Jimmy Giuffre

James Peter Giuffre ( born April 26, 1921 in Dallas, Texas, † April 24, 2008 in Pittsfield, Massachusetts ) was an American jazz composer and arranger. He played saxophone and clarinet.

Life and work

He had his first success as an arranger for Woody Herman Big Band, for which he also wrote the famous jazz standard " Four Brothers " (1947). Throughout his career, he wrote more creative and unusual arrangements.

He was a member of Shorty Rogers' bands before he started as a soloist. Giuffre played both clarinet and tenor and baritone saxophone, but then focused on clarinet. His style is distinctive, and his early music was sometimes classified as cool jazz. Music of Lester Young was often used for comparison, since this apparently was his own most similar. In 1954, he played in a trio with Shelly Manne, Shorty Rogers ( The Three and The Two); In 1955 he was a founding member of the formation Shelly Manne & His Men

Jimmy Giuffres first trio consisted of him and the guitarist Jim Hall and bassist Ralph Pena (later Jim Atlas ) and achieved in 1957 a minor hit, as Giuffres "The Train and the River" was shown in the TV special "The Sound of Jazz". When Atlas left the trio, Giuffre replaced him with valve trombonist Bob Brookmeyer. This unusual instrumentation was inspired by Claude Debussy; they can be seen in the film Jazz on a Summer's Day, filmed at the Newport Jazz Festival in 1958.

1961 Guiffre formed a new trio with pianist Paul Bley and bassist Steve Swallow that presented also in Germany. This group was indeed little attention at the time, but was subsequently considered by some fans and musicians as one of the most important groups of jazz history. They played free jazz, but not in a loud way as Albert Ayler and Archie Shepp, but subdued and similar to chamber music. In this constellation, which was revived in 1989, the musicians finally played completely improvised music.

In the early 1970s he formed another trio with bassist Kiyoshi Tokunaga and drummer Randy Kaye. Giuffre added more instruments to his repertoire, including bass flute and soprano saxophone. Another group with addition Pete Levin on synthesizer and the electric bassist Bob Nieske instead of Tokunaga took three albums for the Italian label " Soul Note " on. Also during the 1970s Giuffre taught at New York University.

In the 1990s he took on together with Joe McPhee. Later he taught at the New England Conservatory of Music. As a composer, he joined "ambitious in his works, jazz and classical music ."; He wrote concertos for clarinet and string orchestra, but also wrote film scores.

Giuffre was suffering from Parkinson's disease and has therefore in 1993 completed the active part of his career. He died in 2008, two days before his 87th birthday.

Tributes

" The three LPs, the 1961 and 1962 grossed this ensemble [ Jimmy Giuffre, Paul Bley and Steve Swallow ], are among the finest documents of a free music off the ecstasies and the drama of free jazz. [ ... ] And finally, the long misunderstood jazz chamber music of Jimmy Giuffre was but [ still ] [... ] appreciated [ ... ] [that as ] a very original version of a chamber jazz, and a silent, European colored alternative to the more dramatic concepts of musical freedom, as they brought the sixties. "

Discography (selection)

The years passed mainly at the time of admission.

Collection

Pittsfield (Massachusetts) Four Brothers (jazz standard) Jim Hall (musician) Jazz on a Summer's Day Bass guitar Free Fall (Jimmy-Giuffre-Album) The Wire (magazine) Bill Connors Lee Konitz Capitol Records Mosaic Records Russell Freeman Bob Cooper (musician) John Lewis (Pianist) George Wein Integrated Authority File
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