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NATION: Jimmy Giuffre, jazz innovator

The Washington Post

April 27, 2008

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Jimmy Giuffre, a jazz musician who composed a popular big-band anthem of the 1940s and became an innovator of classically inspired jazz, died April 24 at Berkshire Medical Center in Pittsfield, Mass.

He had Parkinson's disease and would have turned 87 yesterday.

Giuffre (pronounced JOO-free) had his greatest early fame as the composer of "Four Brothers," a popular instrumental hit for Woody Herman's big band in 1947. Later, after a stint in the saxophone section of Herman's big band, Giuffre formed a series of trios that explored what he called "blues-based folk jazz." His groups, invariably called the Jimmy Giuffre 3, often included guitarist Jim Hall and blended advanced musical techniques with a homespun, back-porch feeling.

Giuffre, who played clarinet, tenor saxophone and baritone saxophone in the 1950s, gained modest popularity in the late 1950s and was featured in the documentary "Jazz on a Summer's Day," filmed at the 1958 Newport Jazz Festival.

Giuffre's approach was decidedly understated. His "chamber jazz" trios had neither piano nor drums and instead relied on Hall's guitar and Giuffre's saxophones or his warm, dusky-sounding clarinet.

Born in Dallas, Guiffre played in local bands in his teens, graduating from what is now the University of North Texas and playing in Army bands during World War II. Since 1976, he had lived in West Stockbridge, Mass., with his wife of 42 years, Juanita O. Giuffre, who is his sole survivor.

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