Denis Badault piano player
Franck Bigotte
career
Bado l'Unique!
Bado, with an 'O', to ward off the assigned identity that marks us all: that's how Denis Badault liked to spell his surname in certain artistic adventures. More than a side-step away from the rigors of civil status, it was the mark of his fundamental playfulness, his taste for caustic humor and inspired fantasy. He was unique, as each of us is when we are consigned to our anthropometric identity. But Denis was more than that: absolutely singular. Singular in his musical path, in the emerging generation of jazzmen of the 80s, with his compatriots Andy Emler and Antoine Hervé, his fellow students at the Paris Conservatoire (CNSMDP for those in the know). A singular personal path within the academic musical institution, to free himself from it as soon as the wind of the open sea makes itself felt. Pianist, of course, but also (but above all?) composer, bandleader, assembler of musical human beings around the same utopia: open, free music that sings, moves, carries, dares and improvises, with all the comfort of musical science. For me, talking about Denis and writing about him is like looking back on my professional life, which began in jazz in my thirties after a dozen or so very different jobs.... When I reviewed the Bande à Badault's first concert in Jazz Magazine in 1983, Denis let me know that he was sensitive to the evocation of the hedonism that tends to prevail in their music: for him, it's undoubtedly an aesthetic as much as an ethic. As a wise man, he does not confuse hedonism with epicureanism, which is an asceticism. That said, hedonism can also be considered an asceticism, but that's another story.... What stands out throughout the pianist-composer-improviser's musical career is his focus on the human, on friendship, on receptiveness to others. He was an assembler of individualities, a band leader, a site manager, as he liked to say, even donning a helmet to lead a very large group of trainees at the 2019 Jazzitudes en Pays d'Auge festival. For Denis loved, perhaps above all, to pass on and share. Which he did in abundance, particularly when he moved to the South of France, teaching in Montpellier, Perpignan and Toulouse.... A long association with the Orchestre National de Jazz took him from the keyboards in the first version (that of François Jeanneau, in 1986, alongside Andy Emler, the other black and white key player in the orchestra), to the Badault episode of the ONJ des Jeunes (season 3, in 2021-2022), with of course his memorable stint as musical director from 1991 to 1994. But his taste was not limited to large-scale, imposing ensembles, in which, moreover, he showed his taste for non-standard instrumentation, escaping as far as possible from the academic schema of the jazz big band. And if he wrote for wind band, symphony orchestra, children's choir or keyboard percussio ensemble with keyboards, he also cultivated a taste for small formations: heterodox quartet (with trumpet, violin & double bass, but no drums), piano/bass/drums trio (but with transgressive variations), duo, and of course solo, where he excelled, again asserting his singularity by assembling two standards (or more if affinities) in a particularly enjoyable musical labyrinth. He also accompanied (and musically staged) the voice of a singer. In short, nothing musical escaped him, through a kind of alchemy combining lyricism, audacity and a taste for strong emotions. I had often presented him on stage, and on France Musique. We'd been friends for a long time, and whenever I could, I listened to him in concert. Ever since he moved to Sète, I'd always make a point of spending time with him over a convivial meal during my annual jaunt to Montpellier, and taking advantage of his inextinguishable sense of humor, a kind of benevolent causticity that knew how to delight the spirit without offending anyone. On Sunday July 23, 2023, as I was having lunch in Gignac with a mutual friend, I told him of my plan to call Denis that very day to set the date for our ritual lunch. He told me that our friend was in a very bad way, which I didn't know, as I had met him at the end of the winter in good shape. The next day, Denis breathed his last, and three days later we were at the crematorium in Sète: many of us had come from far and wide to share this moment of farewell: "À plus tard", said one of his most beautiful compositions, of which he had given several versions. For each and every one of us, Denis was, and remains, a unique individual.
Xavier Prévost
Bado, with an 'O', to ward off the assigned identity that marks us all: that's how Denis Badault liked to spell his surname in certain artistic adventures. More than a side-step away from the rigors of civil status, it was the mark of his fundamental playfulness, his taste for caustic humor and inspired fantasy. He was unique, as each of us is when we are consigned to our anthropometric identity. But Denis was more than that: absolutely singular. Singular in his musical path, in the emerging generation of jazzmen of the 80s, with his compatriots Andy Emler and Antoine Hervé, his fellow students at the Paris Conservatoire (CNSMDP for those in the know). A singular personal path within the academic musical institution, to free himself from it as soon as the wind of the open sea makes itself felt. Pianist, of course, but also (but above all?) composer, bandleader, assembler of musical human beings around the same utopia: open, free music that sings, moves, carries, dares and improvises, with all the comfort of musical science. For me, talking about Denis and writing about him is like looking back on my professional life, which began in jazz in my thirties after a dozen or so very different jobs.... When I reviewed the Bande à Badault's first concert in Jazz Magazine in 1983, Denis let me know that he was sensitive to the evocation of the hedonism that tends to prevail in their music: for him, it's undoubtedly an aesthetic as much as an ethic. As a wise man, he does not confuse hedonism with epicureanism, which is an asceticism. That said, hedonism can also be considered an asceticism, but that's another story.... What stands out throughout the pianist-composer-improviser's musical career is his focus on the human, on friendship, on receptiveness to others. He was an assembler of individualities, a band leader, a site manager, as he liked to say, even donning a helmet to lead a very large group of trainees at the 2019 Jazzitudes en Pays d'Auge festival. For Denis loved, perhaps above all, to pass on and share. Which he did in abundance, particularly when he moved to the South of France, teaching in Montpellier, Perpignan and Toulouse.... A long association with the Orchestre National de Jazz took him from the keyboards in the first version (that of François Jeanneau, in 1986, alongside Andy Emler, the other black and white key player in the orchestra), to the Badault episode of the ONJ des Jeunes (season 3, in 2021-2022), with of course his memorable stint as musical director from 1991 to 1994. But his taste was not limited to large-scale, imposing ensembles, in which, moreover, he showed his taste for non-standard instrumentation, escaping as far as possible from the academic schema of the jazz big band. And if he wrote for wind band, symphony orchestra, children's choir or keyboard percussio ensemble with keyboards, he also cultivated a taste for small formations: heterodox quartet (with trumpet, violin & double bass, but no drums), piano/bass/drums trio (but with transgressive variations), duo, and of course solo, where he excelled, again asserting his singularity by assembling two standards (or more if affinities) in a particularly enjoyable musical labyrinth. He also accompanied (and musically staged) the voice of a singer. In short, nothing musical escaped him, through a kind of alchemy combining lyricism, audacity and a taste for strong emotions. I had often presented him on stage, and on France Musique. We'd been friends for a long time, and whenever I could, I listened to him in concert. Ever since he moved to Sète, I'd always make a point of spending time with him over a convivial meal during my annual jaunt to Montpellier, and taking advantage of his inextinguishable sense of humor, a kind of benevolent causticity that knew how to delight the spirit without offending anyone. On Sunday July 23, 2023, as I was having lunch in Gignac with a mutual friend, I told him of my plan to call Denis that very day to set the date for our ritual lunch. He told me that our friend was in a very bad way, which I didn't know, as I had met him at the end of the winter in good shape. The next day, Denis breathed his last, and three days later we were at the crematorium in Sète: many of us had come from far and wide to share this moment of farewell: "À plus tard", said one of his most beautiful compositions, of which he had given several versions. For each and every one of us, Denis was, and remains, a unique individual.
Xavier Prévost
discographie chez yolk
concerts
It's not an exhaustive list.
connections
other works• "Ekwata", en duo avec Simon SPANG-HANSSEN, Label Bleu 1995
• "Bouquet final", Orchestre National de Jazz, live au Dunois, Label Bleu 1994
• "Monk/Mingus/Ellington", Orchestre National de Jazz, Label Bleu 1993
• "À plus tard", Orchestre National de Jazz, Label Bleu 1992
• "En vacances au soleil", la Bande à BADAULT, live au Dunois, Label Bleu 1988
• "ONJ 86", direction François JEANNEAU, Label Bleu 1987