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Bernard Peiffer

Bernard Peiffer was born on October 23, 1922 in Epinal, in the Vosges district of northeastern France. Bernard’s father, formerly an army man, was a violinist and was devoted to chamber music. An uncle, Georges Peiffer, was a composer and church organist. Bernard began his music study at the age of nine; he studied piano and harmony privately with Pierre Maire (a student of Nadia Boulanger) and dazzled older students with his ability to play back extended sections of classical pieces by ear. He continued his studies through his teens at Ecole Normale de Paris, the Marseille Conservatory, and the Paris Conservatory, where he won the coveted and revered First Prize in Piano. Attracted by the freedom and improvisational basis of jazz and influenced by the pianistic styles of Fats Waller and Art Tatum, Bernard made his professional debut in 1943, at the age of 20, with alto saxophonist Andre Ekyan. Soon after his debut he worked at the Boeuf Sur Le Toit Paris nightclub with Django Reinhardt. Bernard credited Reinhardt with teaching him the music business and Django predicted a brilliant career for the young Peiffer. After witnessing the execution of his friend on a Paris street at the hands of the Gestapo, Bernard joined the French Resistance Movement. He was eventually captured by the Gestapo and imprisoned for over a year. Out of the army in 1946, he resumed his music career, playing concerts for the French Hot Club at the Salle Pleyel and resuming his association with Django Reinhardt. He toured with Hubert Rostaing and Jacques Helian. In February 1948 he performed in Nice at what was probably the world’s first jazz festival; it was there that Bernard’s playing so impressed Ellington alumnus Rex Stewart that he hired Bernard to tour and record with his band. After working with Stewart he recorded with Don Byas, James Moody, and Kenny Clarke, and he reunited with Django for club dates and a tour. By 1949 Bernard was a national name. Through the early fifties his career flourished: he won a Jazz Hot Magazine Award, led his own quintet at Club St. Germain and the Ringside, composed soundtracks for films, and made a series of recordings; his first as leader, recorded for the Blue Star label, won the “Grande Prix du Disque” Award in 1953. A star in the clubs of Paris, Monte Carlo and Nice, Bernard attracted the attention of visiting American musicians like Oscar Peterson, Lionel Hampton, and Hazel Scott.

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The Jazz Session

The Bernard Peiffer Legacy

Read "The Bernard Peiffer Legacy" reviewed by Victor L. Schermer


Bernard Peiffer was a genius of a jazz pianist who became so relegated to oblivion that his son had to dig out audio tapes from various performances to make a recording 29 years after his father's death in 1976. What a travesty of justice that a man of such talent, such brilliance, such profound influence on his students and fellow musicians should not have been given his due recognition, not to mention a legacy of recordings to inspire future generations. ...

979
Profile

Bernard Peiffer: Formidable

Read "Bernard Peiffer: Formidable" reviewed by Don Glanden


Now that the long awaited solo piano recording by Bernard Peiffer is available to the public, it is my expectation that many people will be anxious to learn more about this remarkable musician and the making of Formidable. In February 2001 I met with Stephan Peiffer in my office at The University of the Arts in Philadelphia. He handed over to me a box of approximately sixty-seven reels of tape representing more than twenty years of his father's ...

258
Album Review

Bernard Peiffer: Formidable...!

Read "Formidable...!" reviewed by Victor L. Schermer


Bernard Peiffer was a genius of a jazz pianist who became so relegated to oblivion that his son had to dig out audio tapes from various performances to make this recording 29 years after his father's death. What a travesty of justice that a man of such talent, brilliance, and profound influence on his students and fellow musicians should not have been given his due recognition, not to mention a legacy of recordings to inspire future generations.

Bernard Peiffer (pronounced ...

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Recording

Bernard Peiffer: Formidable!

Bernard Peiffer: Formidable!

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers

I last posted about pianist Bernard Peiffer in August 2015. Back then, I explored his early recordings. Today, I want to turn your attention to Formidable!, an album of solo piano pieces by Peiffer recorded in 1970 in Philadelphia. The private recordings were released by Peiffer's estate in 2006 on CD. They are among Peiffer's last known recordings before his death in 1976. The sound and inventiveness are exquisite. The tapes were discovered by Stephan Jean-Bernard Peiffer in his mother's ...

1

Recording

Bernard Peiffer: Forgotten Piano

Bernard Peiffer: Forgotten Piano

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers

Pianist Bernard Peiffer began recording in 1943, during the German occupation of Paris. By 1949, he was recording in Paris with touring American musicians such as Don Byas, Bill Coleman, Hot Lips Page, Sidney Bechet, James Moody and Kenny Clarke. With the formation of Barclay Records by Eddie Barclay in the early 1950s, Peiffer began recording with a trio. In 1954, he moved to New York. Peiffer's first album in the States was Bernie's Tunes (EmArcy), a showcase for Peiffer's ...

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Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Formidable...!

Self Produced
2006

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La Vie En Rose

Palmetto Records
2001

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Piano A La Mood

Palmetto Records
0

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