronics subtitled Impressions From the Next Era, using feedback, aberrant sound, glitch, rich synthetics, bi-directional sound and indescribable sonic sources to fuel David Lee Myer's latest in his long-running and essential listening project Arcane Device; shimmering, inscrutable, and awe-inspiring.
McPhee, Joe
Route 84 Quarantine Blues (Black Cross Solo Sessions 2)
(Corbett vs. Dempsey)
One of Corbett vs. Dempsey's Black Cross Solo Sessions, Joe McPhees approaches his album recorded during pandemic lockdown in his home through tenor sax, voice, water, objects and field recordings, the center of the album a cycle of compositions by Charles Mingus, alongside works by Carla Bley and influences by Joni Mitchell, and a virtual symphony of saxes on the title track.
Leimgruber / Turner / Dorner / da Boff / Flesh
London / Leipzig / Luzern
(Euphorium)
A powerful concert of free and electroacoustic improvisation from Urs Leimgruber on tenor saxophone, Axel Dorner on trumpet, Roger Turner on percussion, and Ra Ra da Boff (aka Oliver Schwerdt) & Ribo Flesh on electric organs, performing live at NuR in Leipzig, Germany in 2015 for two extended performances; see all Axel Dörner-Untitled (Berlin) & Urs Leimgruber-Untitled (Luzern).
Garcia, Violeta / Chris Pitsiokos
Uanmortaim
(Relative Pitch)
From fractured and fragmented to assertively raw improvisation in the unusual pairing of saxophone and cello from Chris Pitsiokos on alto and Argentinian cellist Violeta Garcia, using intense approaches to their instruments in a reactive set of 11 concise dialogs, a well-matched meeting of innovative improvisers uniquely responding to and clearly enjoying an eccentric conversation.




The Squid's Ear Magazine

The Squid's Ear Magazine

© 2002-, Squidco LLC