Jimmy Giuffre
| Jimmy Giuffre | |
|---|---|
| Born | April 26, 1921 Dallas, Texas, United States |
| Died | April 24, 2008 (aged 86) Pittsfield, Massachusetts, United States |
| Genres | Jazz |
| Occupations | composer, arranger, musician |
| Instruments | saxophone, clarinet |
James Peter Giuffre (April 26, 1921 – April 24, 2008) was an American jazz clarinet and saxophone player, composer and arranger. He is notable for his development of forms of jazz which allowed for free interplay between the musicians, anticipating forms of free improvisation.
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[edit] Biography
Born in Dallas, Texas, of Italian ancestry, Giuffre (pronounced "Joo-fray" in Italian, usually "Joo-free" in English) was a graduate of Dallas Technical High School and North Texas State Teachers College (University of North Texas College of Music). He first became known as an arranger for Woody Herman's big band, for which he wrote the celebrated "Four Brothers" (1947). He would continue to write creative, unusual arrangements throughout his career. He was a central figure in West coast jazz, cool jazz,[1] He became a member of Howard Rumsey's Lighthouse All Stars in 1951 as a full time All Star along with Shorty Rogers and Shelly Manne. The Lighthouse Cafe in Hermosa Beach CA became the focal point of West Coast Jazz in the 1952/1953 time period. It was during this time when he collaborated with Shorty on many of the successful charts written for the All Stars. The first recording released by the LHAS was a not so WCJ chart named Big Boy which he and Shorty had put together. It became an instant hit with the local LA community. He left the LHAS in September 1953 and was a member of Shorty Rogers and His Giants before going solo. Giuffre played clarinet, as well as tenor and baritone saxophones, but eventually focused on clarinet.
His first trio consisted of Giuffre, guitarist Jim Hall and double bassist Ralph Pena (later replaced by Jim Atlas). They had a minor hit in 1957 when Giuffre's "The Train and the River" was featured on the television special The Sound of Jazz. This trio explored what Giuffre dubbed "blues-based folk jazz". This same special matched Giuffre with fellow clarinetist Pee Wee Russell for a leisurely jam session simply titled "Blues".
When Atlas left the trio, Giuffre replaced him with valve trombonist Bob Brookmeyer. This unusual instrumentation was partly inspired by Aaron Copland. The group can be seen performing "The Train and the River" in the film Jazz on a Summer's Day filmed at the 1958 Newport Jazz Festival
In 1961, Giuffre formed a new trio with piano player Paul Bley and double bassist Steve Swallow. This group received little attention while active, but were later cited by some fans and musicians as among the most important groups in jazz history.[2] They explored free jazz not in the loud, aggressive mode of Albert Ayler or Archie Shepp, but with a hushed, quiet focus more resembling chamber music.[3] The trio's explorations of melody, harmony and rhythm are still as striking and radical as any in jazz. Thom Jurek has written that this trio's recordings are "one of the most essential documents regarding the other side of early-'60s jazz."[4]
Giuffre, Bley and Swallow eventually explored wholly improvised music, several years ahead of the free improvisation boom in Europe. Jurek writes that Free Fall, their final record, "was such radical music, no one, literally no one, was ready for it and the group disbanded shortly thereafter on a night when they made only 35 cents apiece for a set."[5]
In the early 1970s, Giuffre formed a new trio with bassist Kiyoshi Tokunaga and drummer Randy Kaye. Giuffre added instruments including bass flute and soprano saxophone to his arsenal. A later group included Pete Levin playing synthesizer and replaced Tokunaga with electric bassist Bob Nieske. This group recorded three albums for the Italian Soul Note label.[6]
During the 1970s, Giuffre was hired by New York University to head its jazz ensemble, and to teach private lessons in saxophone and music composition.
Into the 1990s, Giuffre continued teaching and performing. He recorded with Joe McPhee, and revived the trio with Bley and Swallow (though Swallow had switched to bass guitar, giving the group a different sound). Through the mid 1990s Giuffre taught at the New England Conservatory of Music. He suffered from Parkinson's Disease and in his last years he no longer performed. Giuffre died of pneumonia in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, on April 24, 2008, two days short of his 87th birthday.
[edit] Discography
[edit] As leader
- 1955: Jimmy Giuffre (Capitol)
- 1955: Tangents In Jazz (Capitol)
- 1956: The Jimmy Giuffre Clarinet (Atlantic)
- 1956: The Jimmy Giuffre 3 (Atlantic)
- 1958: The Music Man (Atlantic)
- 1958: The Four Brothers Sound (Atlantic)
- 1958: Trav'lin' Light (Atlantic)
- 1958: Western Suite (Atlantic)
- 1959: 7 Pieces (Verve)
- 1959: The Easy Way (Verve)
- 1959: Ad Lib (Verve)
- 1959: Piece For Clarinet And String Orchestra/Mobiles (Verve)
- 1960: Jimmy Giuffre Quartet Live in 1960 [Jazz Beat]
- 1961: Fusion (Verve)
- 1961: Thesis (Verve)
- 1961: 1961 (ECM) This is a re-issue of Fusion and Thesis, above on the ECM label
- 1961: Emphasis & Flight 1961 (hatOLOGY) 11/61
- 1962: Free Fall (Columbia) 1962
- 1965: Olympia 23 Fevrier 1960-27 Fevrier 1965 (Laserlight) 2/60 & 2/65
- 1971: Night Dance (Choice) 11/71
- 1973: Music For People, Birds, Butterflies and Mosquitos (Choice)
- 1974: Quiet Song (Improvising Artists)
- 1975: River Chant (Choice)
- 1975: The Train And The River (Candid Choice) 4/75
- 1975: Mosquito Dance (DJM)
- 1978: IAI Festival (Improvising Artists)
- 1983: Dragonfly (Soul Note)
- 1985: Quasar (Soul Note)
- 1989: The Life Of A Trio: Saturday - with Steve Swallow, Paul Bley
- 1991: Liquid Dancers (Soul Note)
- 1991: Eiffel/River Station/Momentum: Willisau, 1988 (CELP/26/hatOLOGY) 11/87, 9/91
- 1992: Fly Away Little Bird (Owl) 6/92
- 1996: Conversations with a Goose (Soul Note)
- 2009: The Swamp People (Giant Steps)[7]
[edit] As sideman
- Bob Brookmeyer Traditionalism Revisited (World Pacific)
- Teddy Charles The Teddy Charles Tentet (Atlantic)
- The Modern Jazz Quartet - At Music Inn, Guest Artist Jimmy Giuffre (Atlantic)
- Anita O'Day - Cool Heat (Verve)
- Anita O'Day - Pick Yourself Up (Verve)
- Various - Collaboration West (Prestige)
- Herb Ellis - Herb Ellis Meets Jimmy Giuffre (Verve)
- Herb Ellis - Ellis In Wonderland (Verve)
- Lee Konitz - Lee Konitz Meets Jimmy Giuffre (Verve)
- Shelly Manne - The West Coast Sound (Contemporary)
- Shelly Manne - The Three And The Two (Contemporary)
- Shorty Rogers - Shorty Rogers & his Giants (RCA)
- Shorty Rogers - The Big Shorty Rogers Express (RCA)
- Shorty Rogers - Cool&Crazy (RCA)
- Shorty Rogers - The Swinging Mr Rogers (Atlantic)
- Shorty Rogers - Martians Come Back (Atlantic)
- Shorty Rogers - Way up There (Atlantic)
- Shorty Rogers - The Swinging Nutracker (Atlantic)
- Howard Rumsey - Sunday Jazz A La Lighthouse (Contemporary)
- Sonny Stitt - Sonny Stitt Plays Jimmy Giuffre
[edit] References
- ^ Berendt, Joachim E (1976). The Jazz Book. Paladin. pp. 20.
- ^ Lock, Graham (1994). Chasing the Vibration: Meetings with Creative Musicians. Exeter: Stride. pp. 133–134. ISBN 1873012810.
- ^ Berendt, p123
- ^ Free Fall review
- ^ 1961 review
- ^ Lock, p132
- ^ http://music.msn.com/music/album/jimmy-giuffre/the-swamp-people/
[edit] External links
- Jazz.com Biographical Entry
- The Quiet Class of Jimmy Giuffre
- Jimmy Giuffre: Cry Freedom by Rex Butters
- Daily Telegraph obituary
- New York Times obituary
- Jazz Police obituary
- Jazz Portraits from the WGBH Archives: Jimmy Giuffre a radio documentary from WGBH Radio Boston
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- 1921 births
- 2008 deaths
- American composers
- American jazz clarinetists
- American jazz saxophonists
- Avant-garde jazz musicians
- Capitol Records artists
- Columbia Records artists
- Cool jazz saxophonists
- Cool jazz clarinetists
- Deaths from pneumonia
- Infectious disease deaths in Massachusetts
- University of North Texas alumni
- Verve Records artists
- American jazz musicians of Italian descent
- American people of Sicilian descent
