Brian Barley

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Brian Barley (born December 10, 1942 in Sarnia , Ontario , † June 28, 1971 in Toronto , Canada ) was a Canadian jazz musician ( clarinet , saxophone , flute ), band leader and composer .

Live and act

Barley began playing the clarinet when he was eleven; Under the influence of the music of Lee Konitz , he also learned to play the saxophone at the age of 13. He took clarinet lessons with Avrahm Galper and Ezra Schabas at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto and with Robert Marcellus at the Cleveland Institute of Music . As a clarinetist, he worked with the National Youth Orchestra from 1963–65 , as well as with the Cleveland Orchestra and the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra. In 1966 he moved to Montreal , where he turned to jazz and u. a. played in the bands of Pierre Leduc , Ron Proby , Herbie Spanier and Vic Vogel . He became known as the alto saxophonist in the Maynard-Ferguson sextet that performed at Expo 67 . Shortly thereafter, he worked on his studio album Maynard Ferguson Orchestra .

Around 1968 he founded the experimental trio Aquarius Rising , which consisted of Barley (tenor and soprano saxophone, bass clarinet), Claude Ranger (drums), Michel Donato (bass, later replaced by Daniel Lessard, bass guitar ) and based in Montréal (mostly in Club La Jazztek ) and performed in Québec . 1968/69 radio recordings were made for CBC, in which Barley played both with his trio and as a member of formations of Roland Haynes and Herbie Spanier. The album Brian Barley Trio was created for Radio Canada International at the end of June 1970 . His compositions - with stylistic borrowings from Sonny Rollins , John Coltrane , Archie Shepp and Ornette Coleman - contained elements that were close to works by Igor Stravinsky or Béla Bartók . Shortly before his death - as a result of neurological complications as a long-term consequence of a car accident in 1966 - Barley returned to Toronto and then reunited with Ranger and Donato for a three-day stint in March 1971 at the Meat and Potatoes jazz club . Barley died of an epileptic fit when he was only 28 years old.

Discographic notes

  • Maynard Ferguson Sextet 1967 (Just a Memory, 1967)
  • Pierre Leduc et son Quatuor (Radio Canada International, 1968)
  • Michel Donato: Quatuor - Jazz en Liberté, Montréal 1969 ( Justin Time Records , 1969)
  • Brian Barley Trio 1970 (Justin Time / Just A Memory, 1970)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Brian Barley ( English, French ) In: Encyclopedia of Music in Canada . published by The Canadian Encyclopedia .
  2. ^ Gary Giddins : Weather Bird: Jazz on the Dawn of its Second Century. Oxford University Press, Oxford, etc. 2004, ISBN 0195304497 . P. 140 ff.
personal data
SURNAME Barley, Brian
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Canadian jazz musician (clarinet, saxophone, flute), band leader and composer
DATE OF BIRTH December 10, 1942
PLACE OF BIRTH Sarnia , Ontario
DATE OF DEATH June 28, 1971
Place of death Toronto , Canada