Barry Altschul

Barry Altschul
1976
Background information
Born	January 6, 1943 (1943-01-06) New York, New York, United States
Genres	Jazz
Occupations	Musician
Instruments	Drum set
Years active	1960s–present

Barry Altschul, moers festival 2011

Barry Altschul (b. January 6, 1943, New York City) is a free jazz drummer who gained fame in the late 1960s with the pianists Paul Bley and Chick Corea.

Biography

His first major gig in the late 1960s was with Paul Bley's trio. In 1969 he joined with Chick Corea, Dave Holland and Anthony Braxton to form the group Circle. At the time, he made use of a high-pitched Gretsch kit with add-on drums and percussion instruments, which he integrated seamlessly in a whirlwind of sound.

In the 1970s Altschul worked extensively with Anthony Braxton's quartet featuring Kenny Wheeler, Dave Holland, and George Lewis. Braxton, signed to Arista Records, was able to secure a large enough budget to tour with a collection of dozens of percussion instruments, strings and winds. In addition to his participation in ensembles featuring avant garde musicians, Altschul performed with Lee Konitz, Art Pepper and other "straight ahead" jazz performers.

Altschul also made albums as a leader, but after the mid-1980s he was rarely seen in concert or on record, spending much of his time in Europe. Recently, he has become more visible, with two sideman appearances on the CIMP label with the FAB trio (with Billy Bang and Joe Fonda), the Jon Irabagon Trio recording "Foxy", and the bassist Adam Lane. Altschul has played or recorded with many musicians, including Roswell Rudd, Dave Liebman, Andrew Hill, Sonny Criss, Hampton Hawes, and Lee Konitz.

Discography

As leader

• 1967Virtuosi (Improvising Artists)
• 1977: You Can't Name Your Own Tune
• 1978: Another Time/Another Place
• 1979: For Stu (Soul Note)
• 1979: Somewhere Else
• 1980: Brahma
• 1983: Irina
• 1985: That's Nice
• 2003: Transforming the Space

As sideman

With Paul Bley

• Hot (Soul Note, 1985)
• Live at Sweet Basil (Soul Note, 1988)

With Anthony Braxton

• Town Hall 1972 (Trio, 1972)
• Five Pieces 1975 (Arista, 1975)
• Creative Orchestra Music 1976 (Arista, 1976)
• Dortmund (Quartet) 1976 (hatART, 1976 [1991])
• The Montreux/Berlin Concerts (Arista, 1975-6)

With Chick Corea

• The Song of Singing
• Circling In (1975)
• A.R.C. (ECM, 1970)
• Circulus (1970)
• Paris Concert (ECM, 1971)

With Dave Holland

• Conference of the Birds (ECM, 1973)

With Julius Hemphill

• Coon Bid'ness (1975)

With Andrew Hill

• Spiral (1975)

With Pepper Adams

• Be-bop? (1979)

With John Lindberg

• Give and Take (Black Saint, 1982)

With Sam Rivers

• Hues (Impulse!, 1973)
• Sizzle (Impulse!, 1975)

External links

• Allmusic.com biography