Ian Martin Bargh (8 January 1935 – 2 January 2012) was a

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

born Canadian

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, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a majo ...

pianist and composer.

Early life

Born in

Prestwick Prestwick ( gd, Preastabhaig) is a town in South Ayrshire on the west coast of Ayrshire in Scotland about southwest of Glasgow. It adjoins the larger town of Ayr to the south on the Firth of Clyde coast, the centre of which is about south, an ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to th ...

, Bargh established himself by the age of 17 as a classical pianist that played with jazz ensembles in the U.K. He

emigrated Emigration is the act of leaving a resident country or place of residence with the intent to settle elsewhere (to permanently leave a country). Conversely, immigration describes the movement of people into one country from another (to permanentl ...

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most pop ...

in 1957 and continued a musical career that spanned six decades.

Career

Bargh quickly established himself as a featured pianist and

sideman A sideman is a professional musician who is hired to perform live with a solo artist, or with a group in which they are not a regular band member. The term is usually used to describe musicians that play with jazz or rock artists, whether solo ...

for touring musicians stopping to perform in Toronto, playing in such legendary establishments as

George's Spaghetti House George's Spaghetti House was a jazz club located at 290 Dundas Street East in Toronto. History In 1956 entrepreneur Doug Cole (1925–2012) bought the restaurant, keeping the existing name. Cole began to feature jazz at the restaurant on weekend ...

. Through the 1960s and 1970s, some of the many jazz greats he played with were,

Buddy Tate George Holmes "Buddy" Tate (February 22, 1913 – February 10, 2001) was an American jazz saxophonist and clarinetist. Biography Tate was born in Sherman, Texas, United States, and first played the alto saxophone. According to the website All ...

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Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson (born Edward L. Vinson Jr.; December 18, 1917 – July 2, 1988) was an American jump blues, jazz, bebop and R&B alto saxophonist and blues shouter. He was nicknamed Cleanhead after an incident in which his hair ...

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, and

Tyree Glenn Tyree Glenn, born William Tyree Glenn (November 23, 1912, Corsicana, Texas, United States, – May 18, 1974, Englewood, New Jersey), was an American trombone and vibraphone player. Biography Tyree played trombone and vibraphone with local Texas ...

. In the 1980s, he began an eight-year association with

Jim Galloway James Braidie Galloway (28 July 1936 – 30 December 2014) was a jazz clarinet and saxophone player. He based his career in Canada after emigrating from Scotland in the mid-1960s. Early life and education Galloway was born in Kilwinning, Ayr ...

's "Toronto Alive" project at the Sheraton Centre. Live collaborations at the centre included those with,

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, Frank Wright, Scott Hamilton,

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, and Warren Vache, among others. During this period, he also toured in jazz festivals across the world in an all-star group again led by Galloway. He was also featured at the Bern International Jazz Festival as part of an impressive roster that included fellow pianists

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and

Dave Brubeck David Warren Brubeck (; December 6, 1920 – December 5, 2012) was an American jazz pianist and composer. Often regarded as a foremost exponent of cool jazz, Brubeck's work is characterized by unusual time signatures and superimposing contrasti ...

. Towards the end of this period, he began a fifteen-year association with the

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, leading the rhythm section of the host hotel's

house band A house band is a group of musicians, often centrally organized by a band leader, who regularly play at an establishment. It is widely used to refer both to the bands who work on entertainment programs on television or radio, and to bands which ...

. It was at this venue that he performed with scores of musicians, including,

Plas Johnson Plas John Johnson Jr. (born July 21, 1931) is an American soul-jazz and hard bop tenor saxophonist, probably most widely known as the tenor saxophone soloist on Henry Mancini’s "The Pink Panther Theme". He also performs on alto and baritone sax ...

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, both Warren and Allan Vache,

Fraser MacPherson John Fraser MacPherson CM (10 April 1928 – 27 September 1993) was a Canadian jazz musician from Saint Boniface, Manitoba. MacPherson moved to Victoria, British Columbia, as a child. He learned piano, clarinet, and alto and tenor saxophone ...

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, and

George Masso George Masso (November 17, 1926 – October 22, 2019) was an American jazz trombonist, bandleader, vibraphonist, and composer specializing in swing and Dixieland. Masso is notable for his work from 1948–1950 as a member of the Jimmy Dorsey band ...

Recordings

Bargh performed as a sideman for many Toronto-based recordings, many of them on the

Sackville Records Sackville Records was a Canadian record company and label that specialized in jazz.Gardner/Kernfeld, "Sackville". '' Grove Jazz'' online. In 2011, with Sackville defunct, Delmark Records acquired its catalogue. Sackville was founded in 1968 in T ...

label, which also released his solo album "Only Trust Your Heart", which received an enthusiastic review by

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the dat ...

jazz critic Dave Nathan.

Discography

* ''Only Trust Your Heart'' ( Sackville, 2000)

As sideman

* ''At the Bern Jazz Festival'' –

(Sackville, 1994) * ''Echoes of Swing'' –

(Cornerstone, 2003) * ''Diano Who?'' – Diana Drew (Jocosity, 2003)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bargh, Ian 1935 births 2012 deaths People from Prestwick Bebop pianists Canadian jazz composers Male jazz composers Canadian jazz pianists Musicians from Toronto Scottish emigrants to Canada 20th-century Canadian pianists Canadian male pianists 20th-century Canadian male musicians Sackville Records artists Deaths from cancer in Ontario Deaths from lung cancer in Canada Male jazz pianists