BIOGRAPHY :
Born in Paris to a French mother and an Italian father, Sophia Domancich started playing piano at a very young age, following in her sister Lydia's footsteps. At 11 she entered Paris' National Conservatory of Music, and although her suburban life in Sarcelles occasionally conflicted with the institution's demands, she concluded her studies with first prizes in both piano and chamber music.
Her life then took a different turn. Spending most evenings at the Chapelle des Lombards club in rue de Lappe, she started backing West Indian and African singers, and jamming with such jazz musicians as Bobby Few, Steve Lacy, Bernard Lubat, Ann Ballester and Mimi Lorenzini. This led to her forming the Trio Davenport with Charles Calamel on double bass and Bernard Drouillet on drums.
In 1984 she began a parallel collaboration with the British jazz scene, which would become an important part of her musical life and influence some of her later choices as an artist. First she joined drummer Pip Pyle's group Equip'Out, which also featured Didier Malherbe and two former members of Soft Machine, bassist Hugh Hopper and saxophonist Elton Dean. While her collaboration with Dean continued on a regular basis until his untimely death in 2006, she didn't play with Hopper again until the formation of Soft Bounds in 2004 with Dean and another of her close musical associates, drummer Simon Goubert. Sophia also had a brief stint with the reformed Hatfield and the North, featuring Pyle and fellow founding members Richard Sinclair and Phil Miller, as documented on the Live 1990 CD/DVD.
Another encounter of lasting consequence on this scene was that of Welshman John Greaves, the former bass player and vocalist in Henry Cow. Sophia Domancich has been a fixture of his live groups for two decades, appearing on such albums as "Songs", featuring another living legend, Robert Wyatt, and "The Trouble With Happiness", alongside cellist Vincent Courtois. The "British" influence left its mark on her début as a leader, 1991's "Funerals", particularly on the themes and the occasional use of brass arrangements to supplement the basic trio of herself on piano, Paul Rogers on double bass and Bruno Tocanne on drums.
Yet another British musician, jazz drummer Tony Levin, triggered the advent of her first major trio, when in 1992 he invited her to play a three-week stint at London's Ronnie Scott's club and in Birmingham, again with Rogers on bass. This residency marked the beginning of seven years of regular touring and recording, documented on three studio albums. Showcasing Sophia Domancich's fully mature writing, the trio was noted for its unique sound, solemn tone and rich interplay. On occasion it also served as rhythm section for collaborations with, among others, saxophonists Paul Dunmall and Evan Parker.
From 1997 to 2000, Sophia Domancich was invited to join the prestigious Orchestre National de Jazz by its then musical director, double bass player Didier Levallet. This experience fitted in with a conscious attempt to enlarge her palette and explore the full diversity of jazz styles and languages. This also manifested itself in her collaborations with drummer Ramon Lopez - most notably in the Flowers Trio with double bassist Joëlle Léandre -, saxophonist Eric Barret - with Riccardo Del Fra, then Jean-Jacques Avenel on double bass - and Simon Goubert, in the drummer's quartet with Michel Zenino and Boris Blanchet. These, in keeping with jazz's tradition of interactivity, proved mutually beneficial for all involved, and in Sophia Domancich's case, the result was her first solo piano album, 1999's "Rêves Familiers", which asserted her unique talent for combining formal coherence and improvisational freedom. Its release coincided with her being honoured by the Académie du Jazz : she was the first-ever female recipient of its "French musician of the year" award.
In 2000 she assembled her quintet Pentacle, consisting of Jean-Luc Cappozzo on trumpet, Claude Tchamitchian on double bass, Simon Goubert on drums and Michel Marre on euphonium. It has so far recorded two albums - its eponymous début in 2003, and "Triana Moods" in 2006, inspired by a memorable stay in Sevilla, in which she was finally able to express the solar side of her lyricism.
Her next musical venture, begun that same year, was a truly cooperative trio, named DAG after the initials of its members - Domancich on piano, Jean-Jacques Avenel on double bass and Simon Goubert on drums. It soon found itself recording at the famous Studio de la Buissonne, with Gérard de Haro handling production duties. During the same sessions Sophia Domancich and Simon Goubert also recorded a duo album, "You Don't Know What Love Is".
In an unexpected turn of events, she was asked by musician/singer Fred Avril to remix his electro-styled track "The Date". This new experience appealed to her curious and inquiring mind, and through it she discovered new musical landscapes, those of sound designer Raphaël Marc, with whom she went on to create a unique concerto for piano and electronics, "Lilienmund", a fascinating work that draws on samples often transformed beyond recognition - from Alban Berg's opera "Lulu", Qigang Chen's "Iris Unveiled" or a poem by Heinrich Heine recited by Helga Nick - to suggest reminiscences of ghost worlds.
From a review of their concert at Le Triton : "This music in the making can be given no satisfactory ending, so instead we were treated to this sublime conclusion, where both musicians, having gravitated for over an hour around masks of beauty and moaning voices, finally gave way to a Lied, sung by baritone master Dietrich Fischer-Diskau. The only conceivable resolution to this crowded, nightly atmosphere".
No wonder Sophia Domancich chose the path of jazz and improvisation. Indeed her improvisational logic is so strong that she can draw any listener into her realm. While strongly rooted in tradition, her music also insists on making its difference heard. It is most unique in its ability to alternate intense explosions of sound and moments of silence, ultimately achieving its own quintessence of song.
Music from/for both the body and the soul.
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