Sophie Agnel

Sophie Agnel: Song (Sophie Agnel)

by John Sharpe
August 7, 2025

With Song, Sophie Agnel confirms her place as one of the most stimulating and inventive pianists on the European improvising scheme. While she has long been a formidable partner to the likes of John Butcher, John Edwards and Steve Noble, here she underscores her worth as a soloist. But that is not quite the entire story. What gives the session its distinctive flavor is the framing device: a taped voice--that of soprano Mauricette Millot singing a 1958 ...

Wild Card: Cabin 19 Fever

by Mike Jurkovic
March 15, 2023

Cabin 19 Fever lifts from its lilting opening notes into one of those fun, poppingly good discs aimed to satisfy jazz purists and sceptics alike. Crackling with a jubilant, Euro/Afro/Cuban/Latin flare, London-based guitarist Clement Regert's Wild Card picks up where it left off on 2019's heady and exuberant Beast from the East (Top End Records) Sticking with his winning modus operandi of importing guest musicians into the Wild Card core of drummer Sophie Alloway and Australian organist Andrew ...

Sophie Agnel: Capsizing Moments

by John Eyles
May 26, 2009

Sophie Agnel plays prepared piano, although she herself prefers to speak of “extensive piano." Her preparations evolve during the course of her playing as, inside the piano, she adds, moves or removes such objects as disposable water cups, foil ashtrays, bouncing balls and nylon fishing line.

This CD was recorded live in concert at Les Instants Chavires, near Paris in November 2008. Fortunately, the whole concert is included unedited, allowing the effect of those shifting preparations to be appreciated in ...