La fixation sur un support quelconque d’une musique totalement improvisée aurait-elle tendance à dénaturer l’acte même de l’improvisation ? C’est une des grandes questions autour de laquelle Lê Quan Ninh développe son abécédaire*. Quelle stratégie employer pour surmonter cet obstacle ? Une des plus couramment répandue est de fuir absolument l’univers aseptisé du studio d’enregistrement. Mais la captation d’une improvisation dans une salle de concert, même si elle parait plus satisfaisante, ne résout pas entièrement la contradiction intrinsèque de la fixation d’un moment destiné à être éphémère.
Alessandro Bosetti, Michel Doneda et Bhob Rainey avaient-ils ces questions à l’esprit quand ils ont décidé de se réunir dans un entrepôt de la banlieue toulousaine et de demander à Pierre-Olivier Boulant de capter ce moment ? Toujours est-il que la prise de son même de ce disque tente d’apporter des éléments de réponse à la question épineuse posée ci-dessus. Rarement le microphone aura été si important dans un enregistrement, jusqu’à en devenir un acteur essentiel.
Car, au-delà du simple acte de captation de l’improvisation, Pierre-Olivier Boulant la met en perspective, et l’associe de manière indélébile à son contexte, en nous restituant l’environnement sonore des Entre-Peaux ce jour là – circulation automobile, courants d’airs – qui constitue un socle sur lequel viennent jouer nos trois saxophonistes soprano, adeptes d’une certaine forme de réductionnisme.
Cette improvisation aurait-elle pu avoir lieu à un autre endroit, un autre jour que le 26 mai 2002 et sans cette approche de la prise de son ? Rien n’est moins sûr…
Freesilence's blog l septembre 2011

Placés dans l'air est enregistré par trois souffleurs au saxophone soprano travaillant pour la première fois ensemble dans cette formule. Alors que nombre de leurs collègues proposent / imposent un style, leur style, duquel leur interlocuteur est bien forcé de se démarquer, ici Doneda, Bosetti et Rainey se proposent une écoute et des sons. Peu importe qui joue quoi, ce qui compte c'est la communion sonore de trois musiciens plutôt que leur interaction. On croit entendre un ou deux saxophonistes, parfois trois, tant la communication est à la fois intense et apaisée. La musique flotte dans l'espace de l'entrepôt toulousain, le peuplant des souffles les plus légers, de soupirs des clés, des murmures du bec et de la colonne d'air comme si le lieu et le moment parlaient au travers de la création spontanée de nos trois médiums. Qui a écouté L'élémentaire sonore (1991) de Michel Doneda sera frappé par l'évolution radicale de ce musicien.
Jean-Michel Van Schouwburg l Improjazz l Juin 2004

Des questions agitent aujourd’hui le milieu de l’improvisation, de nouvelles directions se dessinant qui l’empêchent de sombrer dans l’académisme, aussi contemporaine soit la musique dont il se fait l’écho. Pour schématiser, disons que d’un côté continue de proliférer un discours que l’on qualifiera de bruitiste paroxystique, c’est-à-dire du son projeté vers l’extérieur, avec une violence qui s’inscrit dans la lignée des précurseurs allemands des années 60 (Peter Brötzmann en est un bon exemple), tandis que de l’autre se profile une certaine tendance minimaliste, plus rentrée mais pas moins bruitiste – l’electro, à la suite de l’acoustique, ayant été largement intégrée par ces deux courants aucunement opposés et parfois complémentaires.
Le trio que forment les saxophonistes Alessandro Bosetti, Michel Doneda et Bhob Rainey appartiendrait plutôt à la seconde catégorie. D’ailleurs, Bhob Rainey, au sein de Nmperign, en est un des fers de lance. Ici, tout semble déjà résumé par le titre, Placés dans l’air, qui démontre un intérêt pour le son comme forme pure qui ne renverrait nullement à quelque virtuosité instrumentale. En cela, on est plus proche des musiques électroacoustiques et de l’espace qu’elles créent, voire de la concentration qu’elles exigent de la part de l’auditeur, que d’autre chose. Jouant avec le son (matérialisé sous la forme des vibrations de leurs colonnes d’air) et l’indicible, aux limites de seuils auditifs parfois très bas, cette étonnante formation semble fascinée par le silence d’où naît la musique avant d’y retourner. Comme dit Dominique A : "La musique, ça n’est rien d’autre que le temps de l’écoute. C’est le temps qu’on se et qu’on nous donne pour entendre". C’est justement ce qui est exploré ici. Avec une pertinence rare.
Philippe Robert l Les Inrockuptibles l août 2003

Le commun des jazzfans aurait tendance à estimer que Steve Lacy représente le point ultime du jeu au saxophone soprano, au-delà duquel plus rien ne serait possible. Disons plutôt que ses recherches sur l'instrument ont jeté des ponts vers d'autres manières (encore plus extrêmes et voluptueuses) d'envisager cet instrument délicat et capricieux. Michel Doneda est l'un de ceux qui ont entrepris de repenser radicalement. le soprano et d'en explorer les vibrations intimes, notamment à travers l'expérimentation d'un véritable tissage de micro-sons, souffles, growls et textures insaisissables où les notions conventionnelles de phrasé et d'articulation prennent un sens nouveau.
Actuellement installé à Berlin, Alessandro Bosetti est membre du collectif Phosphor (avec entre autres le trompettiste Axel Dorner), Bhob Rainey - un ancien élève de Joe Maneri et Paul Bley - est quant à lui très actif sur la scène de Boston, notamment au sein du troublant duo Nmperign qu'il constitue avec le trompettiste Greg Kelley. La rencontre des trois sopranos dans Placés dans l'air s'inscrit dans une mise en espace proche de la retenue et de l'intériorité.
Gérard Rouy l Jazz Magazine l mars 2003

Alessandro Bosetti, Michel Doneda, and Bhob Rhainey work with the most rarefied materials in the most high art of settings on the Placés dans l'air CD (Potlatch), at times indistinguishable from Hautzinger, Dörner and Rives. lronically, or perhaps by design, Placés dans l'air resembles the sound of machinery. Scale and chord studies à la Marcel Mule have been done away with. This barren, unforgiving landscape is not without its beauty, but also without the amenities and conveniences of home.
This manifestation of posttonality, instead ofdensely packing explosions of possibility, retums compositionally to plainchant; startling enough, but consider mat the trio in large part replaces tone (which in plainchant ain't all that much in the first place) with inhalations and barely audible squeaks, and further that saxophones sound like the trumpet of Hautzinger, and we have a peek into both the advanced state of appropriation and its place in musical creation.
Plainchant exorcises Placés dans l'air of any sudden moves or secular, libidinous sentiment. The saxophones are brought to edge of their designed abilities at a deliberate, plodding pace. Effete and lofty, yet dilute and dynamics-free, the music demands a fetishist's love of the saxophone and fascination with the tiny and subtle. The drama is visible to anyone willing to endure expanses of silence and inaction while looking througb the microscope to see it all unfold. Long, drawn out, carefully sounded harmonics induce visions of those Tibetan prayer bowls mystically appointed liberals adore. Despite the misty, airy nature, one is always reminded of mechanization. Anticipation of an album with lots of whistling and lisping, harmonics and nontonal blowery couched in dramatic silences does not go unfulfilled.As a work it is more a symptom of the larger capitalist dehumanization process at work, among which there are nevertheless resident syntax and avenues of idiomatic invention.
As with the move from great analog video equipment to primitive digital equipment, Bosetti et al. are dealing with a new technology, a new aesthetic, a new engine, a new way of doing things. The centrality of these sounds are unique to these times - or certainly the acceptance and incorporation of them is new - as they are the stuff that hom players used to practice away from, that which used to be synony-mous with necessitaûng a second take. Bosetti, Doneda and Rhainey do not have extra tendons in their embouchures that Bechet or Coltrane didn't. Instead, the world, how and to whom its riches have been allocated, its declining ecology, and what has passed beneath the musical bridge up to this point are what influence the creation of these sounds in this way and this stratagem of doing things.
Stanley Zappa l Bananafish l November 2004

New England sax anatomist Bhob Rainey meets kindred spirits Alessandro Bosetti and Michel Doneda in Toulouse to winkle out from three soprano horns sounds that might be incidental, unintended, superfluous or plain unwanted in conventionally expressive playing.
Avoidance of the obvious, adherence through the course of a continuous 42 minute improvisation to a restrained language of nuance and whisper, oblique trails and fleeting traces require considerable self-discipline and the will to suppress ingrained tendencies and automatic responses.
Identifying who plays what and when may conceivably be possible but it's scarcely worthwhile given the music's cumulative air of self-effacement The sparse stream of purrs, trills, pops and ghostly exhalations assumes the character of collective meditative practice, shedding routine and familiar features to seek out more rarefied forms of contact, recognition and discovery, between themselves and in relation to the idiosyncrasies of the stark performance space, les Entre-Peaux.
Julian Cowley l The Wire l December 2003

Placés dans l'Air is a meeting of three soprano saxophonists: the young American experimentalist Bhob Rainey, French free improviser Michel Doneda and Alessandro Bosetti from Milan. The music these three make is related to a new sort of improv that generally depends more on noise than notes, and is influenced by musique concrète, environmental sounds and modern composition as well as traditional/"traditional" free improvisation.
It is a testament to the relative newness of this music that music criticism doesn't quite know what to do with it yet. Jack Wright's recent music and Rainey's music sound obviously different. But many reviews of both artists – including some of my own – do little more than list the noises the artists make ("growls," "sputters") or attempt to describe how weird or "free" the music is by plotting it on a line with Phil Woods at one end and Evan Parker on the other. Not only does "more out than Evan Parker" not mean much, but as Rainey likes to point out, it gives the false impression that his music (or Doneda's, or Bosetti's) is based on the same ideas as Parker's to begin with.
So I apologize for describing Placés dans l'Air as a collection of clicks, breathy hisses, and multiphonics. Bosetti, Doneda and Rainey are hard to tell apart here, since they all play the same instrument and their playing feels more like a single sound than an improvisation by three soloists. In contrast with Rainey’s duo project nmperign, there isn’t much silence: the album feels as if someone is playing most of the time, which may be partly because Pierre-Olivier Boulant’s excellent recording nicely captures even the smallest sounds. Regardless, Placés dans l'Air seems to flow continuously, like a single shifting texture.
Still, Placés dans l'Air is similar to nmperign in that its extended-technique noises aren’t employed in the language of free jazz. In fact, they’re not used for traditionally expressive purposes at all – the sounds are by turns similar to those of microphone feedback, bird calls and household appliances. Although the sounds were surely influenced by electronic sounds and sounds of nature, however, the disc also possesses a very human feeling – the recording feels imperfect, as if the mics were placed a few feet away from the musicians, and many of the sounds obviously sound like human breath going through a tube. In other words, Doneda, Bosetti and Rainey ultimately sound like saxophonists, and Placés dans l'Air is rich and unpredictable, as well as highly idiosyncratic.
Charlie Wilmoth l Dusted Magazine l September 2003

Placés dans l'air has received some pretty nice notices in Cadence and Signal To Noise, and no wonder. This recording is in the hunt, baby. For much of it, it's hard to hear much beyond some faint breathing, pad clicks, dampish mouthpiece noises, and the occasional grunt or squeal. The three performers probably listen and interact a bit much for truly avant tastes, and there's likely too much in the way of breathy/chirpy atmospherics (hence the disk title) and the use cool Pendereckian sirens or harmonic hums here and there. They even all play determinable pitches at the sime time on a couple of occasions. But if the album's more "traditional" sections (some, in an almost flagrant derivativeness, including brief repetitions of sounds!) reduces it to the not quite tomorrow, it's certainly no earlier than last month, and that is more than many recordings can say these days.
Walter Horn l Bagatellen l July 2003

Doneda is featured along with Alessandro Bosetti and Bhob Rainey in a soprano sax summit of sorts on Placés dans l'air. But, in the hands of these three, calling this a sax trio is quite beside the point. This long, extended improvisation is more an expansive sound painting in space. Doneda, Bosetti, and Rainey distill their instruments down to the base parts; breath against reed, air vibrating along a metallic bore, keypads clattering against brass.
The trio eschews linear arcs and emphatic conversational interactions. Instead they gradually choreograph a collective sound from microscopic gestures and the sonic extremes of skirling overtones and barely audible whispers. A sense of methodical collective searching slowly reveals itself as the three layer shadowy timbres and oscillating harmonics in the resonant room. The inside cover provides a stereoscopic photo of the cavernous raw warehouse space where this was recorded, and Pierre-Olivier Boulant's "subjective stereophonic recording" subtly separates the three voices to outline a sense of the room across the stereo plane. Every subtle shading and nuance is captured effectively, drawing the listener into the fluidly evolving improvisation.
The three are masters of every manner of extended technique so this could have easily become merely a catalog of advanced facility. At first, they seem to be cautiously circling each other to find a collective center. But as the piece progresses, their voices coalesce as gradated textures and spare gestures are passed around. And it is this depth of sonic detail and sense of crystalline intent that carries the endeavor.
With this new release, Potlatch continues to carve a niche for itself in championing the various fringes of European improvisation.
Michael Rosenstein l Signal To Noise l July 2003

Though definitely not a musical movement that had its beginnings recently, the less-is-more school of improvisation is growing as never before in recent years. Whether a counter to the noisy clamor favored by some of the more established figures in improvised music from the late 1960's on, or an extension of minimalism, quiet, miniscule sounds have softly, to quote the cliché, made quiet the new loud.
Alessandro Bosetti, Michel Doneda, and Bhob Rainey, and international trio of soprano saxophonists, are each, in their own way, students of the aforementioned school of tiny sounds. Placés Dans L'air finds the three exploring the open air discreetly, with soft breaths and sustained notes. At an expectedly low volume, Bosetti, Doneda, and Rainey weave silky threads of unkeyed exhalations and minor sound expulsions, so when high-pitched whines and flutters begin to pepper the musical canvas, they can seem deafening and alien. Pierre-Olivier Boulant's "subjective" recording process is no doubt partially responsible for the phenomenon, but a main area of exploration among the three musicians appears to be this introduction of a quiet sound into an even quieter setting, and the resulting illusion of high volume that can result. When multiple drones rise into the air together, the sound is surprisingly jarring, and a new level of aural intensity is drawn out, though it's carefully still at a volume which would never be mistaken for anything classifiable as loud. Even at their most boisterous, Bosetti, Doneda, and Rainey sound almost as if their instruments are still finding their sea legs, like baby birds learning to fly, but the results are far from unsuccessful or displeasing.
There's not voluminous evidence of the wide-ranging techniques of the three musicians on this disc, though their fairly single-minded improvisational vision contains a certain purity. It seems as though there may exist a bigger array of improvisational possibilities within the limits that seem to have been set during this session, but Placés Dans L'air comes off as somewhat one-dimensional and dry. This isn't to say that the album is a complete bust, but it may be a sign that complete devotion to quiet may be vulnerable to the same pitfalls that can befall a similar allegiance to skull-splitting volume.
Adam Strohm l Fakejazz l June 2003

You might find it odd that a concert of three free jazz soprano saxophonists entitled "placed in the air" could alternatively be called "turn up the quiet"? But that's exactly where Alessandro Bosetti, Michel Doneda, and Bhob Rainey are coming from. This hushed, almost modest form of improvisation is at odds with the brash bravado of 1960s free jazz pioneers. Mssrs. Bosetti, Doneda, Rainey maintain a pastoral feel throughout this single 42-minute recording made in Toulouse on May 26, 2002. All three saxophonists have been pioneering a ?new? form of improvisation: Bosetti with Axel Dorner and Andrea Neumann in the band Phosphor, Doneda with saxophonist Jack Wright, and Rainey with Greg Kelley in Nmperign. While the music is reserved, it is in no way stagnant. The three—and it is very difficult to determine who is who—utilize shy pops, clicks, breath, and trills to create varying levels of tension and release. In doing so, they entice their audience to sit up, move closer to the music, and frankly pay attention. The immediacy of 'loud jazz' is replaced with this ingenious, active, meditative music. The three musicians, like Theodore Roosevelt, walk softly but carry big sticks.
Mark Corroto l All About Jazz l May 2003

The prospect of listening to a trio of soprano saxophones will make some of you cringe. After all, this instrument can turn into a head-drilling implement -- let alone three. But Placés dans l'Air (literally: "placed in the air" or more elegantly "placed in space") is gentle on the ear, despite its high demands in terms of listening attention and open-mindedness. There are no endless circular-breathing tirades, no screeching solos, no out-breathing contests. Alessandro Bosetti, Michel Doneda and Bhob Rainey join forces to produce soft sound-oriented (as opposed to note-) drones, interrupted by short silences. The dynamic range is wide and includes some startling outbursts. The album presents a single 40-minute improvisation recorded at Les Entre-peaux in Toulouse (France), May 2002. The musicians' high level of concentration is what sucks you in at first. Then comes the quality of the interplay and the sheer beauty of the complex music that unfolds. The album brings to mind John Butcher, Xavier Charles and Axel Dörner's The Contest of Pleasures, also released on Potlatch. The work of engineer Pierre-Olivier Boulant is described as a "subjective stereophonic recording," which to this reviewer's ears sounds very much like a binaural recording where the wearer is moving around the musicians. It helps blur the distinctions between the three saxophonists. Changes in sonic perspective makes it very difficult to trace back individual contributions, forcing us to focus on the music as a whole. In the long run, this CD is more interesting and addictive than The Difference Between a Fish, a second trio album featuring Doneda that Potlatch released simultaneously.
François Couture l All Music Guide l April 2003

Something of a Soprano Summit for the non-idiomatic avant-garde, Placés dans l'air is a single lengthy improvisation created by Alessandro Bosetti (best known, perhaps, for his participation in the group Phosphor), Michel Doneda and Bhob Rainey, the latter two being among the more extreme exponents of the instrument. There is a fourth key member, however: Pierre-Olivier Boulant, credited for "subjective stereophonic recording". Given Doneda's previous penchant for recording sessions done outdoors, on mountainsides or in cavernous, vacant factories, I'm guessing that Boulant's contribution involved moving the microphone(s) during the performance so that a given musician's sound would subtly rise and fall in the mix. The room ambience is quite apparent in the first few seconds and remains a presence throughout. For added enjoyment, the interior of the CD booklet is a stereoscopic photo of the room (one presumes), which, if you know how to properly cross your eyes and focus, provides a very nice effect.
The music produced is a bit more problematic. Not surprisingly, there is an immensely wide range of techniques employed by the trio, from breathy flutters through wrenching screeches through the quiet tapping of keys. At times, the pure sound achieved is impressive, even breathtaking. What's lacking is a sense of concept, of wholeness. They too quickly jump from one point to another, generally refusing to pause and listen, to more deeply investigate a given sound area. There are exceptions to this, to be sure. In the fourth track (tracks are delineated despite its being a single performance), the musicians remain very subdued for the most part, finding common ground in breath tones and weaving a substantial, solid and organic quilt, even as they discreetly create complex overblown squalls that mingle enticingly with the ambient rumbles of a passing motor engine. Indeed, from that point on, the disc grows increasingly cohesive; perhaps it simpl y took some time for the musicians to gauge each other. When, toward the end, the players create sounds that are almost indistinguishable from wind whistling through fissures in the warehouse walls, it attains the beautiful aspect one had hoped to hear throughout. It's an interesting, sometimes compelling recording, maybe more for the potentialities glimpsed than the final result but still well worth a listen. It's rare enough that these sorts of problems are even considered, much less tackled.
Brian Olewnick l Squid’s Ear l March 2003