Barney Wilen

Jean Bernard "Barney " Wilen ( March 4, 1937 in Nice; † 25 May 1996, Paris) was a French saxophonist (soprano, tenor saxophone) and composer of modern jazz.

Life and work

Wilen was the son of a French mother and an American artist and moved in 1940 to the United States. In 1946 he returned to France and played in a family band ( Cousin Orchestra), occurred in the area of ​​Nice at festivals. From 1950 he accompanied by traveling jazz musician. He worked among others with the musicians John Lewis, Roy Haynes, Nico Bunink and Bud Powell together. In 1953 he won with his quartet, an amateur band competition in the cool jazz division. At that time he was still studying law, but was already established in the jazz scene. Miles Davis, brought him to the 1957 recording of the soundtrack to the Louis Malle film, " Elevator to the Gallows ", which appeared on the album Ascenseur pour l' Echafaud. This film music he was famous, but also a little bit stored in this genre: "Dangerous Liaisons" ( as a guest of Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers ), "Un témoin dans la ville " and George Gruntz ' " Mental Cruelty " are more film scores with Barney Wilen. In 1959 he traveled to the United States, where it occurs at the Newport Jazz Festival. In the same year he joined at the festival in San Remo and 1960 ( with Waldi Heidepriem ) on the Frankfurt am Main. In the same year he played in Paris with Jean -Louis Chautemps.

From the mid- 1960s he also turned to the free jazz. There was, among other things an LP on MPS Barney Wilen Quartet where the soundtrack for the 25th Grand Prix Automobile de Monaco, 1967 ( at the Lorenzo Bandini died in an accident ) improvised. From the late 1960s he began to be interested in non-European music. In Berlin he played in 1967 with Indian musicians and 1969 he undertook a study trip to Africa; the (first published 2013 ) album Moshi Too is a result of this confrontation with the African music culture. In the late 1960s and the 1970s he experimented with great success on the jazz-rock sector, including 1968 Barney Wilen and His Amazing Free Rock Band ( with Joachim Kühn, Günter Lenz and Aldo Romano), which occurred in Germany and the LP Dear Prof. Leary - a tribute to Timothy Leary - resumed.

In the 1980s, he moved to his old home to Nice, where he still composed two more film scores. His photographs have been published in part only in Japan and have become as LPs expensive collectibles.

He also worked as a sound engineer, inter alia, for Archie Shepp.

In 1958 he received the Prix Django Reinhardt.

Discography

  • Tilt Swing ( F) LDM30.058 ( published as CD)
  • Jazztone (F) J1239 (as published CD: Fresh Sound (E) FSR - CD 48
  • Barney RCA ( F) 430 053 ( published as CD: BMG (F) 74321-454092 )
  • Jazz sur Seine Philips (F) P77127L ( published as CD: EmArcy (F) 548317-2 )
  • Un dans la ville témoin Fontana (F) 660226HR (also known as CD published: Fontana 832658-2 )
  • Auto Jazz: Tragic Destiny of Lorenzo Bandini, MPS (D) 15164ST (1968 )
  • Dear Prof. Leary, MPS 15191 (1968)
  • French Story Alfa Jazz ( J) ALCR 7 (CD)
  • Miles Davis: Ascenseur pour l' Echafaud ( Elevator to the Gallows ) ( various issues, among others, Speakers Corner )
  • Eje Thelin "with Barney Wilen " (1966 ) Dragon DRCD 366
  • Barney Wilen & Thèse 440 "Live In Paris " - Improv 07 ( 1983)
  • La Note Bleue, IDA Recors / OMD (1986 )
  • Moshi Too, Sonorama Records ( 2013)

Lexigraphic entries

  • Carlo Bohländer: Reclam Jazz leader Reclam, Stuttgart, 1970
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