Bernard Peiffer (''pie-fer'') (23 October 1922 – 7 September 1976) was a French

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

pianist, composer, and teacher. His nickname was "Le Most", for his piano skills.

Life

Born in

Épinal Épinal (; ; ) is a Communes of France, commune in northeastern France and the prefecture of the Vosges (department), Vosges Departments of France, department. Geography The commune has a land area of . It is situated on the river Moselle, so ...

, France, Peiffer was raised in a musical family, with his father and uncle playing the violin and the organ, respectively. Beginning to learn piano at age nine, he studied under Pierre Maire, a student of

Nadia Boulanger Juliette Nadia Boulanger (; 16 September 188722 October 1979) was a French music teacher, conductor and composer. She taught many of the leading composers and musicians of the 20th century, and also performed occasionally as a pianist and organis ...

, and quickly demonstrated his abilities by repeating long sections of classical works by ear. After winning the 1st Prize in Piano at the

Paris Conservatory The Conservatoire de Paris (), or the Paris Conservatory, is a college of music and dance founded in 1795. Officially known as the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris (; CNSMDP), it is situated in the avenue Jean Ja ...

, Peiffer began his professional career at the age of twenty, playing with

André Ekyan André Ekyan (born André Echkyan; October 24, 1907, Meudon - August 1972, Alicante, Spain) was a French jazz reedist. Ekyan was the leader of a jazz ensemble at the club Le Perroquet in Paris late in the 1920s. in the 1930s, he played with Jack H ...

and

Django Reinhardt Jean Reinhardt (23 January 1910 – 16 May 1953), known by his Romani people, Romani nickname Django ( or ), was a Belgium, Belgian-born Romani jazz guitarist and composer in France. He was one of the first major jazz talents to emerge in Europe ...

. During World War II, he joined the

French resistance The French Resistance ( ) was a collection of groups that fought the German military administration in occupied France during World War II, Nazi occupation and the Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy#France, collaborationist Vic ...

after he witnessed the execution of a friend by the

Gestapo The (, ), Syllabic abbreviation, abbreviated Gestapo (), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of F ...

in the streets of Paris. Soon afterwards he was captured, and was incarcerated for over a year. In the early 1950s, he began a successful career, playing with

, leading his own quintet, composing film soundtracks, and achieving notice in the clubs of Paris,

Monte Carlo Monte Carlo ( ; ; or colloquially ; , ; ) is an official administrative area of Monaco, specifically the Ward (country subdivision), ward of Monte Carlo/Spélugues, where the Monte Carlo Casino is located. Informally, the name also refers to ...

and

Nice Nice ( ; ) is a city in and the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative city limits, with a population of nearly one million Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

in 1954 with his wife Corine and daughter Rebecca. The subsequent loss of his third daughter (his first was from a previous marriage with singer Monique Dozo) profoundly affected him, resulting in "Poem for a Lonely Child". The year 1962 saw the birth of his first son (and final child), Stephen. During his first years in America, he achieved considerable success, performing at

Carnegie Hall Carnegie Hall ( ) is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. It is at 881 Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh Avenue, occupying the east side of Seventh Avenue between 56th Street (Manhattan), 56th and 57th Street (Manhattan), 57t ...

, Birdland, and the

Newport Jazz Festival The Newport Jazz Festival is an annual American multi-day jazz music festival held every summer in Newport, Rhode Island. Elaine Lorillard established the festival in 1954, and she and husband Louis Lorillard financed it for many years. They hire ...

. He recorded for the

EmArcy EmArcy Records is a jazz record label founded in 1954 by Bob Shad for the American Mercury Records. The name is a phonetic spelling of "MRC", the initials for Mercury Record Company. During the 1950s and 1960s, musicians such as Max Roach, Cli ...

Decca Decca may refer to: Music * Decca Records or Decca Music Group, record label * Decca Gold, classical music record label owned by Universal Music Group * Decca Broadway, musical theater record label * Decca Studios, recording facility in West ...

and

Laurie Laurie may refer to: Places * Laurie, Cantal, France, a commune * Laurie, Missouri, United States, a village * Laurie Island, Antarctica Music * Laurie Records, a record label * ''Laurie'' (EP), a 1992 album by Daniel Johnston * "Laurie (Stran ...

labels. During this time, critic

Leonard Feather Leonard Geoffrey Feather (13 September 1914 – 22 September 1994) was a British-born jazz pianist, composer, and producer, who was best known for his music journalism and other writing. Biography Feather was born in London, England, into an u ...

compared his playing with that of

Art Tatum Arthur Tatum Jr. (, October 13, 1909 – November 5, 1956) was an American jazz pianist who is widely regarded as one of the greatest ever. From early in his career, fellow musicians acclaimed Tatum's technical ability as extraordinary. Tatum a ...

. Peiffer released his last commercial album in 1965 and, after having kidney surgery a few years later, restricted himself to performing and teaching, mainly in Philadelphia. His students included

Uri Caine Uri Caine (born June 8, 1956) is an American classical music, classical and jazz pianist and composer from Philadelphia. Biography Early years Caine was born on June 8, 1956, in Philadelphia, to Burton Caine (1928–2023), a professor at Temple ...

, Sumi Tonooka,

Tom Lawton Thomas Anthony Lawton (born Darwin, Northern Territory, Darwin, 1 November 1962) is a former Australian rugby union player. He played as a hooker. Career Lawton comes from a known rugby union family: his grandfather, Tom Lawton, Snr was an impo ...

, and Don Glanden. His last major appearance was at the 1974 New York/Newport Festival at Carnegie Hall. He died on 7 September 1976, aged 53. A posthumous release, entitled ''Formidable...!'', that spans twenty years of his career, was released in 2006, produced by his student Don Glanden and son Stephen.

References

External links

Peiffer web site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Peiffer, Bernard 1922 births 1976 deaths French jazz pianists People from Épinal 20th-century French pianists 20th-century French male musicians French male jazz pianists