"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 ppercussionistLê 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."

"Tristan Honsinger told Kevin Whitehead, 'I grew up in New England, took up cello at age nine in Springfield, Massachusetts... My first teacher was a Dutch Jew. Almost all my teachers were European immigrants. Later I went to the New England Conservatory. It was quite a good school, but I didn't feel very welcome, so I went to Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore from '68 to '69. By then I'd had it, really, with the whole classical music world. I changed teachers so many times, I suppose I was confused by their contradictory advice'.

It was after moving to Montreal in 1969 that Honsiner began improvising and, after meeting Dutch percussionist Peter van Ginkel and listening to his copy of Topography of the lungs, decided he could play this music and uprooted to Europe, moving to Amsterdam in 1974: 'They arrested me the first time I played my cello in the street... confiscated our instruments'. As a result, he moved to Paris, travelled around France, eventually finding his way back to Amsterdam where he began playing with Maarten van Regteren Altena, Han Bennink and Misha Mengelberg as well as being involved in Derek Bailey's Company Weeks and playing with Globe Unity.

The late '70s and early '80s were spent in Italy with Katie Duck, working with theatre - Duck had her group the Great Salt Lake Mime Troupe - and Italian and Sardinian musicians. During this time, Honsinger started his group This, That and the Other, the early version including Tiziana Simona, Sean Bergin, Toshinori Kondo, Jean-Jacques Avenel and Michael Vatcher which recorded Picnic in Amsterdam in 1985. 'Because of a promoter's brilliant organising, the group kind of fell apart', but there have been fairly regular and recent incarnations, including an appearance at the Italian Angelica Festival in 1996.

Since the memorable set of concerts in Berlin in 1988, released on the much sought-after FMP box set, Honsinger has been a fairly regular member of Cecil Taylor's groups. At those concerts, Honsinger performed in a trio with Taylor and Evan Parker as well as being a member of the large European Orchestra but since then he has been a member of various Taylor groups, including the now-disbanded European Quartet with Harri Sjöström and Paul Lovens, including an unusual combination that performed at the Total Music Meeting in November 1999: the Cecil Taylor Ensemble with Franky Douglas, Tristan Honsinger and Andrew Cyrille."

"Jean-Jacques Avenel, born 16 June 1948 in Saint-Nicolas-d'Aliermont ( Seine-Maritime ) and died 12 August 2014. He was a jazz bassist, a faithful companion to Steve Lacy, and participated in many other musical adventures. He was interested especially in African music, the kora and tradition Mandingo.

Jean-Jacques Avenel was self-taught, although he subsequently benefit from the lessons of Kent Carte. He began his career by participating in the free jazz movement, playing with Steve Waring, Colette Magny, Don Cherry, and with Noah Howard, the quartet of Frank Wright and Intercommunal Free Dance Music Orchestra training François Tusques. He also accompanies the saxophonist Daunik Lazro.

From 1975, he began to be associated with different formations led by Steve Lacy. Trio, sextet, quartet... But also the quintet consisting addition Lacy and Avenel, saxophonist Steve Potts, drummer Oliver Johnson and pianist Bobby Few, often with the singer Irene Aebi. A long collaboration begins. He accompanied Steve Lacy for nearly 30 years, performing in many festivals and other places in Europe and the United States, and participating in more than twenty albums recordings. He had also the opportunity to accompany Butch Morris in 1980, and David Murray in the 1990s.

He participated in the achievements of Michel Edelin and particularly in the quartet with Simon Goubert and Jacques Di Donato since 1995. More recently, he worked with young European pianists Benoît Delbecq, and Gael Mevel. And with American Mal Waldron and Australian Chris Cody. Plus work with Richard Galliano, George Lewis, Pharoah Sanders, Archie Shepp, Dino Saluzzi, Paul Bley, and other.

He also regularly collaborated with François Raulin. In 2000, at the 38th festival Roaring, Avenel, Raulin and Adama Drame together created the ARD trio, training mixing European jazz tradition and the Mandingo. Jean-Jacques Avenel passion for African music and plays the kora, in addition to the bass. In 2004, Avenel and Sissokho surrounded themselves Lansiné Kouyaté, Moriba Koita and Michel Edelin for Waraba project ( "the lion" in language Bamana ). Then in 2006, he formed the trio DAG Domancich and Simon Goubert.

He died of cancer August 12, 2014."