Discography // Leader

« WINDMILLS CHRONICLES »

Stéphane Guillaume: tenor, soprano & alto sax alto flute & bass clarinet
Frédéric Favarel: electric guitar
Marc Buronfosse: double bass
Antoine Banville: drums
Claude Egéa & Pierre Drevet : trumpet & flugelhorn
Eric Karcher & François Bonhomme : French Horn
Denis Leloup & Phil Abraham : trombone
Bastien Stil : Tuba

La Légende de l’Uirapuru (S. Guillaume)
Fields of Nothing (P.O. Govin / arranged by S. Guillaume)
The Man With th Skullcap (S. Guillaume)
Noéline (S. Guillaume)
A Helicon On The Lookout (S. Guillaume)
For Kenny (P. Drevet)
l’Amphi en Fard (S. Guillaume)
Valse d’Or (S. Guillaume)
Nounoucet (S. Guillaume)
Vent Sur le Reg (S. Guillaume)
Ballade Irlandaise (E. Stern / arranged by S/ Guillaume)

Produced by Pierre-Olivier Govin & Stéphane Guillaume

Recorded by Pierre Guinot, assisted by Pierre Gaucher at the ‘Alhambra-Colbert’ in Rochefort (17) on 17, 18 & 19 June 2008

Mixed and mastered by André Charlier at ‘Studio des Egreffins’, Videlles (91)

After two highly acclaimed albums, ‘Soul Role’ and ‘Intra-Muros’, Stéphane Guillaume is continuing his fantastic musical adventure with his accomplices Frédéric Favarel (guitar), Marc Buronfosse (double bass) and Antoine Banville (drums), a quartet that has acquired an incomparable group sound over the years.
For this new project, he wanted to join forces with the friends he has made throughout his young career, by surrounding himself with a Brass Band made up of seven brass instruments: two trumpets and flugelhorns, two horns, two trombones and a tuba. The windmill feeds on the energy of the winds. But here, it's the breath of the musicians, here a stream of influences, or again a breath of distant cultures, like particles of matter, that come together and then settle at the heart of these eleven tableaux, chronicles, tributes or veritable little tales.
Stéphane wrote and arranged eight of these songs. He arranged ‘Fields of Nothing’, written by Pierre-Olivier Govin, as well as ‘Ballade Irlandaise’, a famous composition by Emil Stern. ‘For Kenny’ was composed and arranged by Pierre Drevet. ‘Windmills Chronicles’ won the Académie du Jazz prize for best French jazz album of 2009.

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"Listening to Stéphane Guillaume's music is always like a breath of fresh air. But it is an air charged with great intelligence, an abundance of technique as much as human emotion. Whether it's his writing or his acting, Mr Guillaume's art floats through the room with all the energy of a spring breeze blowing through doors and windows. "Where did this person come from? That's the question all my American colleagues and friends ask me when they hear it for the first time. ‘He's from France’ is the obvious answer, but there's more to it than that. Stéphane Guillaume is the fruit of an almost magical combination of musical influences, encounters born of chance as much as of his own reflection, and he has combined a musical intellectualism with the soul he possesses as a man. Although I think he is a modest man, his modesty cannot hide his music just as his music cannot hide his modesty.
The recording includes a piece written for Kenny Wheeler. Perfectly suited for a ‘Brass Project’ album.The whole record seems to celebrate and resonate with Wheeler's unsettling sensibilities ~ ‘For Kenny’ certainly does that.Much credit to the excellent ensemble Stéphane has assembled for the album.Each piece on this CD is another giant step forward in this incredible musical journey Stéphane Guillaume has undertaken. I'm glad he's embarked on such a journey, and I'm grateful that he can follow it by listening to this CD. I look forward to joining him on stage as soon as possible. He is, quite simply, one of my favourite musicians in the world."
Peter Erskine, January 2009

Press Links:

Blog de Choc
Déc 2009

Culture Jazz
Juin 2010

Citizen Jazz
Mars 2024

« SOUL ROLE »

Stéphane Guillaume: tenor, soprano & alto sax & flute & alto flute & clarinet & bass clarinet
Claude Egéa : trompette & bugle (3 & 9)
Frédéric Favarel : electric & acoustic guitar (7 & 9)
David Patrois : vibraphone & Marimba (5 & 6)
Paul-Christian Staïcu : piano & Rhodes (2, 3, 8, 9 & 10)
Marc Buronfosse : contrebasse (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9 & 10)
Daniel Yvinec : basse (6)
Antoine Banville : batterie

Urban Treck (S. Guillaume)
Sur le Tarmac (S. Guillaume)
À Ciel Ouvert (D. Patrois)
Maître Nhôm (S. Guillaume)
Les Sources de la Romanche (S. Guillaume)
Formica Léo (S. Guillaume)
Soul Role (H. Van de Geyn)
Piana (S. Guillaume)
Charivari (S. Guillaume)
Rascar Capac (intro.) (L. Benhamou)

Produced by Daniel Yvinec & Stéphane Guillaume.

Recorded by Pierre Guinot at the "Studio de la Forêt in June 2003.

Mixed by Pierre Guinot, Au « Studio Gimmick ».

"Adaptable - for many, this would be Stéphane Guillaume's most outstanding quality.

Let's take them at their word: how can we fail to admire his extraordinary sense of musical instruments, musical genres and human contexts? Impressive almost in spite of himself, he always delivers with disarming naturalness the fruits of his precocious, brilliant and complete training, which very early on destined him to carry within him the rare qualities that the 'profession' of musician requires - already many orchestras have benefited from his services, which are as exceptionally talented as they are generous.

Stéphane is rightly admired for this, not only for his (real) ability to play countless (usually) wind instruments, but also for always loving to play music, in much the same way as he loves to tell stories, with that inimitable freshness, a mixture of enthusiasm and a constant desire to share.

It's a good thing we already know that, because what we're offered here is something quite different. Flutes, clarinets, saxophones, whistles, multiple arrangements and orchestras of varying geometries... the plurals remain, of course, an inescapable feature of his personality, but this time in the service of a clearly personal message, magnificently constructed and inspired.

His energy as a tireless walker in the service of others, of which I was often the delighted witness at his side, and his immense musical culture, of which he often lets only a purely anecdotal aspect shine through (by imitating "for a laugh"...), he uses to remind us today that he knows how to walk at the head, skilfully choosing his partners, and thus refocusing his most beautiful impressions of journeys to continue building his own, with happiness and for ours. Adaptable, certainly... but above all truly in love with freedom, and this album is an obvious manifesto of this, which is its least merit.

Adaptable, of course... but above all a true lover of freedom, this album is an obvious manifesto of that, and that is not its least merit".
Pierre de Bethmann / July 2004

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« MIAGE »

Stéphane Guillaume : tenor, soprano & alto sax, flute, clarinet & bass clarinet
Paul-Christian Staïcu : piano & rhodes
Giovanni Licata : contrebasse
Pierre Coutaudier : batterie
Claus Stötter : trompette (5)
Phil Abraham : trombone (9)

Miage (S. Guillaume)
Echi (E. Pieranunzi)
Pour Oscar (P.C. Staïcu)
Roundalai (O. Peterson)
My Last Tones (P.C. Staïcu)
Aigue Marine (S. Guillaume)
L’Eveil (G. Licata)
Blue Trane (J. Coltrane)
Nounoucet (S. Guillaume)
L’Ombre du Fantôme (P.C. Staïcu)

Recorded and Mixed by Marc Durst
At D.H.S. Studio
October 1996

"There are many different types of jazz musician. With the same quality of playing, you can recognise those who have always had a great deal of facility and those who have had to struggle with limited gifts, those who have few gaps and those who have managed to build their strength on a particular sector of their playing. A whole palette exists, all combinations come together, which is why you'll never find two identical musicians, to say nothing of their musical baggage. Stéphane GUILLAUME is at one end of the spectrum: he's one of those gifted musicians who worked hard and at a very young age. In short, he has it all. And it has to be said that the man is a bit of an irritant to other musicians: he has very few weak points, at least fewer than the average. Fortunately, in music, and perhaps particularly in jazz, 'baggage' is not enough. You can be an octave-key superman, but if you've got nothing to say, you're as useless as a windbag sitting next to a poet. I have to admit that Stéphane adds to the excellence of his abilities a beautiful expressiveness, which you can get an idea of today by listening to this first disc.
He's only at the beginning of his career, and he's got a lot more surprises in store for us. In any case, I know what a pleasure it is to work with him in the Orchestre National de Jazz, not only for his impeccable musicianship, but also to hear him, concert after concert, develop his ideas as a soloist (and what's more, he's a very nice guy). I remember the first time I saw him. I was attending a Master Class that David Liebman was giving in François Jeanneau's jazz class at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris. To talk about saxophone, Liebman chose a guinea pig from among the students (and I don't think it was Stéphane by chance), a beardless, self-conscious teenager who towered over him by a head. When the first sound came out of his viola, I had that familiar little surprise that you get when you identify a sound that speaks to you. And I said to myself that I had to remember this boy's name.

Laurent CUGNY / October 1996

See biography

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Published November 1