Benoît Delbecq

Benoît Delbecq often plays a piano that has been altered. Like John Cage before him, he places pieces of wood, metal and other objects between the strings, so that certain keys produce muted, percussive or bell-like sounds instead of ordinary notes. In his hands, the prepared piano becomes something close to a small orchestra of drums and gongs, and his music sits somewhere between jazz, contemporary composition and electronic sound.

He was born on June 6, 1966, in Saint-Germain-en-Laye, west of Paris, early in the morning, by the time astrologers have on file for him. His Sun is in Gemini, with Mercury and Mars also in Gemini, all in the twelfth house. Gemini is curious, experimental and drawn to combining ideas, and Delbecq's music mixes influences from many traditions. The twelfth house is the most hidden and inward part of a chart, often associated with sound, atmosphere and work that happens in private, and Delbecq has spent his career exploring subtle, unusual textures far from the mainstream.

Cancer is his rising sign, with Jupiter in Cancer also in the twelfth house. Cancer is sensitive and receptive, and Jupiter there suggests rich, imaginative inner resources. Delbecq began studying piano at seven with a teacher who had studied under the great French pianist Alfred Cortot, and he studied jazz harmony and composition before becoming a professional.

Venus in Taurus, in his eleventh house of collaborations and groups, describes a love of sound and texture shared with others. Delbecq has worked in many collectives, including Kartet and the Recyclers, and he has had a long creative partnership with the British drummer Steve Argüelles.

His Moon is in Capricorn, placed in the seventh house of close collaborators, describing a serious, disciplined approach to collaboration. In 1987 and again in 1990 he attended the jazz workshop at the Banff Centre in Canada, studying with musicians including Dave Holland and Steve Coleman, and meeting a generation of North American pianists, including Ethan Iverson and Andy Milne.

Saturn at the end of Pisces sits in his tenth house of career, describing slow, serious recognition for imaginative work. Delbecq won a prize from the French composers' society SACEM with Kartet in 1995, a Villa Médicis Hors les Murs fellowship in 2001 and the Grand Prix of the Académie Charles Cros in 2010 for his recordings The Sixth Jump and Circles and Calligrams.

Uranus and Pluto, together in Virgo in his fourth house, describe a radical, inventive approach rooted in careful technique, and Neptune in Scorpio adds a feel for mystery and atmosphere. The Gemini planets in his twelfth house made him an explorer of hidden sounds; the Cancer Ascendant made him listen closely.