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The tubaist Bill Barber died June 18th in Bronxville, New York, at the age of 87 of heart failure. John William Barber was born May 21, 1920, in Hornell, N.Y., in the Finger Lakes region.
Barber had studied at the Juilliard School of Music, and had played in Claude Thornhill's orchestra after his army service. He also had participated in Miles Davis' legendary "Birth of the Cool" recordings in the late 40s. With Davis and Gil Evans he played on the influential albums "Sketches of Spain" and "Porgy and Bess" in the 50s and also could be heard on John Coltrane's only big-band album "Africa/Brass", produced by Creed Taylor for the Impulse! label, recorded in 1961 at the Van Gelder Studio and reissued on CD by the CTI label in 1993, on its "PDCTI" series. Recently, this masterpiece came out once again, in Japan, in a limited paper sleeve Mimi-LP issue on the "Impulse Best 50!" reissue series.
The tuba was a difficult instrument to make a living with, and thus Barber later became a high school music teacher. He received a master’s degree from the Manhattan School of Music and became a high school music teacher in Copiague, N.Y. He continued to perform, most prominently with the Goldman Band, and in 1992 he recorded and toured with a nonet led by Gerry Mulligan that revisited the “Birth of the Cool” repertory. In Brazil they performed at the Free Jazz Festival.
Barber had studied at the Juilliard School of Music, and had played in Claude Thornhill's orchestra after his army service. He also had participated in Miles Davis' legendary "Birth of the Cool" recordings in the late 40s. With Davis and Gil Evans he played on the influential albums "Sketches of Spain" and "Porgy and Bess" in the 50s and also could be heard on John Coltrane's only big-band album "Africa/Brass", produced by Creed Taylor for the Impulse! label, recorded in 1961 at the Van Gelder Studio and reissued on CD by the CTI label in 1993, on its "PDCTI" series. Recently, this masterpiece came out once again, in Japan, in a limited paper sleeve Mimi-LP issue on the "Impulse Best 50!" reissue series.
The tuba was a difficult instrument to make a living with, and thus Barber later became a high school music teacher. He received a master’s degree from the Manhattan School of Music and became a high school music teacher in Copiague, N.Y. He continued to perform, most prominently with the Goldman Band, and in 1992 he recorded and toured with a nonet led by Gerry Mulligan that revisited the “Birth of the Cool” repertory. In Brazil they performed at the Free Jazz Festival.
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