Michel Pilet

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Michel Pilet (born December 16, 1931 in Paris , † December 17, 2006 in Duillier , Switzerland) was a Swiss manager and jazz musician ( tenor and soprano saxophone , clarinet , piano).

Live and act

Pilet started playing the piano at the age of nine. He discovered jazz at the age of twelve. At the age of 19 he learned the clarinet and founded an orchestra in Besançon . With Sidney Bechet as a model, he also devoted himself to the soprano saxophone. In 1953 he began to study law in Geneva. In Annemasse near Geneva he played with the New Jazz Band . In 1954 he appeared for a month as a pianist in Maxim Saury's Trio ; In 1955, he took with the Berne Barrelhouse Hot Five at Festival Zurich jazz part. In 1956 he became a member of Claude Aubert's orchestra , where Henri Chaix and Pierre Bouru played. In 1957 he accompanied Albert Nicholas in Zurich and was honored as the best soloist at the Zurich Jazz Festival. He performed at various festivals with Chaix, Bouru, Aubert and the New Orleans Wild Cats . From 1956 he took part in various radio broadcasts on Radio Geneva; He also reported regularly for Radio-je-vois-tout magazine , and later for La Suisse as well .

After the dissolution of Claude Aubert's orchestra in 1961, he played in the Henri Chaix orchestra and for three years also in Paul Thommen's big band. In the Jazz series in the Aula in Baden AG he performed regularly until 1971 with international soloists such as Buck Clayton , Stuff Smith , Rex Stewart , Ben Webster , Ray Nance , Milt Buckner , Buddy Tate and Benny Carter . From 1971 he was a member of Roby Seidel's big band for twenty years , but from 1974 had to cut back on his musical activities because as a member of the management of an insurance company he only had limited free time. Nevertheless, he organized the Quarante Ans de Jazz à Genève Festival in 1977 and was president of the Association Genevoise des Musiciens de Jazz for many years . In 1980 he presented himself with a quintet at the Montreux Jazz Festival , from which the Hot Mallets emerged. In recent years, Pilet has performed repeatedly with small information, often with trumpeter Jo Gagliardi . He can be heard on albums by Claude Aubert, Buck Clayton, Henri Chaix, Albert Nicholas, Rex Stewart, the Roby Seidel Big Band and the New Orleans Wild Cats .

Lexigraphic references

  • Bruno Spoerri , Biographical Lexicon of Swiss Jazz CD supplement to: B. Spoerri (Hrsg.): Jazz in Switzerland. History and stories. Chronos-Verlag, Zurich 2005, ISBN 3-0340-0739-6

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Short biography
personal data
SURNAME Pilet, Michel
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss manager and jazz musician
DATE OF BIRTH December 16, 1931
PLACE OF BIRTH Paris
DATE OF DEATH December 17, 2006
Place of death Duillier , Switzerland