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Asian Fields Variations marks the first time that clarinettist Louis Sclavis, violinist Dominique Pifarly and cellist Vincent Courtois have recorded as a trio. Sclavis summoned the project into existence, but this is a democratic group of creative equals: I proposed that we make a real collective, and each of us composes for the program. For a new group, it has a lot of pre-history: Sclavis and Pifarly have played together in diverse contexts for 35 years, Sclavis and Courtois for 20 years, but they retain the capacity to surprise each other as improvisers. We're drawing also on a lot of different playing experiences, and we're continually bringing new things to the project. We keep going deeper. The album was recorded at Studios La Buissonne in Pernes-les-Fontaines last September, with Manfred Eicher as producer, and it is issued on the eve of a major French tour.