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. 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.

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 improvised double bass duets.

In the 1970s he was a member of the well-regarded and influential group The Trio with saxophonist John Surman and drummer Stu Martin. 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, of the bassist Dave Phillips and of singer Claudia Phillips, who was a one-hit wonder in France in 1987 with "Quel souci La Boétie".

Discography

Attila Zoller Quartet: The Horizon Beyond, 1965
Gong: Magick Brother, 1969
The Trio featuring John Surman: The Dawn Sessions, 1970
Music from Two Basses duets with David Holland (ECM, 1971)
Terje Rypdal: What Comes After (ECM, 1973)
For All It Is (JAPO Records 60003), 1973
Mountainscapes (ECM, 1976) with John Surman, Dieter Feichtner, John Abercrombie, Stu Martin
Three Day Moon (with Terje Rypdal, Dieter Feichtner und Trilok Gurtu), 1978
Journal Violone II (with Aina Kemanis und John Surman), 1979
Call Me When You Get There, (ECM, 1984)
Naxos (with Jean-Marc Montera und Claudia Phillips), 1987
Camouflage (Victo, 1989) solo
Aquarian Rain (with Alain Joule), 1991
No Pieces (with Michel Doneda Alain Joule), 1992
Time Will Tell with Paul Bley and Evan Parker (ECM, 1994)
Etchings in the Air (with Haino Keiji), 1996
Uzu (PSF, 1997) with Motoharu Yoshizawa
Trignition (with Bertram Turetzky und Vinny Golia), 1998
Jazzd'aià (with Serge Pesce und Jean Luc Danna), 1998
Joe Maneri: Tales of Rohnlief (ECM, 1998)
Play 'Em as They Fall, with Emai Kazuo, 1999
Sankt Gerold with Paul Bley and Evan Parker (ECM, 2000)
Journal Violone 9 (Emouvance, 2001) solo
After You've Gone (Victo, 2004) with Tetsu Saitoh, William Parker, Joëlle Léandre; Peter Kowald
Musique Primale (sornettes, 2009) with Philippe Festou, ensemble contemporain Yin
The rock on the hill (nato, 2011) trio with Lol Coxhill and JT Bates
No Meat Inside (Facing You / IMR, 2013) quartet with François Cotinaud, Henri Roger, and Emmanuelle Somer