Profile No. FR-125

Dominique Pifarély

Violin — French — B: December 26, 1957, Bègles, France

Last updated November 14, 2026

Dominique Pifarély in concert with the group Nigma-e at the Studio de l'Ermitage in Paris on October 4, 2007. CC BY-SA 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/) — Wikimedia Commons, file "Dominique pifarely.jpg" - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Dominique_pifarely.jpg

Dominique Pifarély is a violinist, improviser and composer, born on December 26, 1957, in Bègles, in the Gironde. He grew up in Montreuil, east of Paris, where he went to secondary school and studied at the town's conservatoire. His own site says he was given a violin at six, learned by ear alongside his father and also had classical lessons, and that in adolescence he was drawn to rock, traditional music and jazz. French Wikipedia dates his commitment to jazz and improvised music from 1978.

His first experiences, in 1977, were in string-based and roots settings: with the double bassist Yves Torchinsky and the guitarists Didier Roussin and Dominique Cravic he took part in the New Blue Four, which played the string jazz of 1930s America, and in projects built around blues, Cajun music and musette. Meeting the double bassist Didier Levallet took him into contemporary jazz, first in Levallet's Swing String System from 1980 and, from 1979 to 1990, in a trio with Levallet and the guitarist Gérard Marais. That trio made Instants chavirés (Open, 1981), recorded live, mostly in January 1981, and Eowyn (Label Bleu, 1986), whose title piece is Pifarély's.

In 1982 he joined the big band Pandémonium of François Jeanneau, where he met Daniel Humair, Henri Texier, the reed player Jacques Di Donato, Marc Ducret, the bassist Jean-Paul Céléa and the pianist François Couturier. The same year he began playing with Patrice Caratini, Marc Fosset and the accordionist Marcel Azzola, and in 1983 he took part in the founding of La Bande à Badault, a collective around the pianist Denis Badault that also included Michel Godard. From 1984 to 1992 he worked in several formations of Eddy Louiss, from a trio to the large band Multicolor Feeling, and in 1985 he appeared on On Duke's Birthday (Hat Art) with the Mike Westbrook Orchestra.

The partnership that defined the next decade began in 1985 with Louis Sclavis. Pifarély played in his quintet (Chine, IDA, 1987), his septet (Chamber Music, IDA, 1989, with Yves Robert and Bruno Chevillon) and his sextet (Ellington on the Air, IDA, 1992, and Les Violences de Rameau, ECM, 1996), and he is on Rouge, the quintet record that opened Sclavis's ECM career in 1992. In 1992 the two formed the Sclavis/Pifarély Acoustic Quartet with the guitarist Marc Ducret and the bassist Bruno Chevillon, and its ECM album, recorded in Oslo in September 1993, appeared in 1994.

In 1986 a stay of several weeks in Vienna led him to take part, with Matthias Rüegg's Vienna Art Orchestra, in the piece Sens for the Wiener Festwochen, and there he met the bassist Heiri Känzig and the drummer Wolfgang Reisinger, who joined Couturier in his first quartet. That group made Insula Dulcamara (Nocturne, 1988). In December 1992 he recorded Oblique (IDA) with Couturier, the double bassist Riccardo Del Fra and the drummer Joël Allouche, with Sclavis and Robert as guests on some pieces.

His dialogue with Couturier, which his site dates from 1996 and says now goes back more than thirty years, produced Poros, recorded for ECM in April 1997 and issued in 1998 as ECM 1647. In the same years he worked with the Italian pianist Stefano Battaglia, on Triplicity (1995) with the bassist Paolino Dalla Porta, on Atem (2002), and on the double album Raccolto (ECM, 2005), made with the percussionist Michele Rabbia. He recorded the trio record The Fitting Room (Enja, 2001) with the cellist Vincent Courtois and Ducret. During the 2000s he played regularly in the quartet of the pianist Joachim Kühn, with Humair and either Céléa or Chevillon, and in 2007 and 2008 he was in the group Next of the baritone saxophonist François Corneloup.

In 2002 he founded Archipels - Cie Dominique Pifarély, the structure behind his own projects. It produced Ensemble Dédales, a band of nine improvising musicians, and the label Poros éditions, which issued his records from 2008 on. In 2007 he formed a trio with the keyboard player Julien Padovani and the drummer Éric Groleau, and from 2008 he made records with the writer François Bon and with Violaine Schwartz, joining music to texts and poems. A solo violin record, Time Before and Time After (ECM, 2015), was taken from concerts in Poitiers in 2012 and Argenteuil in 2013, with pieces dedicated to poets including Mahmoud Darwich, Fernando Pessoa and Paul Celan. Tracé Provisoire (ECM, 2016), recorded in July 2015, introduced his quartet with the pianist Antonin Rayon, Chevillon and the drummer François Merville, which went on to Nocturnes (Clean Feed, 2021). In 2017 ECM issued Asian Fields Variations, a trio record with Sclavis and Courtois.

His work outside his own bands has stayed wide. He is on Tim Berne's Insomnia (Clean Feed, 2011), on Ducret's Tower, Vol. 2 (2011) and Tower-Bridge (2014), and in the pianist Aki Takase's quartet La Planète on Flying Soul (Intakt, 2014). In 2021 he released Suite: Anabasis in the Jazzdor series, a five-part composition for a group with two cellos, saxophones, flute, piano and drums. Preludes and Songs, a duo record with Couturier recorded in October 2023 and released by ECM on January 24, 2025, mixes pieces by the two musicians with songs by Jacques Brel, Duke Ellington, George Gershwin and J. J. Johnson, and later in 2025 he appeared on Seven Dreams with Izumi Kimura and Lina Andonovska. In 2026 he is the guest violinist on Federica Michisanti's string-quartet project Life on Art.

His site now lists a duo with Couturier that reinterprets songs by Mike Westbrook, a trio with the bassist Heiri Känzig and the drummer Mário Costa, solo improvised performances, a project with Géraldine Keller around the poetry of Paul Celan, and further work with writers and poets.

His playing moves between jazz tradition and open improvisation. English Wikipedia places him in avant-garde jazz while noting work in post-bop and other contexts, and his own site describes a violinist whose music runs from straight-ahead jazz through cutting-edge improvisation to contemporary classical music. The Guardian's John Fordham, quoted there, hears in his bands a sense of both old and new music history. He began in string-jazz and musette settings before the French and European improvised scene of the 1980s, and worked in the large ensembles of Jeanneau, Louiss, Sclavis and Westbrook before leading his own groups.

As a leader he writes for flexible groups, from the nine-piece Ensemble Dédales to a quartet with piano, bass and drums, and he has repeatedly tied music to literature: recordings and performances with texts by François Bon, Violaine Schwartz and others, and a solo record whose pieces are dedicated to poets. His ECM albums, produced by Manfred Eicher, set a chamber-scale sound against that more open material.

Key Recordings

Acoustic Quartet (1994, ECM 1526) - co-led with Louis Sclavis, with Marc Ducret and Bruno Chevillon, recorded in Oslo in September 1993. Apple Music - Acoustic Quartet
Louis Sclavis Quintet, Rouge (1992, ECM 1458) - the record that began Sclavis's ECM catalogue, with Pifarély in the front line. Apple Music - Rouge Listen
Poros (1998, ECM 1647) - the first record by the duo of Pifarély and François Couturier, recorded in April 1997. Apple Music - Poros
Time Before and Time After (2015, ECM 2411) - solo violin, taken from concerts in Poitiers and Argenteuil, with pieces dedicated to poets. Apple Music - Time Before and Time After Listen
Tracé Provisoire (2016, ECM 2481) - the Dominique Pifarély Quartet with Antonin Rayon, Bruno Chevillon and François Merville, recorded in July 2015. Apple Music - Tracé provisoire Listen
Louis Sclavis, Dominique Pifarély and Vincent Courtois, Asian Fields Variations (2017, ECM 2504) - violin, clarinets and cello, recorded in September 2016. Apple Music - Asian Fields Variations Listen
Nocturnes (2021, Clean Feed CF561CD) - the quartet's second album, recorded in December 2017 and issued in 2021, with a text by Fernando Pessoa credited. Apple Music - Nocturnes Listen
François Couturier and Dominique Pifarély, Preludes and Songs (2025, ECM 2819) - the duo's second ECM record, recorded in October 2023. Apple Music - Preludes & Songs Listen

Full Discography

Dominique Pifarély: Full Discography

French violinist, improviser and composer, born December 26, 1957, in Bègles. Discogs artist 732627. Name variations on record: D. Pifarely, D. Pifarély, Dominique Pifarely, Pifarely, Pifarély.

Group names on Discogs: Mike Westbrook Orchestra, Louis Sclavis Quintet, Louis Sclavis Sextet, Louis Sclavis Septet, Multicolor Feeling Fanfare, Swing Strings System, La Bande À Badault, Andreas Willers Octet, Céléa-Couturier Group, Samo Salamon Quartet, Aki Takase La Planète, Dominique Pifarely Tribulations, Dominique Pifarély Quartet and The Uncommon Orchestra. Releases billed to those groups are included below where he is credited.

The leader and co-leader list is drawn from the Discogs entries, his own discography, the release records for the ECM, Clean Feed, Jazzdor and Label Bleu albums, and French and English Wikipedia. Years are release years; where sources differ the cell says so. The sideman list is a selection of his appearances: rows marked "Appearance (credit not itemized)" are credits Discogs files under his name without naming an instrument, and a catalogue number that could not be confirmed is written "not confirmed". The Listen column shows an Apple Music link where one was confirmed.

As leader and co-leader

Album	Year	Label and catalog	Personnel	Notes	Listen	Buy

| Instants chavirés (billed Levallet, Marais, Pifarély) | 1981 | Open OP 17 (LP) | Dominique Pifarély (violin), Didier Levallet (double bass), Gérard Marais (guitar) | Recorded live at "A l'ouest de la Grosne" on January 1, 8 and 9, 1981, except "Club 3", recorded on July 13, 1981. Seven pieces, among them "Song for Stu", "Sagittaire" and "Warm Canto". | not found | — | | Eowyn (billed Levallet, Marais, Pifarély) | 1986 | Label Bleu LBL 6502 (LP) | Dominique Pifarély (violin), Didier Levallet (double bass), Gérard Marais (guitar) | Eight pieces. Pifarély wrote the title piece, Levallet wrote "Soegfried", "Childish Song" and "Sans suite", and Marais wrote the other four. | not found | — | | Insula Dulcamara | 1988 | Nocturne NTLP 104 (LP) | Dominique Pifarély (violin), François Couturier (piano, synthesizer), Heiri Känzig (bass, guitar, double bass), Wolfgang Reisinger (drums, electronic drums), Jean-Paul Céléa (double bass on "L'Heure bleue" and "Passage"), François Laizeau (drums on "Passage") | Recorded in July and August 1988 at the Witas studio. Five pieces: "Insula Dulcamara", "L'Heure bleue", "Passage", "Looking for the Waterfalls" and "Wild Garden". | not found | — | | Oblique | 1993 | IDA Records IDA 034 CD | Dominique Pifarély (violin), François Couturier (piano, synthesizer), Riccardo Del Fra (double bass), Joël Allouche (drums, tablas), Louis Sclavis (clarinet on two pieces), Yves Robert (trombone on two pieces) | Recorded on December 14 to 17, 1992 at Studio Gimmick, Yerres. Thirteen pieces including "Dépli", "Taksim" and "Tribulation". The release carries a 1993 copyright; some listings give 1992. | not found | — | | Acoustic Quartet (billed Louis Sclavis and Dominique Pifarély) | 1994 | ECM 1526 (CD; also ECM 521 349-2) | Louis Sclavis (clarinet, bass clarinet), Dominique Pifarély (violin), Marc Ducret (six-string and twelve-string guitar), Bruno Chevillon (double bass) | Recorded in September 1993 at Rainbow Studio, Oslo; produced by Manfred Eicher, engineered by Jan Erik Kongshaug. Eight pieces from "Sensible" to "Rhinoceros". | Apple Music | — | | Triplicity (billed Battaglia, Dalla Porta, Pifarély) | 1995 | Dischi della Quercia (catalogue number not confirmed) | Stefano Battaglia (piano), Paolino Dalla Porta (bass), Dominique Pifarély (violin), per the artist credit | Trio record billed to all three musicians. Apple Music dates its listing to 1993, Discogs and his own discography to 1995. | Apple Music | — | | Icis (billed Pifarély and Carlos Zingaro) | 1996 | In Situ 167 | Dominique Pifarély (violin), Carlos Zingaro (violin) | Violin duo, taken from the Instants Chavirés series of improvised-music concerts; Discogs lists the release under 1997. | not found | — | | Poros (billed Dominique Pifarély and François Couturier) | 1998 | ECM 1647 (CD) | Dominique Pifarély (violin), François Couturier (piano) | Recorded in April 1997; produced by Manfred Eicher. Nine pieces, from "Trois images" to "Gala". The release is dated 1998 on Discogs and in English Wikipedia; his own discography and French Wikipedia give 1997. | Apple Music | — | | Unsubstantial (billed Alessio Riccio, Stefano Battaglia, Dominique Pifarély and others) | 2001 | Unorthodox Recordings | Alessio Riccio, Stefano Battaglia, Dominique Pifarély and others; full personnel not confirmed | Discogs lists the release under his name as a main credit. | not found | — | | The Fitting Room (billed Vincent Courtois, Marc Ducret, Dominique Pifarély) | 2001 | Enja Records | Vincent Courtois (cello), Marc Ducret (guitar), Dominique Pifarély (violin) | Trio record billed to all three musicians; catalogue number not confirmed. | not found | — | | Atem (billed Battaglia, Rabbia, Pifarély, Courtois and Godard) | 2002 | Splasc(h) Records | Stefano Battaglia (piano), Michele Rabbia (percussion), Dominique Pifarély (violin), Vincent Courtois (cello), Michel Godard | Quintet billed to all five; Godard's instrument is not itemized in the sources checked. Catalogue number not confirmed. | not found | — | | Acoustic Strings (billed Heiri Känzig, Christy Doran, Dominique Pifarély and Fabian Kuratli) | 2006 | Altrisuoni | Heiri Känzig, Christy Doran, Dominique Pifarély, Fabian Kuratli; instruments not itemized in the sources checked | Apple Music dates its listing to June 2007. | Apple Music | — | | Impromptu (billed Pifarély, Couturier, Dominique Visse) | 2008 | Poros éditions ACDP 001 | Dominique Pifarély (violin), François Couturier (piano), Dominique Visse (countertenor) | A collaboration on contemporary poetry. | not found | — | | Dominique Pifarély Trio | 2008 | Poros éditions ACDP 002 | Dominique Pifarély (violin), Julien Padovani (piano), Éric Groleau (drums) | The trio formed in 2007. | not found | — | | Peur (billed Pifarély and François Bon) | 2008 | Poros éditions ACDP 003 | Dominique Pifarély (violin), François Bon (text), François Corneloup, Éric Groleau and Thierry Balasse | A music and text project with the writer François Bon; the other players are named on French Wikipedia and their instruments are not itemized there. | not found | — | | Nommer chaque chose à part (billed Dominique Pifarély and Ensemble Dédales) | 2009 | Poros éditions ACDP 004 | Dominique Pifarély and the nine musicians of Ensemble Dédales; line-up not itemized in the sources checked | First record of the ensemble. | not found | — | | Prendre corps (billed Dominique Pifarély and Violaine Schwartz) | 2010 | Poros éditions ACDP 005 | Dominique Pifarély (violin), Violaine Schwartz (voice) | A recital of poems by Ghérasim Luca. | not found | — | | 1997 Paris (billed Pifarély, Tony Marsh and Noël Akchoté) | 2012 | Noël Akchoté Downloads | Dominique Pifarély (violin), Tony Marsh, Noël Akchoté | A download release of a 1997 Paris session; instruments not itemized in the sources checked. | Apple Music | — | | Time Geography (billed Dominique Pifarély and L'Ensemble Dédales) | 2014 | Poros éditions AC26DP (CD) | Dominique Pifarély (violin), Pascal Gachet (trumpet, flugelhorn), Christiane Bopp (trombone), Vincent Boisseau (clarinet), François Corneloup (baritone saxophone), Guillaume Roy (viola), Julien Padovani (piano), Hélène Labarrière (bass), Éric Groleau (drums) | Five pieces: "Ordinary Chaos", "Per Angusta", "Slow Science", "Beirut Work Song" and "Chaos, Ancient Noises". Discogs gives a release date of February 14, 2014; his own discography gives 2013. | not found | — | | Time Before and Time After | 2015 | ECM 2411 (CD; also ECM 472 1563) | Dominique Pifarély (violin, solo) | Recorded in concert in September 2012 at the Auditorium Saint-Germain, Poitiers, and in February 2013 at the Cave Dimière, Argenteuil; produced by Manfred Eicher. Nine pieces, eight of them dedicated to poets or writers (Mahmoud Darwich, Fernando Pessoa, André du Bouchet, Henri Michaux, Jacques Dupin, Paul Celan, Juan Gelman, Bernard Noël), and a version of "My Foolish Heart". | Apple Music | — | | Tracé Provisoire (billed Dominique Pifarély Quartet) | 2016 | ECM 2481 (CD; also ECM 478 1796) | Dominique Pifarély (violin), Antonin Rayon (piano), Bruno Chevillon (double bass), François Merville (drums) | Recorded in July 2015 at Studios La Buissonne, Pernes-les-Fontaines; music by Pifarély; produced by Manfred Eicher. Eight pieces. | Apple Music | — | | Asian Fields Variations (billed Louis Sclavis, Dominique Pifarély, Vincent Courtois) | 2017 | ECM 2504 (CD; also ECM 573 2668) | Louis Sclavis (clarinets), Dominique Pifarély (violin), Vincent Courtois (cello) | Recorded in September 2016 at Studios La Buissonne, Pernes-les-Fontaines; produced by Manfred Eicher. Eleven pieces from "Mont Myon" to "La Carrière". Discogs files it under Sclavis's name; his own discography lists it as a three-way billing. | Apple Music | — | | Nocturnes (billed Dominique Pifarély Quartet) | 2021 | Clean Feed CF561CD (CD) | Dominique Pifarély (violin), Antonin Rayon (piano), Bruno Chevillon (double bass), François Merville (drums) | Recorded on December 5 to 7, 2017 and mixed in September 2020; eleven pieces, with Rayon and Chevillon each credited as composer of two of them and a text by Fernando Pessoa credited. Produced by Archipels - Cie Dominique Pifarély with Virginie Crouail. | Apple Music | — | | Suite : Anabasis | 2021 | Jazzdor Series 10 (JAZZDOR 0001 / 10) (CD) | Dominique Pifarély (violin), Valentin Ceccaldi and Bruno Ducret (cellos), Matthieu Metzger (alto and soprano saxophones), François Corneloup (baritone saxophone), Sylvaine Hélary (flute, alto flute), Antonin Rayon (piano, Moog synthesizer), François Merville (drums) | Five pieces composed by Pifarély, recorded on September 23 to 25, 2020 at Studio Sextan, Malakoff, and co-produced with the Jazzdor festival. | Apple Music | — | | Preludes and Songs (billed François Couturier and Dominique Pifarély) | 2025 | ECM 2819 (CD; also ECM 752 2305) | François Couturier (piano), Dominique Pifarély (violin) | Recorded in October 2023 at the Historischer Reitstadel, Neumarkt, and mixed in April 2024; produced by Manfred Eicher; released on January 24, 2025. Nine tracks, among them "Le Surcroît", "La Chanson des vieux amants" and "I Loves You Porgy". | Apple Music | — | | Seven Dreams (billed Izumi Kimura, Lina Andonovska, Dominique Pifarély and others) | 2025 | Fundacja Słuchaj! (catalogue number not confirmed) | Izumi Kimura, Lina Andonovska, Dominique Pifarély and others; full personnel not confirmed | Listed on Discogs and on his own site (as FSRecords). | not found | — |

As sideman (selected credits)

Year	Project (Leader)	Title	Label	Catalog	Role	Notes

Personnel & Collaborations

Louis Sclavis - reed player and bandleader; Pifarély played in his quintet, septet and sextet from 1985 (Chine, Chamber Music, Ellington on the Air, Rouge, Les Violences de Rameau), co-led the Acoustic Quartet from 1992 and recorded Asian Fields Variations (2017) with him and Vincent Courtois.
François Couturier - pianist; in Pifarély's first quartet in the 1980s, on Oblique (1993), and his duo partner on Poros (1998) and Preludes and Songs (2025).
Marc Ducret - guitarist in the Acoustic Quartet (1994), in the trio of The Fitting Room (Enja, 2001) with Vincent Courtois, and on Ducret's Tower, Vol. 2 (2011).
Bruno Chevillon - double bassist in the Acoustic Quartet, in Pifarély's own quartet on Tracé Provisoire (2016) and Nocturnes (2021), and a member of Sclavis's septet.
Didier Levallet - double bassist and bandleader; Pifarély's trio partner from 1979 to 1990, with Gérard Marais, on Instants chavirés (1981) and Eowyn (1986), and a sideman in Levallet's string groups.
François Jeanneau - saxophonist and bandleader whose big band Pandémonium Pifarély joined in 1982.
Daniel Humair - drummer, met in Pandémonium and later a partner in the Joachim Kühn quartet.
Henri Texier - double bassist, met in Pandémonium.
Eddy Louiss - organist and bandleader; Pifarély played in his groups from 1984 to 1992, including Multicolor Feeling.
Michel Godard - a fellow member of La Bande à Badault and a partner on Atem (2002).
Yves Robert - trombonist, a guest on Oblique (1993) and a member of the Sclavis septet on Chamber Music (1989).
Riccardo Del Fra - double bassist on Oblique (1993).
Stefano Battaglia - pianist; Pifarély is on his Triplicity (1995), Unsubstantial (2001), Atem (2002), Raccolto (2005) and Re: Pasolini (2007).
Michele Rabbia - percussionist, with Battaglia and Pifarély on Atem and Raccolto.
Paolino Dalla Porta - bassist on Triplicity (1995).
Aki Takase - pianist; Pifarély is in her quartet La Planète on Flying Soul (Intakt, 2014).
Federica Michisanti - bassist; Pifarély is the guest violinist on her string-quartet project Life on Art (2026).
Régis Huby - violinist; he took part with Pifarély in a project for violins called Création Violon in the early 1990s and replaced him in Sclavis's sextet for the tours of Ellington on the Air and Les Violences de Rameau.
Vincent Courtois - cellist on The Fitting Room (2001), Atem (2002), Yara (1998, with Rabih Abou-Khalil) and Asian Fields Variations (2017).
Joachim Kühn - pianist whose quartet Pifarély played in regularly during the 2000s, per French Wikipedia.
Mike Westbrook - bandleader; Pifarély is on On Duke's Birthday (Hat Art, 1985) and The Orchestra of Smith's Academy (Enja, 1998), and later on Catania (2018) and Says the Duke (2023).
Tim Berne - saxophonist and bandleader; Pifarély is one of the eight players on Insomnia (Clean Feed, 2011), a group that also includes the cellist Erik Friedlander.
François Bon and Violaine Schwartz - writer and actor, partners in the text-and-music projects behind Peur (2008), Prendre corps (2010) and Formes d'une guerre (2010).
Antonin Rayon and François Merville - pianist and drummer of the Dominique Pifarély Quartet on Tracé Provisoire (2016) and Nocturnes (2021).
Julien Padovani and Éric Groleau - keyboard player and drummer of his trio formed in 2007 and of Ensemble Dédales on Time Geography (2014).
François Corneloup - baritone saxophonist, in the group Next (2008) and on Time Geography and Suite: Anabasis.
Hélène Labarrière - double bassist on Time Geography (2014).
Heiri Känzig and Wolfgang Reisinger - bassist and drummer of the first quartet, met in Vienna in 1986, on Insula Dulcamara (1988).
Gérard Marais - guitarist, trio partner with Levallet from 1979 to 1990.