Jimmy Giuffre
Controversial, misunderstood, and underappreciated, Jimmy Giuffre was an unlikely candidate to break as much ground as he did in the art of free improvisation. A swing orchestra veteran, Giuffre made his name as part of the West Coast school of cool jazz, but his restless creative spirit drove him to push the boundaries of texture, dynamic shading, counterpoint, and improvisational freedom in surprisingly avant-garde ways, despite maintaining a cool, cerebral exterior.
Born in Dallas in 1921, Giuffre studied music at North Texas College and subsequently played tenor sax in an Army band; upon his discharge, he took jobs with orchestra leaders like Boyd Raeburn, Jimmy Dorsey, and Buddy Rich. In 1949, he joined up with Woody Herman, for whom he'd penned the classic composition "Four Brothers" two years earlier. He then moved to the West Coast, where he learned clarinet and baritone sax, and played with groups like Howard Rumsey's Lighthouse All-Stars and Shorty Rogers' Giants. Giuffre began leading his own sessions in 1954, with groundbreaking albums like Four Brothers and Tangents in Jazz exploring bluesy folk-jazz and third stream fusions.
In 1956, he formed the first version of the Jimmy Giuffre 3, which featured guitarist Jim Hall and bassist Ralph Pena; in 1958, the bassist was replaced by trombonist Bob Brookmeyer, resulting in the highly unorthodox-sounding albums Trav'lin' Light, Four Brothers Sound, and Western Suite, as well as a classic version of Giuffre's hit "The Train and the River" in the Newport film Jazz on a Summer's Day.
In 1961, Giuffre formed a new trio featuring pianist Paul Bley and bassist Steve Swallow; it was with this group, on the albums Fusion, Thesis, and the 1962 landmark Free Fall, that Giuffre really began to explore the subtler, more spacious side of free improvisation (mostly on clarinet). Unfortunately, the trio's music was too advanced to gain much of a reception, and they disbanded in 1962. Giuffre became an educator, and recorded off and on during the '70s; he experimented with electric instruments in the '80s, reunited his 1961-1962 trio in 1992, and continued to record for several avant-garde-oriented labels, most frequently Soul Note. In his later years Giuffre suffered from Parkinson's disease and no longer performed or recorded; he died of pneumonia in Pittsfield, Massachusetts in 2008 at the age of 86.
© Steve Huey /TiVo
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The Jimmy Giuffre and Jim Hall Trio Complete Studio Recordings
Jazz - Released by Jazz Lovers on 26 Sep 2016
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Jimmy Giuffre 3, 1961
Jimmy Giuffre, Paul Bley, Steve Swallow
Jazz - Released by ECM Records on 1 Jan 1957
The Qobuz Essential Discography16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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Emphasis & Flight, 1961 (Live)
Jimmy Giuffre, Paul Bley, Steve Swallow
Jazz - Released by hatOLOGY on 1 Aug 2008
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Herb Ellis Meets Jimmy Giuffre
Contemporary Jazz - Released by Music Manager on 7 Feb 2022
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
Music For People, Birds, Butterflies & Mosquitoes (Remastered)
Jazz - Released by Candid on 1 Jan 1973
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Jimmy Giuffre 3
Cool Jazz - Released by Rhino Atlantic on 11 Jul 1957
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Free Fall (Album Version)
Jazz - Released by Columbia - Legacy on 1 Jan 1962
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
In Person (Remastered)
Jazz - Released by Avid Entertainment on 20 Oct 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Conversations With A Goose
Jimmy Giuffre, Paul Bley, Steve Swallow
Jazz - Released by Soul Note on 31 Dec 1996
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
7 Pieces (Remastered)
Jazz - Released by Avid Entertainment on 20 Oct 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Tenors West
Jimmy Giuffre, Bob Cooper, Harry Klee, Bob Enevoldsen, The Marty Paich Octet
Contemporary Jazz - Released by Music Manager on 7 Feb 2022
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
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Lee Konitz Meets Jimmy Giuffre
Jazz - Released by Verve Reissues on 1 Jan 1959
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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Fly Away Little Bird
Jimmy Giuffre, Paul Bley, Steve Swallow
Jazz - Released by Universal Music Division Decca Records France on 25 Apr 1992
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Jimmy Giuffre Clarinet
Pop - Released by Rhino Atlantic on 7 Feb 2022
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Quiet Song
Paul Bley, Bill Connors, Jimmy Giuffre
Jazz - Released by Improvising Artists on 1 Jan 1975
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Trav'lin Light
Jazz - Released by Firefly Entertainment on 11 Dec 2019
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Life Of A Trio - Sunday (Instrumental)
Paul Bley, Jimmy Giuffre, Steve Swallow
Jazz - Released by Universal Music Division Decca Records France on 17 Dec 1989
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The 1960 Jazz Sessions
Contemporary Jazz - Released by Master Classics Records on 1 Sep 2010
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo