This is a Pianist's Master Class etude of what is capable on solo piano. Solo Piano - Jazz Arrangements & Improvisations: These solo-piano live performances are a unique synthesis of classical and jazz.

13 MP3 Songs
JAZZ: Free Jazz, CLASSICAL: Contemporary



Details:
NOTE: GO TO WWW.BERNARDPEIFFER.COM or WWW.MANEGEMUSIC.COM for complete hisotrical reference to BERNARD PEIFFER.

Attracted by the freedom and improvisational nature of jazz and influenced by the virtuoso piano stylings of Fats Waller and Art Tatum, Bernard made his professional jazz debut in 1943, at the age of 20. He joined the now legendary Django Reinhardt after years of prodigious classical training and performances in Europe. My father always credited Django with teaching him the music âbusinessâ and Reinhardt predicted a brilliant career for the young and flamboyant Peiffer. Post WW-II, he resumed his music career in 1946, playing concerts for the French Hot Club at the Salle Pleyel, continued his collaboration with Django and performed with many other jazz stars in France. By 1949 Bernard Peiffer was a French national name in music with the moniker âLe Mostâ. Through the early 1950âs his career flourished in Europe as he won the Jazz Hot Magazine Award and recorded for the Blue Star label, achieving the âGrande Prix du Disqueâ in 1953. In 1954 he left his successful career in France immigrating to the United States and the birthplace of Jazz by the encouragement of confidants like Leonard Feather & Barry Ulanov who decreed him as âAstoundingâ. He eventually settled in Philadelphia with his wife, Monaco born Corine Jean-Jacques Taillardat, who left behind a successful professional acting career in Paris to support my fatherâs dream and raise a family. During his first decade in the United States, Bernardâs career included some watermark performances: Carnegie Hall, The Blue Note, Birdland, Village Vanguard, The Tonight Show, The Academy of Music, The Newport Jazz Festival and opened up for Mel Torme at the Mayflower hotel in Washington DC. It was customary for Mel to join the opening act on pianoâ¦except for that evening. When asked why he didnât join Bernard on-stage he replied, âIt would be like asking God to leave the church.â He released several albums on Decca, EmArcy and Laurie records. While his early releases were critically acclaimed, he was consistently unsatisfied with the music and the labelâs control over the records. It would not be until his last two records that he be given full creative control, find his pianoâs âvoiceâ and freely record without hindrance or coercion from record company executives.
Without a recording contract and free of the influence of producers and âcommercialâ pressures, my father fiercely followed his lifelong commitment to the principle that the creative artist must synthesize his influences, and make his own statement according to his own instincts., Memories of my fatherâs performances remain filled with great pride and it is my never ending wish that I couldâve performed alongside him as his drummer. I would sit in the audience as a child; occasionally looking from side to side for glimpses of faces spellbound by my fathersâ playing, experiencing chills every time the audience erupted with applause. I can genuinely remark his performances were inspiring, not just entertainment to the casual jazz patron. He touched many people, often fellow musicians, who sought to raise their abilities and push the envelope of their playing as a boundless form of expression. He taught this to his students as well, pushing them to levels of expectation they once thought impossible.

Since passing, his name in music has fallen into near obscurity and much of his most creative and visionary playing has never been available until now. âBefore the end came, Bernard was planning and dreaming of his best work yet to come. This was so typical of perhaps someone who has a kind of visionary fire that required the sophisticated audience of today for fullest, widest appreciation of his genius. And a genius is assuredly what Bernard was, one whose achievement I believe will be recognized for what it was, as prophesized a generation ago and enjoyed by those of who became his friends and admirersâ¦
VIVE PEIFFERâ¦!â