Barney Wilen
L'Américain....
This is the best tenor saxophone I’ve heard in Europe. He plays tenor in an authentic way, much better than many current stars in the States.
- Miles Davis on Barney Wilen in 1957
French saxophonist Barney Wilen was overshadowed by big-name American jazz greats Miles Davis and Art Blakey in two cases.
When they were re-released by the Fontana label in 1988, two classic black and white, French “art film” movie soundtracks were all the rage and both soundtracks featured Barney Wilen. The first was Miles Davis’ soundtrack for Louis Malle’s 1958 film Ascenseur pour l’échafaud:
The second was Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers’ soundtrack for Roger Vadim’s 1960 film Les Liaisons Dangereuses:
Interestingly, I never knew Wilen played on these until a friend pointed it out to me a few weeks ago.
On the Les Liaisons Dangereuses soundtrack, overshadowed by Blakey’s band, which included trumpeter Lee Morgan at the time, I did not give much notice to the unknown French saxophonist. Clearly, that was a mistake, as you can hear from Wilen’s fine playing on Prelude in Blue (à "L' Esquinade"):
Sadly, this seems to be de rigueur for the elusive Wilen - perhaps the greatest French saxophonist of his generation, who in 1957, at the age of 20, made his debut as a leader on the French Swing label.
In 1935, Coleman “The Hawk” Hawkins went to England to join Jack Jack Hylton's band, which was making a continental tour. After playing in Paris, the band went up to the Netherlands. However, when Hylton's band moved on to Germany, Hawkins stayed behind - black folk were not welcome in Hitler’s country. You can read more about that here:
While in Paris, Hawkins was the debut artist on the new French Jazz label Swing. Founded in 1937 by Hugues Panassié and Charles Delaunay, Swing was the first label in the world entirely devoted to jazz recordings and pre-dated Blue Note’s earliest jazz recordings by nearly two years. Pathé Marconi recorded, pressed, and distributed the records, with Delaunay (who designed the logo) and Panassié choosing the musicians and directing the recordings.
Swing’s first jazz recording featured Coleman Hawkins playing alongside American saxophonist Benny Carter and prominent French musicians Django Reinhardt on guitar and Stephane Grappelli on piano.
Here is that 1937 recording:
Some 20 years later, in January of 1957, Barney Wilen recorded Tilt, his debut on the Swing label.
Wilen went on to record several strong albums over the next decade, all in the hard bop pocket so much in fashion at the time. For example, check out Swing 39 from Jazz sur Seine, recorded in Paris in 1958 with Milt Jackson, Percy Heath, and Kenny Clarke.
However, at the end of the 1960s, Barney Wilen established himself as a leading figure in European free jazz. I actually find this period of his music some of his best, starting with his 1966 album Zodiac, recorded on the Disques Vogue label at Studios Vogue in Paris:
Wilen's Zodiac was the soundtrack for a mid-1960s film that never got off the storyboard. A collaboration between Wilen and his friend, the mixed-media visual artist Jean Larivière, the soundtrack consists of twelve tracks, most lasting around 2:30 minutes and named after the signs of the zodiac.
From that album here is Poissons:
In 1967, Wilen recorded Auto Jazz - Tragic Destiny Of Lorenzo Bandini, another free jazz classic more in line with Musique concrète. The album was released in 1968 on the esteemed German MPS label. You can read more about MPS here:
Lorenzo Bandini is portrayed by Francesco Bauco in Ford v Ferrari, the 2019 film about the rivalry between Ford and Ferrari at the 1966 24 Hours of Le Mans sports car race. As it turns out, Wilen was a huge Formula 1 fan.
In 1967, Wilen journeyed to Monaco for the Grand Prix to tape-record the race. However, running second to Denny Hulme on the 82nd lap, Bandini lost control of his car at the harbour chicane and suffered a horrific crash. He died from his injuries a few days later. To honor Bandini, Wilen composed Auto Jazz - Tragic Destiny Of Lorenzo Bandini, by integrating the race audio tape into his musical composition.
Originally conceived as a multimedia event, it premiered at the Musée d’Arte Moderne in Paris; after which Wilen was invited to perform the work at Manhattan’s New York University in front of an audience that included Rauschenberg, Warhol, and Ginsburg.
From the album, here is the 5th and final movement, Canyon Sounds and Destiny. The movement reflects the sense of impending doom and an otherworldly harbinger of death. Underneath the audio maelstrom of Beb Guerin’s bowed bass and Eddy Gaumont’s drums, the music settles with the anguished yet subtle cries of Bandini! Bandini!
This is truly a masterpiece in modern music. In fact, I find the entire album fascinating.
In 1987, after a period of diverse rock and world music adventures, but relative jazz silence, out of the blue Wilen released the stunning French Ballads album for the French label IDA Records:
This album marked Wilen’s comeback, as he rejoined the jazz scene of his musical roots.
From that album here is What Are You Doing The Rest Of Your Life:
Over the next decade, Wilen would release many fine albums, in particular, I like his 1990 Paris Moods and 1994 New York Romance.
Here’s one more for the road. From Wilen’s fantastic soundtrack from Édouard Molinaro’s 1959 film un témoin dans la ville:
From the film, here is Melodie pour les Radio, recorded in Paris in April 1959 with Americans Kenny Clarke on drums, Duke Jordan on piano, and Kenny Dorham on trumpet:
Perhaps at the peak of his comeback and the height of his fame, unfortunately, Barney Wilen suffered from cancer and died on May 25, 1996. He was 59 years old.
Next week on that Big River called Jazz, we’ll dig our paddles in and explore the waters of another great French jazz musician, guitarist Django Reinhardt.
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Until then, keep on walking….