French soprano saxophonist Michel Doneda is recognized as a leading avant-garde, experimental, and free jazz improviser. Doneda's playing can be at turns lyrical, breathy, and dissonant, displaying his mastery of circular breathing and microtones. He emerged in the 1980s playing in his own groups and has worked with artists like percussionist Lê Quan Ninh, singer Beñat Achiary, pianist Fred Van Hove, saxophonist Lol Coxhill, and bassist Barre Phillips, among others. Doneda's recorded output runs the gamut from trio albums like 1989's Concert Public to solo saxophone recordings like 1998's Anatomie des Clefs to duo projects like 2011's White Stone Black Lamp with percussionist Tatsuya Nakatani and 2015's Frith/Doneda with guitarist Fred Frith. Born in 1954 in Brive-la-Gaillarde, France, Doneda started playing saxophone in his teens and was largely self-taught. Along with playing in his town's local wind ensemble, he spent a decade playing in various dance bands and jazz groups. As he progressed, Doneda became increasingly interested in avant-garde music, especially that of American expatriate jazz artists like Steve Lacy and Alan Silva. By 1980, he had based himself in Toulouse and formed his trio Hic et Nunc, with Steve Robbins and Didier Masmalet. Around the same time, he became involved with street theater, co-founding the Institut de Recherches et d'Échanges Artistiques. In the mid-'80s, Doneda toured with Louis Sclavis and recorded a quintet LP with Philipp Wachsmann on the Nato label. The Nato connection opened the doors of the British and German free improv communities, and led to playing opportunities with Fred Van Hove, John Zorn, Lol Coxhill, Raymond Boni, Ravi Prasad, Joëlle Léandre, and others. On a 1986 tour of Poland with the street theater group Compagnie du Hasard, he met saxophonist Daunik Lazro and percussionist Lê Quan Ninh. Together, they formed a trio, touring Europe and Canada, and issuing the album Concert Public on In Situ and Dominique Répécaud's Vand'Oeuvre label in 1989. In 1992, Doneda released his first solo saxophone album, L'Élémentaire Sonore, on cellist Didier Petit's In Situ imprint. Recorded over three days at CCAM studios with François Dietz, the record found him straddling the line between free improvisation, jazz, and classical, a line he continued to blur throughout the decade. In 1994, he paired with percussionist Ninh and bassist Paul Rogers for Open Paper Tree. He then collaborated with vocalist/percussionist Beñat Achiary and koto player Kazue Sawai for 1998's Temps Couché. That same year, he released his second solo saxophone album, L'Anatomie des Clefs. Also in the '90s, Doneda continued to expand his connections, working with Japanese bassist Tetsu Saitoh, composer Alain Joule, poet Serge Pey, bassist Barre Phillips, and others. The experimental noise album Not arrived in 2000 and found Doneda in creative interplay with guitarist Jean-Marc Montera and turntablist Erik M. He also reunited with percussionist Ninh for Montagne Noire. In 2002, Doneda paired with fellow saxophonist Urs Leimgruber and guitarist Keith Rowe for The Difference Between a Fish. Two years later, he released Strom, featuring guitarist Serge Baghdassarians, sound artist Boris Baltschun, and saxophonist Alessandro Bosetti. He also joined baritone saxophonist Daunik Lazro for 2008's Général Gramafon. The expansive Razine arrived in 2011 and featured Doneda with turntablist and electronic artist eRikm. Also that year, he paired with Japanese percussionist Tatsuya Nakatani for White Stone Black Lamp. He then formed a duo with saxophonist Lol Coxhill for 2013's Sitting On Your Stairs. Another duo session, this time with guitarist Fred Frith, arrived under Frith/Doneda in 2015. In 2019, he continued to document his longtime association with percussionist Lê Quan Ninh on Thirty Ways to Avoid Talking. ~ Matt Collar, Rovi