After 1962's groundbreaking Free Fall, Jimmy Giuffre didn't release another record until 1972's Music for People, Birds, Butterflies. This period of Giuffre's life always interested me, so I decided to do a deep dive. I lay out some of Giuffre's early career, and then give some highlights from his "silent period".
For some information relating to Giuffre's earlier and later periods, check out Jazz Profiles' two excellent posts: Jimmy Giuffre - The Quiet Man (2008) and The Quiet Man Revisited (2014).
Jon De Lucia also has some interesting bits over at his site.
"The two most important figures in the early days of avant-garde jazz were both composers and reed players: Ornette Coleman and Jimmy Giuffre." - Paul BleyJames Peter Giuffre was born in 26 April 1921 in Dallas, TX. He went to the North Texas Teachers College in 1939. In 1942 he graduated and joined an Army band. After the war, he worked as a writer and woodwind player for the big bands of Jimmy Dorsey, Stan Kenton, Buddy Rich, and Boyd Raeburn. In 1947 his composition "Four Brothers" was recorded by Woody Herman's band. He also recorded with Maynard Ferguson's band in 1952.
In or around 1952, Giuffre moved to Los Angeles. He began studying composition with Wesley LaViolette, known by some in the West Coast school as the "'Father' of West Coast jazz groups." ["Bach and Jazz Are Much Alike", Arizona Republic, 22 May 1959, p. 9] LaViolette, born in 1894, was an accomplished composer as well as a public intellectual. LaViolette had also taught Stan Kenton, Andre Previn, Bill Holman, Martin Denny, and Nelson Riddle ["Why Jazz Happened", p. 63].
Giuffre began to record in small groups as part of the emerging West Coast post-bop scene. He recorded several times with bassist Howard Rumsey in 1952 and 1953, sessions which were released by Contemporary Records across two 10" LP's (Lighthouse All-Stars vols. 1 and 2). He also cut records as a sideman for Shorty Rogers, Shelly Manne, and Red Norvo.
Many of these records include at least one composition by Giuffre. For example, in 1953 he recorded a session with vibraphonist Teddy Charles, which included Giuffre's tune "Evolution":
In September 1954, Shelly Manne recorded Abstract No. 1 with Giuffre and Shorty Rogers:
Abstract No. 1 was credited to "The Three", meaning that it was collectively "composed" by Manne, Giuffre and Rogers. The piece opens with Manne at a brisk 290, followed shortly by Giuffre on tenor and Rogers on trumpet. Harmonically, Giuffre hovers around a Eb minor tonality, while Rogers plays more chromatically, settling into Bb minor occasionally. Around 1:30, Giuffre switches to clarinet, and Manne switches from sticks to brushes. After a brief clarinet solo, Manne returns to take the piece out. Giuffre switches to baritone sax for the final 30 seconds.
The lack of discernible form or changes, and its collective composition credits, lead me to conclude that this piece is essentially a free improvisation. Some minor "traffic rules" may have been discussed, but much was clearly left to the spur of the moment.
Shortly before Christmas 1955, Giuffre was signed to Atlantic Records by the label's vice-president Nesuhi Ertegun (Billboard, 24 Dec 1955). Earlier in 1955 Ertegun had joined his brother (and label-founder) Ahmet, and was also responsible for signing such figures of modern jazz as John Lewis, Charles Mingus, Lennie Tristano, Lee Konitz, Teddy Charles, and in 1959, Ornette Coleman (New Grove Dictionary of Jazz 1994, Atlantic).
In December 1956 we see the first recording session of his trio with guitarist Jim Hall and a rotating cast of bass players, including Ralph Pena, Jim Atlas, Red Mitchell, Buddy Clark, and Ray Brown. On occasion, Giuffre excluded bass altogether, opting for valve trombonist Bob Brookmeyer. Here's a clip from Newport 1958:
In December 1956 we see the first recording session of his trio with guitarist Jim Hall and a rotating cast of bass players, including Ralph Pena, Jim Atlas, Red Mitchell, Buddy Clark, and Ray Brown. On occasion, Giuffre excluded bass altogether, opting for valve trombonist Bob Brookmeyer. Here's a clip from Newport 1958:
The Lenox School of Jazz / Meeting Ornette Coleman & Don Cherry
In the summers of 1957, '58 and '59, Giuffre was a faculty member at the Lenox School of Jazz's summer camps. Ornette Coleman and his colleague Don Cherry attended the School in 1959 on a scholarship recommended by John Lewis. A concert program from 1959 lists Coleman and Cherry as members of an ensemble co-led by Max Roach and John Lewis. The group performed four tunes, three of which were written by Coleman. The summer of 1959 was a pivotal time in Coleman's career: shortly after recording The Shape Of Jazz To Come (rec'd May 1959) but before its release (Oct 1959). This was also mere months before his controversial stint at the Five Spot Cafe (which ran from in Nov 1959 to Jan 1960).
Jeremy Yudkin (The Lenox School of Jazz, Farshaw 2006) suggests that although he was attending as a student, Coleman "was not really a student any more. He had been playing professionally for over 10 years, had recorded three albums already, and had founded the quartet [with Cherry, Higgins and Haden] that would revolutionize jazz." (p. 89) George Russell added that Coleman & Cherry's status as students was "a kind of gross error" (Pettinger, 2002 p. 88). Indeed, Yudkin writes that "it was the teachers who learned from Coleman that summer."
Giuffre described Coleman's playing as "wonderful ... when somebody gets to this point where he can be this free and this sure in his statement..." (Yudkin, p. 89) Perry Robinson, who was a student of Giuffre's at the School that summer, recounted an incident that demonstrates the dramatic impact that Coleman's music had upon his teacher:
Irrevocably changed by Ornette Coleman's music and ideas, Giuffre began to experiment with new groups. In October 1960, Giuffre performed at New York's Village Vanguard, with a quartet that featured bassist Bill Takas, drummer Ronnie Bedford, and pianist Paul Bley. The quartet opened for a 25-year old Aretha Franklin, who was debuting in New York City. Billboard's Jack Maher was in the audience, and he wrote a very favorable review of the show. While focusing on Franklin, he dedicated a paragraph to Giuffre's set, writing that "the music has much in common with Japanese prints in that it is low-keyed and full of gentle subtleties and delicate touches. [Bley, Bedford and Takas] all acquitted themselves with distinction, especially in the passages that called for interweaving improvisation. Most notable ... were: 'Two,' 'Laura,' 'Stella By Starlight,' and 'Easy Way Out.'" (Billboard, 17 Oct 1960, p. 44) This quartet did not record, and I am unable to locate any other gigs that they had.
By March 1961, Giuffre had returned to the drumless trio format, keeping Bley and hiring the young bassist Steve Swallow. Although short-lived, the group recorded two albums for Verve, (Thesis and Fusion) and what one of the most bizarre records in Columbia Records' catalog, Free Fall (1962).
"[Coleman] blew [Giuffre's] mind. One time there was a jam session going on with George Russell and Ornette, and I was watching through the window. Jimmy was standing there listening, and after Ornette took his solo Jimmy fell on the floor and started kicking his feet. He had such an amazing reaction to the music, it was like a musical orgasm." (Quoted in Jeremy Yudkin, 2006 pp. 150-151.)
Paul Bley and Steve Swallow
Irrevocably changed by Ornette Coleman's music and ideas, Giuffre began to experiment with new groups. In October 1960, Giuffre performed at New York's Village Vanguard, with a quartet that featured bassist Bill Takas, drummer Ronnie Bedford, and pianist Paul Bley. The quartet opened for a 25-year old Aretha Franklin, who was debuting in New York City. Billboard's Jack Maher was in the audience, and he wrote a very favorable review of the show. While focusing on Franklin, he dedicated a paragraph to Giuffre's set, writing that "the music has much in common with Japanese prints in that it is low-keyed and full of gentle subtleties and delicate touches. [Bley, Bedford and Takas] all acquitted themselves with distinction, especially in the passages that called for interweaving improvisation. Most notable ... were: 'Two,' 'Laura,' 'Stella By Starlight,' and 'Easy Way Out.'" (Billboard, 17 Oct 1960, p. 44) This quartet did not record, and I am unable to locate any other gigs that they had.
By March 1961, Giuffre had returned to the drumless trio format, keeping Bley and hiring the young bassist Steve Swallow. Although short-lived, the group recorded two albums for Verve, (Thesis and Fusion) and what one of the most bizarre records in Columbia Records' catalog, Free Fall (1962).
For its part, Columbia has reissued Free Fall. ECM and hatART have also contributed to make sure that Giuffre's most esoteric work does not languish in analog obscurity in a digital world.
Giuffre's "Silent Years"
After the release of Free Fall, Giuffre did not record as a leader until 1972. He had a couple sessions as a sideman: 6 May 1963, he recorded 3 tracks for a Teddy Charles project entitled Russia Goes Jazz (United Artists, UAL 3365). In 1964 he and Hal McKusick played background woodwinds on a track for vocalist Helen Merrill.
In February 1965 Giuffre gave a trio performance in Paris with pianist Don Friedman and bassist Barre Phillips. The recording was first released in 1999. In 2014, Elemental Records released two previously unissued Giuffre recordings: a "live studio" recording at Columbia University's Wollman Auditorium (May 19, 1965) and a live concert recording from Greenwich Village's Judson Hall (September 3, 1965). The double-disc is nicely packaged and comes with a 28-page booklet of photographs and liner notes, including testimonies from Steve Swallow, Paul Bley and Jim Hall.
The music is fascinating. Giuffre, typically heard during this period on clarinet only, also plays tenor saxophone. Both sessions featured Joe Chambers on drums. Phillips and Friedman played at the Wollman session, and Richard Davis played bass on the Judson Hall concert.
In1967, Giuffre performed with Red Mitchell, Jimmy Rowles, and Ed Thigpen (Donald Bailey was advertised as the drummer in prior articles). A concert review, written by Leonard Feather, describes Giuffre as playing clarinet, tenor saxophone, and even alto saxophone, "an instrument he has rarely if ever used in public." The quartet played "Come On In", "The Note" and "Rhythm Speak", as well as "Green Dolphin Street" and a 12-bar blues. Feather notes that stylistically, Giuffre had "at last come full circle" (8 Aug 1967, LA Times)
Giuffre is known to have recorded two film scores during this period. In 1964, Giuffre and Phillips recorded the soundtrack to an independent film called Smiles. The film was directed by Hugh Mooney, who was assisted by a young Martin Scorcese:
A music copyright catalog from 1967 lists two entries for Jimmy Giuffre:
Film Scores
Giuffre is known to have recorded two film scores during this period. In 1964, Giuffre and Phillips recorded the soundtrack to an independent film called Smiles. The film was directed by Hugh Mooney, who was assisted by a young Martin Scorcese:
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| A still from the opening credits for Mooney's Smile (1964) |
A music copyright catalog from 1967 lists two entries for Jimmy Giuffre:
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| From the 1967 Catalog of Copyright Entries, Music (3rd series, vol. 21, part 5, no. 1, section 1, p. 1139) |
The first work listed in that year, "Pharaoh", was originally recorded nearly 10 years prior.
"Sighet, Sighet Theme" refers to the soundtrack to a Harold Becker film which Giuffre composed and performed. The film follows the story of Nazi concentration camp survivor and author Elie Wiesel (1928-2016), as he visits his home town Sighet in 1967. Giuffre's soundtrack consists of solo clarinet and woodwind melodies, at times barely audible beneath Wiesel's narration, and it's difficult to imagine a more appropriate backdrop to such a dark tale. (Sighet, Sighet is available on DVD from Alden Films.)
"Sighet, Sighet Theme" refers to the soundtrack to a Harold Becker film which Giuffre composed and performed. The film follows the story of Nazi concentration camp survivor and author Elie Wiesel (1928-2016), as he visits his home town Sighet in 1967. Giuffre's soundtrack consists of solo clarinet and woodwind melodies, at times barely audible beneath Wiesel's narration, and it's difficult to imagine a more appropriate backdrop to such a dark tale. (Sighet, Sighet is available on DVD from Alden Films.)
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| Composite image of the closing credits to Becker's Sighet, Sighet (1967). |
Interdisciplinary Improvisation
As early as 1963, Giuffre collaborated with dancers. A performance of Giuffre's trio (likely Bley and Swallow, but not confirmed) and John Butler & others was televised in Connecticut in February 1963. (Anyone have access to a video of this? -ME)
A few years later, a concert was held at UCLA's Royce Hall (Fri 11 Aug 1967) and starred Jean Erdman. The concert was reviewed in the LA Times (14 Aug 1967). The first work, "Encounter in the Grove" featured a recorded soundtrack by composer and cellist Ezra Laderman. Giuffre accompanied her on the second work, entitled "The Castle":
Also during this period, Giuffre continued his work as a teacher. In 1969, Giuffre's textbook Jazz Phrasing and Interpretation was published by Associated Music Publishers, Inc. This book, which was sold for $1.50, was available in separate volumes for C, Bb and Eb instruments. There were also volumes for bass clef and percussion instruments. It is presently in use at the University of Michigan, where Dr. Stephen Rush has used it for his improvisation class.
"Except for some taped electronic rumbles and noises, the music was entirely in the hands of Jimmy Giuffre, a jazz clarinetist-saxophonist-composer. He functioned as a participant musician - not in the pit or backstage, but right on stage, according to Erdman-devised patterns of limited action.
"The rest was up to him: to provide improvised music expressive of such preset moods as "Joy", "Nostalgia", "Nervousness", "Sleepiness", "Machine-made" and "Jazz", to mention only those in the first portion of the two-part theater piece.
"Miss Erdman responded to Giuffre's playing with improvisations of her own. She, too, had the required sense of timing, the imagination and technique it takes to do something on the spur of the moment." (credit: Walter Arlen, Times Staff Writer)
Teaching/Education
Also during this period, Giuffre continued his work as a teacher. In 1969, Giuffre's textbook Jazz Phrasing and Interpretation was published by Associated Music Publishers, Inc. This book, which was sold for $1.50, was available in separate volumes for C, Bb and Eb instruments. There were also volumes for bass clef and percussion instruments. It is presently in use at the University of Michigan, where Dr. Stephen Rush has used it for his improvisation class.
In 1970, he was hired by the New York University School of Education's Division of Music Education. Giuffre, along with Clark Terry, Ed Shaughnessy, Ahmed Abdul-Malik, and Alan Raph, were hired to teach a four-year program entitled "Music from the Contemporary American Perspective". An article (2 May 1970, author unknown) quotes division chair Dr. Jerrold Ross who said the program provided, in part, "intensive study of the roots of what is uniquely an American musical expression arising from the thoughts and feelings of millions of Americans; [and] the dual - no less important - need to use such knowledge as a means of heightening the self-esteem of these peoples."
Epilogue
1972 saw Giuffre's return to the recording business. He played background horns on David Clayton Thomas' self-titled Columbia record. In 1972, he played alongside Joe Henderson and Sam Rivers in an orchestra led by George Russell. The group played on a Bill Evans album from 1972 called Living Time (listen to Tony Williams throw down in the left channel):
In this same year, Giuffre returned to record as a leader for the first time since Free Fall. The record, entitled Music for People, Birds, Butterflies & Mosquitos, was the first release from Choice Records, which would go on to release records by Roland Hanna, Buddy DeFranco, Joanne Brackeen and many others. This same trio also made River Chant (1975).
The music is a return to the woodwind/bass/drum format, but his choice of sidemen is very curious. Bassist Kiyoshi Takunaga had in the past recorded on a one-shot free jazz record by a saxophonist named Ed Curran. The record, Elysa, was produced by Bill Dixon, and released by Savoy Jazz. The drummer was Randy Kaye, who had previously recorded with vibraphonist and pianist Bobby Naughton.
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