An interview by Thierry De Clemensat
To the wider public, Andy Emler is best known as the architect behind MegaOctet, a large ensemble that long ago outgrew the notion of a band to become something closer to a permanent musical laboratory. For decades, MegaOctet has embodied Emler’s core philosophy: music without fences, styles treated not as territories to defend but as materials to reshape.
Yet to define Andy Emler solely through this flagship project would miss the broader picture. He is equally a meticulous composer, a singular pianist, and a relentless improviser, moving fluidly between large-scale works and more intimate formats, trios, duos, and long-standing collaborations, notably with bassist Claude Tchamitchian and drummer Éric Échampard. Together, they share not only a musical language but a deeper conception of music as a collective, living process.
In January, Emler will bring several of his projects to Mexico, a rare opportunity for local audiences, and for American listeners near the border with a taste for adventurous jazz and improvised music, to encounter an artist whose work consistently challenges familiar categories.
Thierry De Clemensat
We’ve known each other for a long time, and your upcoming visit to Mexico in January feels like the perfect moment to talk about the programs you’ll be presenting there. I’d like to start with My Own Ravel, a project that feels deeply personal and is often described as one of your most intimate works. What does this project represent for you today?
Andy Emler:
Yes, we’ve known each other for a long time indeed . My own Ravel is a rare solo project I’ve done. I’ve imposed to myself an exercise I enjoyed which is : composing music in the way of Ravel. Humbly trying to make these pieces sound as if they could be Ravel’s composing.
Three different things appears: I have to play the written parts as a good classical interpreter (pretty hard for me but it is always good work for a pianist). Then I improvise in the middle of these pieces to come back and finish with the “classical parts“. And I tell stories about the last ten years of his life to the audience. This time in Mexico I am working to do it 100% in Spanish! Believe it or not!!!
Thierry De Clemensat
Three dates in Mexico is somewhat unusual for a musician based in France. How did this project come together, and how did it evolve into this particular series of concerts?
Andy Emler:
A good friend of mine Jean-Paul Bernard who was the leader of the famous “Percussion de Strasbourg“lives in Mexico city. He enjoyed a project I wrote for The Percussion de Strasbourg and the MegaOctet and a few years later we to do a tour with my trio around the country. This time the Mexico University wanted to pay homage to Eugenio Toussaint a Mexican composer who dided in 2015. He wrote a jazz improvised piano concerto and Jean-Paul thought I should do it. The other solo concerts came right after.
Thierry De Clemensat
After My Own Ravel, which you’ll perform on January 17, the following night, January 18, you’ll be presenting a completely different program. Can you introduce this second project and explain how it contrasts with the Ravel piece?
Andy Emler:
Eugenio Toussaint was a contempory composer and a jazz pianist in Mexico. This piano concerto is close to a fusion jazz style for the written parts and the freedom which is left fot the solist can take it in whatever I will perform on the day of the concert. Music language should be close to modern jazz as could sound Hebie Hanckock or chick Corea. Very far from Ravel’s musical language.
Thierry De Clemensat
You are often associated with musicians who have played a crucial role in the evolution of modern jazz, and one name that frequently comes up is Dave Liebman. Is there any chance we might see a joint recording or a shared concert, perhaps in the United States, in 2026 or 2027?
Andy Emler:
In 2018,I have wrote a duet for church organ and Dave Liebman. It was a command from Radio France. We have recorded it and there is a CD on their Label “Signatures“. If you don’t have it is my fault. I have to send you all the last recordings
With Dave we did a few concerts with this duet, the best that could happen is a gig at St Patrick’s cathedral in New York
Thierry De Clemensat
Do you see Mexico itself, its culture, its sense of rhythm, its relationship to time and celebration, as a possible source of inspiration for future compositions?
Andy Emler:
On the last trio tour in Mexico I was asked to write a piece for a large Banda orchestra who was performed with the trio in Salamanca. I enjoy the way Mexicans love music. In the tradition of course but in the education music is important… we could dream to have this equivalent in France …maybe in 2056 !!!. Rhythm and danse is in everyone’s corps and of course every influence I wil touch during my stay can change into a future composition.
Thierry De Clemensat
A few days after the January 18 concert, you’ll return to the stage on January 23 in Tetlitlán. Can you tell us about the program you’ll be presenting there and the spirit in which it was conceived?
Andy Emler:
I am not sure yet what music I will play there. It will be improvised music but after 10 days in Mexico there will be some influences for sure
Thierry De Clemensat
Listening to your music, one often has the impression that it is built as much in the moment as it is on the page. How do you currently balance composition and improvisation, especially when moving between solo work, small ensembles, and large formations?
Andy Emler:
Composing is an every day exercise : you have to keep the “creative muscle“ in your head warm like a sport champion . Training everyday even if nothing interesting comes out. Sometimes it is happening because a project is starting in two months or soùetimes not knowing for which band this idea will fit. Improvising is all ready composing and you can compose in a improvised way without anticipating anything.
Thierry De Clemensat
You’ve maintained long-term collaborations with certain musicians over decades. What does that artistic loyalty bring you, and do you feel this kind of continuity has become rarer in today’s musical landscape?
Andy Emler:
Every institution in France nowadays are helping young musicians and especially female wich is a good thing I believe ( it’s about time) but the reaction on my work is that after 35 years of MegaOctet with only men I am not starting again the band only because it needs to be 50/50 male -female …no comment ! Anyway if we are talking about our cultural landscape , the tendance in the world to day is that our leaders ( politicians) have a very limited culture wich is essentially what they see and hear on Tv so every creative art or modern expression are in real danger.
Thierry De Clemensat
My Own Ravel engages directly with the legacy of a towering figure from the classical canon. How do you approach such an inheritance without turning it into a static homage, or, conversely, into deconstruction for its own sake?
Andy Emler:
As I told a little earlier, I mixe improvisation in the middle of written parts and some moments I try also to improvise in the Master’s style. Ravel’s music is incredibly modern in the different inventions he made such as harmonies, orchestration. I believe he influenced a lot of famous Jazz musician. First I think about is Bill Evans . I feel very free working on these languages.
Thierry De Clemensat
In an era when musical ecosystems are increasingly fragmented by algorithms and niche audiences, how do you see the future of improvised music and large-scale creative projects that resist easy categorization?
Andy Emler:
I believe I started to answer this question but there is a lot to say. Ther will always be people to play an instrument in front of other people. Even if it happens in total clandestinity. An concrete example is your president or our French minister of culture who is cutting all subsidies to musical institutions because she just wants everybody to think the same and …like her. She dosen’t have any cultural knowledge so …she ( and others before her) is destroying our way of life. This is not being modern, this is just egocentered people that want to be remembered in history . It is terrible so I still go to schools, highscools, colleges to talk about how musics are important for humanbeings and even more in our time.
Thierry De Clemensat
Finally, when you arrive in a country you know only partially, or differently, like Mexico, what do you expect most from the audience: careful listening, shared surprise, or a kind of unspoken dialogue that unfolds during the concert itself?
Andy Emler:
I just hope I’ll be able to touch the music when I perform . that means touching people’s soul with emotion and rythms and transmit the best energy and vibes I can. It is always unpredictable. I’ll do my best like always.