Orchestre National de Jazz
Whether appearing solo as a guitarist or leading orchestras whose personnel and size couldn’t vary more — they range from the quartet to the big-band —, Olivier Benoit’s sole obsession has always been to further his explorations of territories still barely represented on the official map of contemporary music. Rock, (for its sound and energy), jazz (for its collective interaction, and the beauty of music as an act), contemporary (for its concerns with form and the precision and sophistication of its language), and non-idiomatic free improvisation (for its horizontal organizational modes, and its fundamentally immanent condition), are musical territories whose attributes have real exchanges in generating forms of expression typified by authentic syncretism and innovation.

After taking up the oboe in childhood, Olivier Benoit was 18 when he decided to seriously devote himself to music, and he turned to the classical guitar and contrabass. Whilst a student in musicology at Lille University (and taking jazz and composition classes at the Conservatoire), he met Jean-François Canape, Gérard Marais, Fred Van Hove and Annick Nozati, all of whom were decisive in opening the doors of improvised music to him. In 1992 he formed his first quartet as a leader, Happy House, (notably in the company of double bass-player Nicolas Mahieux) to play music that was firmly anchored in the jazz idiom while having a strong rock colouring.

Settling in Paris in 1995 gave new impulse to Olivier Benoit’s career. He kept company with other young members of the experimental scene, gravitating around the Instants Chavirés from Montreuil (Guillaume Orti, Bertrand Denzler, Thierry Madiot, Pascal Battus…); he also met up with Claude Tchamitchian and Philippe Deschepper, and then joined the Sextet and Quartet led by Christophe Marguet, which included Michel Massot (tuba), Daunik Lazro (saxophones) and Bruno Chevillon (double bass). In 1998 Olivier created his first guitar solo, which was essentially based on the material and spatial natures of sound; after a lengthy maturing process, that artistic gesture defined and oriented his playing resolutely in the direction of improvised music. He followed on from this by working in duo(s) — with pianist Sophie Agnel and saxophonist Jean-Luc Guionnet —, and both pairings strengthened his commitment to improvisation. Paolo Damiani contacted him in 2001 to join his own ONJ, and Olivier consequently played with jazz musicians in the new generation (Régis Huby, Jean-Marc Larché, Paul Rogers…) while multiplying other collaborations in all directions, working with Jacques Mahieux, Edward Perraud and Joëlle Léandre among others.

In parallel with his activities in Paris, Olivier Benoit continued his involvement with the music scene in Lille, actively participating in the creation of the Circum collective and also CRIME, ["Regional Improvisation and Experimental Music Centre"]; ten years later, those two associations would merge and give birth to the Muzzix collective. For more than 15 years Olivier Benoit would remain one of the most active members of this alternative scene, notably demonstrating his singular talents as a writer and conductor with two large formations, Circum Grand Orchestra and La Pieuvre (which he would finally combine in 2007 with the foundation of Feldspath, a vast ensemble of thirty-two musicians.)

Furthering his taste for inter- and multi-disciplinary projects, Olivier Benoit also worked during this period with the Ars Nova ensemble led by Philippe Nahon on the creation of a contemporary opera, and actively collaborated with choreographers David Flahaut and Karole Armitage, dancer and trapeze-artist Clémence Coconnier, and with stage-director Thierry Roisin, composing for the musical play La Vie dans les plis premiered in 2011.