Barre Phillips

A virtuoso jazz and avant-garde bassist, Barre Phillips was a highly regarded improviser and composer who gained wide acclaim with his landmark 1968 album Journal Violone, the first complete album of solo bass improvisation. His 1971 record with <a href="spotify:artist:1bqaQBqbqbEXPxLF0v6AAH">Dave Holland</a>, Music from Two Basses, was also regarded as one of the first records of improvised double-bass duets. He also worked with such forward-thinking jazz icons as <a href="spotify:artist:69rl0XnJugACmgziVTx2zm">Barry Guy</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:5THaOlI8Qr3Za3FD6FnWvK">John Surman</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:4HCwj3Nt6DTTmJCpHuQOeM">Paul Bley</a>, and others. The California native, who lived in France beginning in the '70s, issued a prolific number of albums, including many on <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22ECM%22">ECM</a> like 1981's Music By..., 2004's Angles of Repose, and 2018's End to End; his last for the label before his 2024 passing.

Born in 1934 in San Francisco, California, Phillips started playing bass in his youth and studied privately for a period with S. Charles Siani, Assistant Principal Bassist with the <a href="spotify:artist:1qHStDLIc8uV7hvTG6FGRJ">San Francisco Symphony</a>. Interested in both avant-garde classical music and jazz, he moved to New York City in 1960. A formative period for the bassist, he gained valuable experience playing with a handful of maverick artists including trumpeter <a href="spotify:artist:6sPeUcMcOc2n0M7m1qHAer">Don Ellis</a> and conductor <a href="spotify:artist:2LmyJyCF5V1eQyvHgJNbTn">Leonard Bernstein</a>. 1965 was a banner year for Phillips, as he made his recorded debut playing with <a href="spotify:artist:7C2DSqaNkh0w77O5Jz1FKh">Archie Shepp</a>'s ensemble on the live set New Thing at Newport, and with keyboardist <a href="spotify:artist:6ryjbFyWBZho9KGXqKZdqQ">Bob James</a> on 1965's Explosions. He also performed and recorded with vibraphonist <a href="spotify:artist:3uO6HG2JwyP744sg4PMmg5">Bobby Hutcherson</a>, German guitarist <a href="spotify:artist:50bsdKkUBCPSIAirpRXmEV">Attila Zoller</a>, and free jazz acolyte <a href="spotify:artist:5OKhN5AURco1pBqba3CbnS">Marion Brown</a>.

In 1967, Phillips traveled to London where he formed the influential outfit the Trio with saxophonist <a href="spotify:artist:5THaOlI8Qr3Za3FD6FnWvK">John Surman</a> and drummer <a href="spotify:artist:6xgjlvaRaH1Z7hvjVob0Gw">Stu Martin</a>. The group performed numerous concerts, fitting nicely into the burgeoning British improvisational scene alongside contemporaries like <a href="spotify:artist:0NiVnzdZVyaHThgTofobW2">Derek Bailey</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:42WVIJPKijZYsOWhNqnAke">Evan Parker</a>, and <a href="spotify:artist:582EuN5MJOwCJ6yqn6JI1U">Trevor Watts</a>, among others. Around the same time, he was invited to record some music with composer Max Schubel, who had started working in London at <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Columbia%22">Columbia</a>'s electro-acoustic studios making taped music. This led to the release of Phillips' influential 1968 solo bass album Journal Violone. Recorded in a church, the album is largely regarded as one of the first major solo bass albums of improvised music.

More solo bass opportunities followed, and over the next few years he continued to build upon this idea, even pairing with bassist <a href="spotify:artist:1bqaQBqbqbEXPxLF0v6AAH">Dave Holland</a> for the groundbreaking 1971 duet album Music from Two Basses on <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22ECM%22">ECM</a>. Also in the early '70s, he relocated to a rural section of southern France, setting up permanent residence in an old chateau. More albums followed for <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22ECM%22">ECM</a>, including 1971's For All It Is, featuring <a href="spotify:artist:7CyW7K2UrpjUNLVV698wvJ">Palle Danielsson</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:5QUK81XDOagSPqOWMZoJJs">Jean-François Jenny-Clark</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:6xgjlvaRaH1Z7hvjVob0Gw">Stu Martin</a>, and <a href="spotify:artist:69rl0XnJugACmgziVTx2zm">Barry Guy</a>. The similarly expansive Mountainscapes arrived in 1976, and featured contributions by saxophonist <a href="spotify:artist:5THaOlI8Qr3Za3FD6FnWvK">Surman</a> and drummer <a href="spotify:artist:6xgjlvaRaH1Z7hvjVob0Gw">Martin</a>, as well as synth player Dieter Feichtner and guitarist <a href="spotify:artist:1OCdpTg8d7Ehpj8B9j4iqa">John Abercrombie</a>. In 1979, he returned to his solo bass format (a recurring source of interest throughout his career) with Journal Violone II.

During the '80s, he stayed active, issuing more albums on <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22ECM%22">ECM</a> including 1981's quintet date Music By... and 1984's solo bass album Call Me When You Get There. He also joined German instrumentalist <a href="spotify:artist:4EQzyBYpEjyyBoT0VZC4fV">Alfred Harth</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:4HCwj3Nt6DTTmJCpHuQOeM">Paul Bley</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:6vN6bIVUA9rT1gCreTIcAM">Trilok Gurtu</a>, and <a href="spotify:artist:2ndSMAaaM2p6VNWLxV0L4o">Maggie Nicols</a> on 1983's This Earth! He then rounded out the decade with another solo bass album, 1989's Camouflage, recorded live at Vancouver's Western Front. Along with his own albums like 1990's Naxos and 1996's Etchings in the Air, Phillips continued his relationship with <a href="spotify:artist:69rl0XnJugACmgziVTx2zm">Barry Guy</a>, recording with <a href="spotify:artist:3dcT1IGcNuw7m5Op5KcvX4">the London Jazz Composers' Orchestra</a>. He also joined <a href="spotify:artist:47odibUtrN3lnWx0p0pk2P">Ornette Coleman</a> on the soundtrack to director David Cronenberg's 1991 adaptation of <a href="spotify:artist:3CcqTY5fsD6Bli5ecGhDKz">William S. Burroughs</a>' Naked Lunch. He then paired with bassist Yoshizawa Motoharu for 1997's Uzu, and collaborated with fellow bass virtuoso <a href="spotify:artist:1oFKJVW8oLpqVhyL6V5bFB">Bertram Turetzky</a> and multi-instrumentalist <a href="spotify:artist:4CFxdIh8rpqMy5fDOzEd0s">Vinny Golia</a> on 1999's Trignition.

In 2001, he again joined <a href="spotify:artist:4HCwj3Nt6DTTmJCpHuQOeM">Paul Bley</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:42WVIJPKijZYsOWhNqnAke">Evan Parker</a> for Sankt Gerold on <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22ECM%22">ECM</a>. A further album of improvised solo performances, Journal Violone 9, arrived in 2001. Phillips then joined bassists <a href="spotify:artist:6ZmOnM8Tmvp5x2z1I1OKbd">Tetsu Saitoh</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:6Vl8OiMNnnLoHgrJTUBaru">Joëlle Léandre</a>, and <a href="spotify:artist:5r65V3tfKsDc3nHfpIl7D0">William Parker</a> for a live set at the Victoriaville FIMAV 2003 festival, issued in 2004 as After You've Gone. That same year, he appeared on the <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22ECM%22">ECM</a> trio session Angles of Repose with father-and-son duo reedman <a href="spotify:artist:7aQ5YRpRQ02oK9OtbxfhJr">Joe Maneri</a> and viola player <a href="spotify:artist:7p8pvTPkEM4Y5ZCPHEUWbf">Mat Maneri</a>. There were further sets, including 2006's The Iron Stone with Scottish multi-instrumentalist <a href="spotify:artist:1m72bko7z6Gcez0q312XE0">Robin Williamson</a>, 2009's While You Were Out with <a href="spotify:artist:7FDhElo3mibnOfmaPpz3xe">Catherine Jauniaux</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:3iPiojms0LEjBg8RqKuChh">Ned Rothenberg</a>, and 2011's quartet date Everybody Else But Me with Tony Bevan, <a href="spotify:artist:2gj26qPHNxw4PByxx0GBZp">Matthew Bourne</a>, and <a href="spotify:artist:0WtwD9JqeJuof5S3K3FacF">Tony Buck</a>. In 2018, Phillips issued End to End on <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22ECM%22">ECM</a>, an album he purportedly intended as his final solo bass album and the last in his Journal Violone series. The following year, he teamed up with Swiss saxophonist <a href="spotify:artist:0NKAPhrfaCUV3AXVZQj1Rj">Urs Leimgruber</a> and pianist <a href="spotify:artist:2dClEco8R0GNt4xWdQYZbg">Jacques Demierre</a> for the trio album Willisau. Barre Phillips died on December 28, 2024, at the age of 90. ~ Matt Collar, Rovi