Club D'Elf

Began in 1998 as a way to get players from such Club d'Elf convened for the first time in 1998, spearheaded and fronted by bassist/composer Mike Rivard, a busy session player who has recorded & performed with Morphine, Jon Brion, Aimee Mann, G. Love & John Scofield, amongst others. Originally formed around a core rhythm section with the addition of different special guests for each show, the idea was to remix Rivard's groove-based compositions differently for each performance. Guests over the years have included John Medeski & Billy Martin (MMW), DJ Logic, Marc Ribot, Skerik, and Marco Benevento (Benevento / Russo Duo), with jambands.com describing the situation thusly: "Club d'Elf consists of Mike Rivard and any cohorts who decide to embark with him into perilous sonic chimeras." The music draws from a startlingly wide spectrum of styles, including jazz, hip hop, electronica, prog-rock and dub, with the band exploring mash ups of these diverse musical universes before the term was even in use. Over the past few years (under the tutelage of member Brahim Fribgane, who hails from Casablanca) the band has been absorbing Moroccan trance influences and frequently adding this element to the live mix, showcasing Fribgane's mesmerizing oud stylings and Rivard's commanding playing of the Moroccan sintir, a 3 string bass lute used by the Gnawa people of Morocco, a mystical Sufi brotherhood descended from sub-Saharan slaves brought to Morocco over 500 years ago. Over the course of it's 10 year history the band has toured Japan four times and played countless gigs and festivals, including the prestigious Festival Du Monde de Arabe in Montreal, and released 8 live CDs. In 2006 d'Elf released it's first studio disc, Now I Understand, which climbed to #7 on the CMJ Jazz chart and garnered rave reviews. Slated for Sept 2009 are TWO new studio releases, representing very different sides of the band's sound: one being post-Radiohead electronica (and featuring some of the late Mark Sandman's Morphine) last recorded performances); the other, acoustic Moroccan folk music (and featuring Hassan Hakmoun singing a Gnawa-ified version of Cream's Sunshine Of Your Love). - Best Jazz Act, Boston Music Awards, 2007 - Best Jazz Act, Best of Boston, Boston Magazine, 2004 - Phoenix Editors and Readers Poll, 2001 - Best Jam Band, Phoenix Editors and Readers Poll, 2001 - Best DJ/Electronica Act, FNX Best Music Poll, 2001 - Best Cutting Edge Band, Best of Boston, Boston Magazine, 1998 www.twitter.com/clubdelf www.myspace.com/clubdelf www.youtube.com/clubdelf http://blog.clubdelf.com

Filed under: Avant-Garde, experimental, instrumental, jazz, space rock