James Peter Giuffre (pronounced "joo-FRE" in English and "dzhuf-FRE" in Italian) was an American musician who played the clarinet and saxophone. He also wrote music and arranged musical pieces. He was born on April 26, 1921, and passed away on April 24, 2008. Giuffre helped create styles of jazz that allowed musicians to interact freely, similar to free improvisation.

Biography

Jimmy Giuffre was born in Dallas, Texas, United States. His parents were Joseph Francis Giuffre, an Italian immigrant from Sicily, Italy, and Everet McDaniel Giuffre. Giuffre graduated from Dallas Technical High School and North Texas State Teachers College, now part of the University of North Texas College of Music. He first gained recognition as a music arranger for Woody Herman’s big band, where he wrote the piece "Four Brothers" in 1947. Throughout his career, he created many creative and unusual musical arrangements. He was a key part of West Coast jazz and cool jazz movements. In 1951, he joined Howard Rumsey’s Lighthouse All Stars as a full-time member, along with Shorty Rogers and Shelly Manne. The Lighthouse in Hermosa Beach, California, became the main center of West Coast jazz between 1952 and 1953. During this time, Giuffre worked with Rogers to write many of the musical charts used by the All Stars. The first recording released by the Lighthouse All Stars was a piece called "Big Boy," which Giuffre and Rogers created together. It became very popular in Los Angeles. Giuffre left the band in September 1953 and later joined Shorty Rogers and His Giants before performing solo. At this time, he mostly played tenor and baritone saxophone.

Giuffre’s first trio included himself, guitarist Jim Hall, and double bassist Ralph Peña, who was later replaced by Jim Atlas. In 1957, Giuffre’s piece "The Train and the River" became a minor hit when it was featured on the television special The Sound of Jazz. This trio explored a style Giuffre called "blues-based folk jazz." The same special also paired Giuffre with clarinetist Pee Wee Russell for a relaxed jam session titled "Blues."

When Atlas left the trio, Giuffre replaced him with valve trombonist Bob Brookmeyer. This unusual group of instruments was partly inspired by composer Aaron Copland. The trio performed "The Train and the River" in a movie called Jazz on a Summer’s Day, filmed at the 1958 Newport Jazz Festival.

In 1959, Giuffre led a trio with Hall and bassist Buddy Clark during a concert in Rome, Italy, where they shared the stage with Gerry Mulligan’s band.

In 1961, Giuffre formed a new trio with pianist Paul Bley and bassist Steve Swallow, and he began focusing more on the clarinet. This group explored free jazz, a style of music with less structure, in a gentle way rather than the aggressive style of musicians like Albert Ayler or Archie Shepp. Their work with melody, harmony, and rhythm was considered very innovative. Thom Jurek, a music critic, said their recordings are "one of the most essential documents regarding the other side of early-'60s jazz."

Giuffre, Bley, and Swallow eventually created music that was completely improvised, several years before similar styles became popular in Europe. Jurek wrote that their final record, Free Fall, was so different that no one was ready for it, and the group disbanded shortly after performing a set that earned only 35 cents each.

In the early 1970s, Giuffre formed a new trio with bassist Kiyoshi Tokunaga and drummer Randy Kaye. He added new instruments, such as the bass flute and soprano saxophone, to his collection. A later group included Pete Levin on synthesizer and replaced Tokunaga with electric bassist Bob Nieske. This group recorded three albums for an Italian record label called Soul Note.

During the 1970s, Giuffre worked at New York University, leading its jazz ensemble and teaching saxophone and music composition. He also taught jazz improvisation at Manhattanville College.

In the 1990s, Giuffre continued teaching and performing. He recorded with Joe McPhee and briefly reunited with Bley and Swallow, though Swallow had switched to bass guitar, giving the group a different sound. He taught at the New England Conservatory of Music through the mid-1990s. Giuffre suffered from Parkinson’s disease and stopped performing in his later years. He died of pneumonia in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, on April 24, 2008, two days before his 87th birthday.

Discography

• 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: Trav'lin' Light (Atlantic)
• 1958: The Four Brothers Sound (Atlantic)
• 1958: Western Suite (Atlantic)
• 1959: Ad Lib (Verve)
• 1959: 7 Pieces (Verve)
• 1959: Herb Ellis Meets Jimmy Giuffre (Verve) with Herb Ellis
• 1959: Lee Konitz Meets Jimmy Giuffre (Verve) with Lee Konitz
• 1959: The Easy Way (Verve)
• 1959: Piece for Clarinet and String Orchestra/Mobiles (Verve) with the Sudwestfunk Orchestra of Baden Baden
• 1959: Princess (Fini Jazz) – Italian release, recorded at Adriano Theatre, Rome, Italy, June 19, 1959
• 1960: The Jimmy Giuffre Quartet in Person (Verve)
• 1961: Fusion (Verve)
• 1961: Thesis (Verve), re-released with Fusion and three additional tracks in 1992 by ECM
• 1961: Emphasis, Stuttgart 1961 (hatArt, 1993), with Steve Swallow, Paul Bley
• 1961: Flight, Bremen 1961 (hatArt, 1993), re-issued with Emphasis as Emphasis & Flight (hatOLOGY, 2003)
• 1961: Graz Live 1961 (Hathut / ezz-thetics, 2019), with Steve Swallow, Paul Bley
• 1963: Free Fall (Columbia)
• 1965: New York Concerts: The Jimmy Giuffre 3 & 4 (2014)
• 1973: Music for People, Birds, Butterflies and Mosquitoes (Choice), also released as Mosquito Dance (DJM) and Night Dance (Candid)
• 1975: River Chant (Choice), also released as Mosquito Dance (DJM) and The Train and the River (Candid)
• 1978: IAI Festival (Improvising Artists), with Lee Konitz, Bill Connors, and Paul Bley
• 1983: Dragonfly (Soul Note)
• 1985: Quasar (Soul Note)
• 1988: Eiffel: Live in Paris (CELP), with André Jaume
• 1988: Momentum, Willisau 1988 (hatOLOGY, 1997), with André Jaume
• 1989: Liquid Dancers (Soul Note)
• 1990: The Life of a Trio: Saturday (Owl), with Steve Swallow, Paul Bley
• 1990: The Life of a Trio: Sunday (Owl), with Steve Swallow, Paul Bley
• 1991: River Station (CELP), with André Jaume and Joe McPhee
• 1992: Talks & Plays (CELP, 2000), CD with interview and a second CD with André Jaume
• 1992: Fly Away Little Bird (Owl), with Steve Swallow, Paul Bley
• 1996: Conversations with a Goose (Soul Note), with Steve Swallow, Paul Bley

• Chet Baker and the Lighthouse All-Stars – Witch Doctor (Contemporary, 1953 [1985])
• Chet Baker – Pretty/Groovy (World Pacific, 1954 [1958])
• Elmer Bernstein – The Man with the Golden Arm (Decca, 1956)
• Paul Bley – Quiet Song (Improvising Artists, 1975)
• Buddy Bregman – Swinging Kicks (Verve, 1956)
• Bob Brookmeyer – Traditionalism Revisited (World Pacific, 1957)
• Ray Brown – Bass Hit! (Verve, 1956)
• Teddy Charles – The Teddy Charles Tentet (Atlantic, 1956)
• Teddy Charles / Shorty Rogers / Shelly Manne / Jimmy Giuffre – Collaboration West (Prestige, 1953 [1956]), Evolution (Prestige, 1953 [1957])
• Peggy Connelly – That Old Black Magic (Bethlehem, 1956)
• Buddy DeFranco – The Progressive Mr. DeFranco (Norgran, 1953 [1954], reissued as Odalisque – The Music Of Buddy DeFranco, Norgran, 1956 & Verve, 1961)
• Herb Ellis – Ellis in Wonderland (Verve, 1956)
• Stan Kenton – Popular Favorites by Stan Kenton (Capitol, 1953)
• Lee Konitz – You and Lee, Arranged and conducted by Jimmy Giuffre (Verve, 1959), Giuffre does not play
• John Lewis – The Wonderful World of Jazz (Atlantic, 1960), credited as "James Rivers", Essence (Atlantic, 1962)
• Shelly Manne & His Men – The West Coast Sound (Contemporary, 1953), Giuffre plays baritone saxophone and arranges one tune
• Shelly Manne – The Three & The Two (Contemporary, 1954)
• Helen Merrill – The Artistry of Helen Merrill (Mainstream, 1955)
• Sonny Stitt – Sonny St