Sophie Alour

Born in Quimper in 1974, Sophie Alour first trained on the clarinet before developing a language centered on the tenor saxophone, while also playing the flute and bass clarinet. Based in the Paris jazz scene from the early 2000s, Sophie Alour made her debut alongside Stéphane Belmondo, Christophe Dal Sasso, and later Rhoda Scott, in contexts ranging from sextet to big band and quartet. Her leadership path took shape with Insulaire in 2005, followed by Uncaged in 2007 and Opus 3 in 2010, where an openness to improvisation, attentive to timbres and to the flows between contemporary jazz, modal lyricism and freer forms, becomes clear. The Geography of Dreams in 2012 and Shaker in 2014 extend this search with tighter instrumentation and a taste for less expected colors. From Time for Love in 2018, Sophie Alour also explores the ballad repertoire, before further widening her universe with Joy in 2019, Enjoy in 2021 and Le Temps virtuose in 2023, albums where jazz dialogues with Oriental influences, song and a more chamber-like approach. Also present in projects with Rhoda Scott, Christophe Dal Sasso, Alexandre Saada or François Morel, Sophie Alour moves between clubs, festivals and cross-disciplinary creations, with playing that is dense, supple and direct.