Sylvain Rifflet

Born in Paris in 1976, Sylvain Rifflet has developed since the early 2000s a career at the crossroads of contemporary jazz, repetitive music and composition for the screen. A saxophonist, clarinetist and flautist trained notably at the Conservatoire national supérieur de musique et de danse de Paris, Rifflet first came to prominence with Rockingchair, a quintet he co‑founded with trumpeter Airelle Besson; the albums Rockingchair (2007) and 1:1 (2010) already established a highly structured language. He subsequently defined an aesthetic in which pulse, loops, motifs and timbral work occupy a central place, particularly on Alphabet (2012) and Mechanics (2016), recorded with Jocelyn Mienniel, Philippe Gordiani and Benjamin Flament. His career also includes reinterpretation and composition projects — around Moondog with Jon Irabagon on Perpetual Motion (2014), Stan Getz with Refocus (2017), and later with Verneri Pohjola on Troubadours (2019) and Aux Anges (2022). Appearing on stages such as Banlieues Bleues, Jazz à la Villette, Jazz sous les pommiers and Jazz in Marciac, Sylvain Rifflet also composes for film and documentary, extending in that field a precise, melodic writing that remains open to improvisation.