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Barre Phillips

Barre Phillips (born October 27, 1934 in San Francisco, California) is a jazz and free improvisation bassist. A professional musician since 1960, he migrated to New York City in 1962, then to Europe in 1967.[1] Since 1972 he has been based in southern France. He studied briefly in 1959 with S. Charles Siani, Assistant Principal Bassist with the San Francisco Symphony During the 1960s he recorded with (among others) Eric Dolphy, Jimmy Giuffre, Archie Shepp, Attila Zoller, Lee Konitz and Marion Brown.[1] Phillips' 1968 recording of solo bass improvisations, issued as Journal Violone in the USA, Unaccompanied Barre in England, and Basse Barre in France, is generally credited as the first solo bass record. A 1971 record with Dave Holland, Music from Two Basses, was probably the first record of bass duets. [2] In the 1970s he was a member of the well-regarded and influential group The Trio with saxophonist John Surman and drummer Stu Martin.[1] In the 1980s and 1990s he played regularly with the London Jazz Composers Orchestra led by fellow bassist Barry Guy. In 1991 he worked with Ornette Coleman on the soundtrack of the motion picture Naked Lunch. As a free improviser he has worked with (among many others) bassists Peter Kowald and Joëlle Léandre, guitarist Derek Bailey, clarinetists Theo Jörgensmann and Aurélien Besnard, saxophonists Peter Brötzmann, Evan Parker and Joe Maneri, and pianist Paul Bley. Barre is the father of rock guitarist Jay Crawford from the band Bomb, and of the bassist Dave Phillips. Source: Wikipedia

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Album Review

Barre Phillips, Giancarlo Nino Locatelli: Danze degli scorpioni

Read "Danze degli scorpioni" reviewed by Neri Pollastri


Sebbene arrivi con ben quindici anni di ritardo, è decisamente benvenuta questa documentazione del concerto in duo di uno dei massimi maestri dell'improvvisazione europea, il contrabbassista (in realtà d'origini statunitensi) Barre Phillips, e il clarinettista italiano Giancarlo “Nino" Locatelli. Svoltasi in Austria il 2 maggio del 2008, in occasione dell'Ulrichsberger Keleidophon, e interamente improvvisata, la perfromance fu apprezzatissima--come testimoniano la presenza di due bis e le entusiastiche note del danzatore Julyen Hamilton, che di Phillips è stato molte volte partner ...

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Album Review

Euphorium_freakestra: Free Acoustic Supergroup

Read "Free Acoustic Supergroup" reviewed by Mark Corroto


Thanks to pianist and director Oliver Schwerdt, the Euphorium_freakestra is and always has been a glorious experiment in organized disorganization. The double CD Free Acoustic Supergroup is the ensemble's seventh release. Schwerdt's experiments began with the single disc Ðal Ngai (Euphorium Records, 2004) and eventually the group's 3-CD Grande Casino (Euphorium Records, 2018). Ðal Ngai included the guest artists Friedrich Schenker and Günter Baby Sommer. Other releases found the ensemble hosting musicians such as Thomas Lehn, Barry Guy, and Bertrand ...

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Liner Notes

Heiner Stadler: Brains on Fire

Read "Heiner Stadler: Brains on Fire" reviewed by Howard Mandel


Brains on Fire fuels reflection on the past and response in the present. These eight extraordinary extended tracks, recorded in unusual conjunctions of master jazz improvisers instigated by composer/pianist Heiner Stadler for sessions held from 1966 through 1974, are alive with the passions of that era celebrating large, original works stretching the bounds of even the most ambitious music come before. As Stadler and his cadre of fully collaborative, creative interpreters brought immense smarts, skills and sensibilities besides ...

Album Review

Mike Westbrook Concert Band: Marching Song Volumes 1 & 2 Plus Bonus Tracks

Read "Marching Song Volumes 1 & 2 Plus Bonus Tracks" reviewed by Maurizio Comandini


Mike Westbrook, pianista e soprattutto direttore di orchestra, è nato il 21 marzo del 1936 a High Wycombe, 50 chilometri a nord-ovest di Londra. Dapprima tentato dalla Art School di Plymouth, si dedica poi con decisione alla musica, dalla fine degli anni cinquanta. Nel 1958 forma la sua prima band per la quale gli capita di reclutare il sedicenne John Surman, giovane talento emergente che stava terminando il suo percorso scolastico. Quattro anni dopo Westbrook si sposta a Londra per ...

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Album Review

Phillips, Butcher, Solberg: We Met - And Then

Read "We Met - And Then" reviewed by John Sharpe


Sometimes three is a crowd, but when the company is as empathetic and welcoming as the fertile established partnership of British saxophonist John Butcher and Swedish percussionist Ståle Liavik Solberg, then the addition of veteran American bassist Barre Phillips serves as more of a benediction. Butcher and Solberg only came together in 2015, but the success of that encounter, documented on So Beautiful, It Starts To Rain (Clean Feed, 2016), encouraged further liaison not only as a twosome, ...

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Album Review

Barre Phillips/Mike Bullock: At Home

Read "At Home" reviewed by Mark Sullivan


With End To End (ECM Records, 2018), Barre Phillips made his final major statement in the solo double bass format he created. In 2019 fellow American bassist Mike Bullock visited him at his secluded mountainside home in France, a 17th century stone house attached to an 11th century stone church. The pair spent a couple of relaxed hours in the Chapelle Sainte Philomène playing solos on Phillips' double bass, each playing a few minutes and passing the instrument back and ...

6
Album Review

Barre Phillips: End To End

Read "End To End" reviewed by Mark Sullivan


Legendary double bassist and improviser Barre Phillips writes what is billed as the final chapter in his storied history of solo bass recordings on the aptly titled End To End. He recorded what is generally regarded as the first solo double bass album in 1968 with Journal Violone (Opus One)--an unplanned event, as he intended the music to be source material for composer Max Schubel. He followed that with the first improvised double bass duet album with Dave Holland, Music ...

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190

Recording

Barre Phillips: Three Day Moon (ECM 1123)

Barre Phillips: Three Day Moon (ECM 1123)

Source: Between Sound and Space - An ECM Records Resource

Barre Phillips Three Day Moon

Barre Phillips bass Terje Rypdal guitar, guitar synthesizer, organ Dieter Feichtner synthesizer Trilok Gurtu tabla, percussion Recorded March 1978 at Talent Studio, Oslo Engineer: Jan Erik Kongshaug Produced by Manfred Eicher

I have said it before and I will say it again: Barre Phillips is one of ECM's most underrecognized treasures. A maverick of the upright bass, his is a mind ...

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Event

Barre Phillips Exhibition in France

Barre Phillips Exhibition in France

Source: Michael Ricci

The Life and Work of Barre Phillips is the subject of an exhibition at Nice's Bibliotheque Louis Nucra, running from December 11 2009 to February 6 2010. Titled “40 ans de cration musicale", the exhibition looks at aspects of the great bassist's work since moving from America to France in 1969, including documentation of many tours, recordings and more. Films and performance are also part of the programme, with Barre Phillips giving four Saturday afternoon concerts. On December 12, Barre ...

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Performance / Tour

Firehouse 12 to Present Dave & Barre Phillips November 30th

Firehouse 12 to Present Dave & Barre Phillips November 30th

Source: Improvised Communications

On Friday, November 30th, father and son bassists Barre and Dave Phillips will perform at New Haven's Firehouse 12 as part of their first ever tour together. The pair will also record together as a duo for the first time at Firehouse 12 the following day. Their tour, called “Basfidel, Father & Son," is made possible with support from Chamber Music America and French American Cultural Exchange's CMA/FACE French-American Jazz Exchange Program, and funded by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, ...

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Website

Basfidel (Barre Phillips/Bass and Dave Phillips/Bass) - Northeast Tour

Basfidel (Barre Phillips/Bass and Dave Phillips/Bass) - Northeast Tour

Source: All About Jazz

Basfidel (Barre Phillips/Bass and Dave Phillips/Bass) will be embarking on an east coast tour, which will run from November 28th through December 2nd, 2007. The performances will be held in New York City, New Haven, Ct. and Cambridge, Massachusetts. Basfidel Barre Phillips - Bass Dave Phillips - Bass November 28: Barbe's, Brooklyn NY 8pm 376 9th St. (corner of 6th Ave.) Park Slope, Brooklyn For information Call 718.965.9177 Admisssion $10 8:00 PM November 30: Firehouse 12 ...

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Performance / Tour

Barre Phillips Duo at Firehouse 12

Barre Phillips Duo at Firehouse 12

Source: All About Jazz


Hans Sturm
bass, acoustic

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Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Free Acoustic...

Euphorium Records
2024

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Free Acoustic...

Self Produced
2023

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Danze degli scorpioni

We Insist! Records
2023

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We Met - And Then

Relative Pitch Records
2021

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At Home

Self Produced
2020

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Oh My, Those Boys!

NoBusiness Records
2018

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