Jazz Articles about Jimmy Giuffre

The Jimmy Giuffre 3: 7 Pieces

by Greg Simmons
May 21, 2011

Fame can be fickle, meaning that someone like Jimmy Giuffre can fade into relative obscurity, remembered and appreciated by fellow musicians and a few hardcore jazz fans, while never having reached into the broader public consciousness in any measurable way. As a multi-reed artist, Giuffre was certainly one of the most original and creative visionary forces in jazz. Perhaps Giuffre's best known ensemble was his first: a combo that was unorthodox in its day, featuring Giuffre, Jim Hall ...

Jimmy Giuffre: Ad Lib

by AAJ Italy Staff
March 23, 2010

Session originariamente pubblicata dalla Verve, Ad Lib meritava di essere ripubblicata. Non solo perché firmata da un un misconosciuto artista di genio come Jimmy Giuffre, ma perché in questa incisione il sobrio e asciutto camerismo del sassofonista, arrangiatore e compositore, così denso di implicite risonanze e segreti accenni, cede temporaneamente il passo a quella che sulla carta sembra presentarsi come una “normale" (si fa per dire) “blowing session" (in realtà, basta ascoltare “I Hear Red" per capire che non è ...

In Memoriam: Jimmy Giuffre (1921-2008)

by AAJ Staff
June 15, 2008

Jimmy was quite an addition to my life. He was kind of a father figure to me, especially since my old man split when I was seven. I learned so much from Jimmy musically. For instance, if he had written something and he wanted the melody phrased a certain way, he would say, “Try to make those notes string together" so it sounded more like a wind instrument though played by guitar. Especially because I would be playing lines along ...

Jimmy Giuffre: The Life of a Trio: Saturday & Sunday

by Matthew Miller
June 3, 2007

Jimmy Giuffre made waves in 1961-62 with the release of Fusion (Verve, 1961), Thesis (Verve, 1961) and Free Fall (Columbia, 1962). With pianist Paul Bley and a 20-year-old Steve Swallow on upright bass, the Third Stream innovator created the best music of his career--telepathic performances that continue to astound and inspire more than four decades later. As with so many great things however, the trio was short lived--it would be thirty years before group that quietly rocked the jazz scene ...

Jimmy Giuffre: Cool One

by Nic Jones
September 12, 2006

Within the archetypal West Coast sound, Jimmy Giuffre always had his own thing going on, and in the case of both The Four Brothers Sound (Atlantic) and Tangents In Jazz (Capitol), the two dates brought together here from the mid-1950s, that point seems obvious.

He was of course a tenor saxophonist every bit as influenced by Lester Young as Zoot Sims, but as with that master, his take on Young's legacy was an individual one, and even at this comparatively ...

Emphasis & Flight 1961: Jimmy Giuffre

by Jeff Stockton
February 16, 2004

Up until around the time this recording was made, jazz had been beat crazy. Fast or slow, the implicit goal was swing, above all. By removing drums from the equation, Jimmy Giuffre, Paul Bley, and Steve Swallow generated their own rhythms, tested the musical expressiveness of their instruments, and explored variations in tempo and tone by profoundly listening to each other. “Sonic” is performed on each of the two concerts recorded for German radio (in Stuttgart and ...

Jimmy Giuffre: Cry Freedom

by Rex Butters
November 30, 2003

It’s Jimmy Giuffre’s birthday. An unseasonable snow covers the ground around the converted old New England stone polishing mill that he and his wife Juanita have called home for 26 years. The 82 year old multi reed player and iconoclast listens to piano works by Villa Lobos and Ravel, birthday presents from friends. A restless explorer and truly fearless improviser most of his life, Giuffre’s accomplishments and achievements have gone largely unnoticed especially since he confounded critics and fans with ...