Dufrene's abstract poetry has led many to regard him as a member of the first generation sound poets - following in the footsteps of Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, Richard Huelsenbeck, Hugo Ball, Tristan Tzara, Kurt Schwitters and Antonin Artaud (among others).
[2] In 1957 he discovered décollage and in 1960 - with Pierre Restany, Yves Klein, Jean Tinguely, Arman, Hains and Villeglé - and helped found the art group known as Nouveau réalisme.
[4] The Crirythme work inspired generations of experimental poets, such as Henri Chopin, Bernard Heidsieck, Ake Hodell, Charles Amirkhanian, Bob Cobbing, Gregory Whitehead, bpNichol, Tracie Morris, Clive Fencott, Ada Verdun Howell, Mitch Corber and Jaap Blonk.
The voices were situated in the four corners of the hall and while the performers recited the texts, the house lights flashed on and off and the stage curtain opened and closed repeatedly.
The soundtrack for Tambours du jugement premier contains an important phonetic work which includes almost all of the compositions and scores that Dufrene had produced up to that time in the form of lettrist poems and sung aphorisms as experimental sound poetry.