Pierre Favre

Jazz drummer and percussionist Pierre Favre was born in Le Locle, Switzerland on June 2, 1937. Self-taught on drums, he originally played Dixieland before expanding his musical palette and embracing jazz before moving on to free jazz. At the age of 17, he began working with touring musicians in the 1950s such as Lil Hardin Armstrong and Albert Nicholas. He began working with bop musical Bud Powell, Booker Ervin, and Benny Bailey in the 1960s. In 1964, he collaborated with German guitarist Franz Löffler on the albums Swinging’ Bach Guitar (1964) and 300-Year-Old Goodies All Jazzed Up (1965). Pierre Favre formed his own free jazz trio with bassist George Mraz and pianist Irene Schweizer. They became a quartet in 1968 with the addition of saxophonist Evan Parker. He also spent the end of the ‘60s collaborating with saxophonist Peter Brötzmann, trumpeter Manfred Schoof, and several classical and avant-garde musicians. Pierre Favre released the album Drum Conversation in 1970 and spent a majority of the ‘70s collaborating with artists such as Terumasa Hino, Peter Warren, Léon Francioli, Tamia, and many others. In the 1980s, he released the albums Mountain Wind (1981) and Singing Drums (1984), an album credited to the all-percussion quartet Pierre Favre Ensemble featuring Paul Motian, Fredy Studer, and Nana Vasconcelos. Signed to ECM Records in the ‘80s and most of the ‘90s, he continued to collaborate with other musicians, releasing solo albums such as Window Steps (1996), and Portrait (1997). Pierre Favre has remained a prolific since the new millennium, releasing a series of well received albums as a bandleader and as a collaborator including Punctus (2001) and Fleuve (2007).

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