Nocuts is a modern jazz group with dreamlike and cinematic colours, blending refined writing, rich nuances and uninhibited improvisation. The music of the group offers a true emotional journey: an invitation to travel where the warm timbres of the clarinet and bass clarinet contrast with the incisive groove of an energetic rhythm section. Both accessible and demanding, soaring and dynamic, Nocuts’ music draws from pop-rock and classical influences, inspired notably by Avishai Cohen, E.S.T, and Radiohead. In 2020, Nocuts released a first album, Itinéraires, which received a very warm response from the public. The second album, Echoes of Wanderlust, will be released in March 2026. It is inspired by the geographical and inner journeys of its composers, Gaëlle Coquempot and Olivier Roch. Each piece resonates like an echo of these explorations, driven by a sense of movement and freedom, and by a curiosity for new sonic horizons.

Olivier Roch

Clarinet, bass clarinet, composition

Olivier began his musical journey with classical clarinet training at the conservatories of Garches and Boulogne-Billancourt. He then immersed himself in jazz through the study of the saxophone in the mid-2000s in England. While playing in various groups, he pursued further studies at the Edim de Cachan and later at Pôle Sup’ 93. He refined his clarinet playing with Evan Christopher, his saxophone skills with B. Herbin and D. Prez, and studied composition with S. Audard and J. Makholm.

Olivier notably plays with the renowned Malagasy singer Rikki Olombelo and within the jazz standards quartet Forswing.

In 2016, in order to perform his own compositions, he founded the quartet Nocuts, blending jazz, rock and classical influences. Nocuts has released two albums: Itinéraires in 2020, followed by Echoes of Wanderlust in early 2026.

In September 2021, Olivier launched a new composition project, the Olivier Roch Quintet, with musicians from the Pousse Pousse Production collective. He performs regularly in small formations ranging from duo to quintet, multiplying collaborations with piano, double bass or guitar.

Olivier teaches jazz, clarinet and saxophone at conservatory level.

Gaëlle Coquempot

Piano, composition

Joining the group in early 2019, Gaëlle began with classical piano studies at the CRR of Nantes before continuing her training at the CRR of Paris and later at the CMDL, where she obtained diplomas in classical piano, jazz piano and composition. She meets artists like Susanne Abbuehl, plays in the Megapulse Orchestra with Céline Bonacina, and participates in large ensembles like the Queen Symphony.

In 2010, she founded a quartet with Camille Maussion, which she developed until 2014. A year spent in South America has had a lasting influence on her music, shaped by encounters, landscapes and rhythms discovered along the way.

From duo to large ensemble, she performs in projects blending jazz, chanson and Brazilian music, and develops a contrasted and adventurous musical language influenced by rock, pop and classical music.

Holder of the CA diploma, she teaches at the Pantin Conservatory.

Guillaume Burkhardt

Double bass

After beginning his musical journey with classical guitar, Guillaume moved through rock and electric guitar before falling in love with the music of Django Reinhardt. An avid traveller, it was in 2007 on an island in Guatemala that he had a decisive encounter with the itinerant American musicians of the Underscore Orkestra. In 2011 and 2013, he toured with them across Europe (Ireland, France, Belgium, Germany, Italy, Greece…), playing in small bars and summer festivals. Between concerts, he began experimenting with the double bass, which would become his main instrument. He trained in jazz double bass at the Conservatoire de Bourg-la-Reine (2018), then at the Centre Didier Lockwood (2022), and also with double bassists Gary Brunton, Marc Buronfosse and Nicolas Moreaux.

He has since participated in numerous groups, notably the octet Eusebes & Makhimos (LP Far away from the way, Pousse-Pousse productions 2022), the trio Triolaine (EP Swing times, Pousse-Pousse productions 2019), and Nocuts (LP Itinéraires 2020).

Julien Defontaine

Drums

In the group Nocuts since late 2016, Julien is a drummer inspired by progressive rock and ECM jazz. A former student of the Dante Agostini school, the American School of Modern Music, EDIM, as well as Thomas Patris and Julien Charlet, he plays in several modern jazz formations including Nocuts, Blå Time Trio, the Guillaume Chapuy Quartet, and The Swingpins.