Dominique Pifarely
Photo by Guy Le Querrec
"On the fine line, made of fragile tones, deep, tangible and volatile, an animated dialogue weaves a story told as inventing itself.”
~François Corneloup
A favorite of Stéphane Grappelli, Dominique Pifarély is one of the violin masters of modern jazz. Classically trained at the Conservatoire de Montreuil, he began playing violin at the age of six, discovered pop, folk and jazz at the age of 13, and has since concentrated on jazz and improvised music.
In 1978, he began an association with the bassist Didier Levallet, manifest in such bands as Trio Levallet/Marais/Pifarély and Swing String System. In the 1980s, Pifarély began leading his own bands and played as a sideman with Martial Solal, Cesaria Evora, Eddy Louiss, François Jeanneau, Jean-Paul Celea, François Couturier, Marc Ducret, Mike Westbrook, Mathias Rüegg, Günter Sommer, and others.
From 1985, he collaborated regularly with the clarinettist Louis Sclavis, and in 1992 they formed the Sclavis/Pifarély Acoustic Quartet, featuring Marc Ducret and Bruno Chevillon. The quartet recorded for ECM. In the late 1990s he began focusing on duo work with the pianist François Couturier (also on ECM) as well as working with Joachim Kühn, Daniel Humair, Louis Sclavis, Tim Berne, Vincent Courtois, Michel Godard, Jean-Paul Celea and Carlos Zingaro. He also works for the theater as a composer and a performer.
François Corneloup / Dominique Pifarély duo
