Jean-Michel Defaye (18 September 1932 – 1 January 2025) was a French pianist, composer, arranger and conductor known for his collaboration with French poet and singer-songwriter

Léo Ferré Léo Ferré (; 24 August 1916 – 14 July 1993) was a Monégasque poet and composer, and a dynamic and controversial live performer. He released some forty albums over this period, composing the music and the majority of the lyrics. He released ...

Life and career

Defaye was born in

Saint-Mandé Saint-Mandé (; named for Saint Maudez) is a Communes of France, commune in the Val-de-Marne Departments of France, department in Île-de-France, in the high-end eastern inner suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the Kilometre zero, cent ...

, Val-de-Marne, near Paris, on 18 September 1932. At aged ten he entered the

Paris Conservatoire 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 ...

and completed his musical training in theory, piano and composition, taking in

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 ...

's accompaniment class. In his early years, he was interested in jazz. Defaye's primary instrument was the piano, but he also played trombone and trumpet. He attended the composition classes of

Darius Milhaud Darius Milhaud (, ; 4 September 1892 – 22 June 1974) was a French composer, conductor, and teacher. He was a member of Les Six—also known as ''The Group of Six''—and one of the most prolific composers of the 20th century. His composition ...

and Tony Aubin. In 1952 he won second prize of the Grand Prix de Rome; and the following year he won the Lili Boulanger Prize of Harvard and the second prize in composition for the Belgian

Queen Elisabeth Competition The Queen Elisabeth Competition (, ) is an international competition for career-starting musicians held in City of Brussels, Brussels. The competition is named after Elisabeth of Bavaria, Queen of Belgium, Queen Elisabeth of Belgium (1876–1 ...

. As a composer he wrote mostly for brass, especially

trombone The trombone (, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the Brass instrument, brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's lips vibrate inside a mouthpiece, causing the Standing wave, air c ...

; he wrote pieces for trombone and piano in the style of classical composers such as

Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (German: �joːhan zeˈbasti̯an baχ ( – 28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his prolific output across a variety of instruments and forms, including the or ...

Brahms Johannes Brahms (; ; 7 May 1833 – 3 April 1897) was a German composer, virtuoso pianist, and conductor of the mid- Romantic period. His music is noted for its rhythmic vitality and freer treatment of dissonance, often set within studied ye ...

Debussy Achille Claude Debussy (; 22 August 1862 – 25 March 1918) was a French composer. He is sometimes seen as the first Impressionism in music, Impressionist composer, although he vigorously rejected the term. He was among the most influe ...

Schumann Robert Schumann (; ; 8 June 181029 July 1856) was a German composer, pianist, and music critic of the early Romantic music, Romantic era. He composed in all the main musical genres of the time, writing for solo piano, voice and piano, chamber ...

Stravinsky Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky ( – 6 April 1971) was a Russian composer and conductor with French citizenship (from 1934) and American citizenship (from 1945). He is widely considered one of the most important and influential composers of ...

and

Vivaldi Antonio Lucio Vivaldi (4 March 1678 – 28 July 1741) was an Italian composer, virtuoso violinist, impresario of Baroque music and Roman Catholic priest. Regarded as one of the greatest Baroque composers, Vivaldi's influence during his lif ...

. He composed

chamber music Chamber music is a form of classical music that is composed for a small group of Musical instrument, instruments—traditionally a group that could fit in a Great chamber, palace chamber or a large room. Most broadly, it includes any art music ...

with brass instruments, pieces for competitions, concertos for clarinet, saxophone, trumpet and trombone, and many educational pieces. His writing was often influenced by jazz. Defaye wrote several film scores, including '' Pouic-Pouic''. As an arranger, he worked for decades with singer-songwriter Léo Ferré. He also collaborated with

Juliette Gréco Juliette Gréco (; 7 February 1927 – 23 September 2020) was a French singer and actress. Her best known songs are "Paris Canaille" (1962, originally sung by Léo Ferré), "La Javanaise" (1963, written by Serge Gainsbourg for Gréco) and "Désh ...

Zizi Jeanmaire Renée Marcelle "Zizi" Jeanmaire (29 April 1924 – 17 July 2020) was a French ballet dancer, actress and singer. She became famous in the 1950s after playing the title role in the ballet ''Carmen'', produced in London in 1949, and went on to a ...

and . Defaye died on 1 January 2025, at the age of 92.

Classical compositions

Compositions by Defaye include: * ''Suite Marine'' * ''Morceau de Concours'' I (SG 1–2) * ''Morceau de Concours'' II (SG 3–4) * ''Morceau de Concours'' III (SG 5) * ''Deux Danses'', for trombone and piano (1954) * ''Quatre pièces'', for trombone quartet (1954) * Sonatine for trumpet and piano (1956) * ''Mouvement'', for trombone and piano (1972) * ''Fluctuations'', for solo trombone, 6 trombones and 2 percussions (1987) * ''À la manière de Bach'', for trombone and piano (1990) * ''Suite entomologique'', for trombone and piano (1992) * ''Œuvre de concours'' I, for trombone and piano (1993) * ''Œuvre de concours'' II, for trombone and piano (1993) * ''Œuvre de concours'' III, for trombone and piano (1993) * ''À la manière de Schumann'', for trombone and piano (2000) * ''À la manière de Debussy'', for trombone and piano (2001) * ''À la manière de Vivaldi'', for trombone and piano (2002) * ''À la manière de Stravinsky'', for trombone and piano (2005) * ''À la manière de Brahms'', for trombone and piano (2011) * ''Musique à Curitiba'', for trombone solo and 16 trombones

Film scores

Defaye composed film scores including: * 1961: ''Tire-au-flanc 62'' (''

The Army Game ''The Army Game'' is a British television sitcom that aired on ITV from 19 June 1957 to 20 June 1961. It was the first ITV sitcom and was made by Granada, and created by Sid Colin. It follows the exploits of Hut 29, a dysfunctional group of ...

'') * 1963: ''Les Veinards'' ('' People in Luck'') * 1963: '' Pouic-Pouic'' * 1965: '' Le Bonheur'' * 1965: ''Fifi la plume'' (''

Circus Angel ''Circus Angel'' () is a 1965 French fantasy film directed and produced by Albert Lamorisse Albert Lamorisse (; 13 January 1922 – 2 June 1970) was a French filmmaker, film producer, and writer of short films which he began making in the lat ...

'') * 1977: '' Arrête ton char... bidasse!''

Discography

Dafaye collaborated as pianist, arranger and musical leader for albums and recitals by Léo Ferré, including: * 1957: ''

Les Fleurs du mal ''Les Fleurs du mal'' (; ) is a volume of French poetry by Charles Baudelaire. ''Les Fleurs du mal'' includes nearly all Baudelaire's poetry, written from 1840 until his death in August 1867. First published in 1857, it was important in the ...

'' * 1960: ' * 1961: '' Les Chansons d'Aragon'' * 1961: ' (live) * 1962: ' * 1964: ' * 1964: '' Verlaine et Rimbaud'' * 1966: ' * 1967: ' * 1967: ''

Léo Ferré chante Baudelaire Léo is a proper noun in French, meaning "lion". Its etymological root lies in the Latin word Leo. Léo is used as a diminutive or variant of the names Léon, Léonard, Léonardon, Leonardo, Léonid, ''Léonor'', '' Léonore'', ''Eléonore'', ...

'' * 1969: '' L'Été 68'' * 1969: '' Les Douze Premières Chansons de Léo Ferré'' * 1970: '' Amour Anarchie'' * 1972: ' * 2003: ' (recorded in 1961)

Life and career

Classical compositions

Film scores

Discography

References

External links