Barney Wilen
Born in Nice in 1937 to a French mother and an American father, he left France with his family in 1940 and spent the next six years in America, where an uncle gave him a saxophone. He also possessed an inquiring and unorthodox mind, and was keen to
venture beyond the confines of an idiom he had so quickly masteredHis style was never one that cried out for attention, but it evolved
into an approach that could hold its own among the hard-bop giants of
the day, such as Roy Haynes, Milt Jackson and Donald Byrd, with whom he
also recorded during the 1950s.
Born in Nice in 1937 to a French mother and an American father, he left France with his family in 1940 and spent the next six years in America, where an uncle gave him a saxophone. He also possessed an inquiring and unorthodox mind, and was keen to
venture beyond the confines of an idiom he had so quickly masteredHis style was never one that cried out for attention, but it evolved
into an approach that could hold its own among the hard-bop giants of
the day, such as Roy Haynes, Milt Jackson and Donald Byrd, with whom he
also recorded during the 1950s.
Jazz Sur Seine
A fantastic early recording from the great French tenor saxophonist Barney Wilen – best known as an artist who recorded famously in the soundtrack world of the French new wave, and with Art Blakey – but who's even more striking here on a rare small combo date from the 50s! The session's a monster – cut with rhythmic backing by Milt Jackson on piano (!?), Percy Heath on bass, and Kenny Clarke on drums – and two cuts feature additional percussion by Gana M'Bow, which gives the set a wonderful kick…
Ascenseur pour l'échafaud
*In process of stocking.* In 1957, Miles Davis is in Paris for an engagement at the ‘Club Saint-Germain’ and a wonderful concert at the Olympia Theatre. Once in Paris, Miles came into contact with many members of the modern existentialist cultural environment in the neighborhood of Saint-Germain-des-Près. These include the director Louis Malle who had just finished his first movie : ‘Ascenseur Pour L’échafaud’. Jean-Paul Rappeneau, a Jazz fan and Louis Malle’s assistant at the time, suggested as…
Un Témoin Dans la Ville
Barney Wilen's career took off in 1957. That year he won the Django Reinhardt Award and recorded the soundtrack to the film 'Ascenseur pour l'échafaud' with Miles Davis. In '59 he recorded the music for the film 'Les Liaisons Dangereuses' with Thelonious Monk and Art Blakey, and then composed the music for the film 'Un témoin dans la ville' directed by Edouard Molinaro. For this nocturnal tour through Paris, Barney Wilen is surrounded by the musicians who have been accompanying him for several w…
French Story
* 180 gram yellow audiophile vinyl* This is a much better album than the title might suggest. Wilen still has the blend of tasteful restraint and inventiveness which marked his memorable duet with Miles Davis for the soundtrack of L’Ascenseur Pour L’Echafaud and the second track here reprises some of that music. The sixth track seems to offer more but the Generique credited to Davis is actually the Benny Golson composition which opened the Jazz Messengers’ soundtrack for Des Femmes Disparaisse…
Zodiac
We Are Busy Bodies announces the officially licensed reissue of the 1966 cosmic, free jazz album Zodiac by French saxophonist and composer Barney Wilen. The album’s astrological theme and Robert Crumb-esque comic-book style cover art, illustrated by the renowned cartoonist Siné, marks it as a European parallel to the burgeoning counter-cultural happenings of the same period in the USA.
The reissue also offers tantalising glimpses of a projected animated tie-in film that never was. Wilen's friend…
Moshi
**Edition of 250 copies: comes in additional Silkscreened Outer Sleeve and includes 2 clear vinyl LPs, a clear vinyl 7'', a DVD and a 20 page Booklet.** Originally issued by the seminal imprint Saravah in 1972, and among the most uncategorizable and sought after artefacts of the French avant-garde, Barney Wilen’s Moshi is nothing short of a masterpiece - long holding a coveted spot in the hearts of adventurous listeners and record collectors alike. A wild unkept cultural collage. A series of son…
La Chasse Au Snark
**Double LP, limited edition** In 1967, 1968 and 1969 most of my works were happenings loosely based on Lewis Carroll’s The Hunting Of The Snark, a not-so-cryptic poem that, to my mind, gave clues to free the theatre in the same way the “new music” had freed jazz. It never made it to record and I gave up on the idea when I met Sunny Murray and Alan Silva when they arrived in Paris in the summer of ‘69. Few concert venues would have anything to do with us but we didn’t want that kind of connectio…
Moshi Too
2012 Release. 80 Minutes of previously unreleased recordings from 1969-70, not to be found on the tenor player's regular "Moshi" album. Dark and trance-like amalgam of Afro-blues, acid-rock jams, polyphonic rhythms and spiritual jazz influences from the likes of Coltrane or Sanders. Recorded 1969-1970 in Africa by Barney Wilen on Nagra (Stereo/ Mono). Unreleased archive sounds, transferred on Telefunken and Nagra from original tapes found in the estate of Barney Wilen. Moshi: trance utterance by…
Le Nouveau Jazz
With track titles translating to Song For The Devil and The Witches, Francois Tusques’ rarest commercially released LP casts an early stylistic premonition of the vampire themed improvised soundtracks recorded for director Jean Rollin merely months after its release. Assembling the very same group of musical sorcerers this albums personnel (featuring, amongst others, soprano saxophonist Barney Wilen) reads like a who’s who of France’s early improvised music/free jazz scene resulting in a wholly …