Barre Phillips

Barre Phillips (October 1934, San Francisco) is an American jazz and impro music double bass player. A professional musician since 1960, he moved to New York in 1962, then to Europe in 1967. Since 1972 he has been based in southern France where he founded the European Improvisation Centre. He studied briefly in 1959 with S. Charles Siani, Assistant Principal Bassist with the San Francisco Symphony. During the 1960s among others he recorded with Eric Dolphy, Jimmy Giuffre, Archie Sheep, Lee Konitz and Marion Brown. Phillips’ 1968 recording of solo bass improvisations, issued as “Journal Violone” in USA is generally credited as the first solo bass record. “Music from two basses”, a 1971 record with Dave Holland, was probably the first record of improvised double bass duets. In the 1970s he was member of the well-regarded and influential group The Trio, with saxophonist John Surman and drummer Stu Martin. In the 1980s and 1990s he played regularly with the London Jazz Composers Orchestra, led by fellow bassist Barry Guy. He worked on soundtracks of the motion pictures Merry-Go-Round in 1981 and Naked Lunch together with Ortnette Coleman in 1991. He also worked among others with Peter Kowald, Joelle Leandre, Derek Bailey, Peter Brötzman, Evan Parker and Joe Manieri.