Jef Gilson

Jef Gilson (July 25, 1926 — Feb 5, 2012) was a French pianist, composer, and arranger; active as a bandleader for a quarter century. He proliferated in the 1970s with albums on Palm and other labels in lead and collaborative configurations.

Background

Jef Gilson was born Jean-François Quiévreux on July 25, 1926, in Guebwiller, Haut-Rhin, France. His father, a music enthusiast who worked as a mining engineer, took an office post following a workplace injury and moved the family to Paris. Quiévreux first played piano but shifted to classical clarinet lessons, which concealed his jazz interest from his parents.

As a teenager under German occupation, Quiévreux organized clandestine jazz sessions in Paris with clarinetist Claude Luter and trumpeter Boris Vian. Quiévreux also played for American troops at U.S. Army centers in liberated Paris. He returned to piano in 1947 and continued with Vian and composer André Hodeir, who taught compositional methods. As his style embraced bebop, Quiévreux adopted the name Jef Gilson from arrangers Gil Evans and Gil Fuller.

Early Credits

Gilson made his first known recording in 1946, when he played clarinet with Claude Luter on “Blues in Disguise.” He returned to record in June 1951 at L’Arlequin Club, where he led “Chant Inca” with a seven-piece group that included Jean-Louis Chautemps and Jean-Claude Fohrenbach on tenor saxophones. The session marked Gilson early move from clarinetist to pianist, composer, and ensemble leader.

Gilson concentrated increasingly on arranging and larger groups through the later 1950s. He recorded “Requiem pour Django” with an eight-piece ensemble at Cachan in spring 1958, then returned to Cachan on Oct. 3 for a session with French players Roger Guérin, Fernand Verstraete, Luis Fuentes, and Bobby Jaspar alongside visiting Americans Walter Davis Jr., Doug Watkins, and Art Taylor. These sessions placed Gilson within the Paris modern-jazz network and gave him regular access to musicians passing through the city.

Outside performance, Gilson worked as a sound engineer for Charles Delaunay at Vogue and later operated the Paris record shop Kiosque d’Orphée. He installed a small recording room behind the shop and used it for sessions with Boris Vian and American multi-instrumentalist Lloyd Miller. Gilson also wrote record reviews and technical articles for Jazz Hot.

In December 1961, Gilson recorded with a septet that included Miller, tenor saxophonist Pierre Caron, soprano saxophonist Alain Tabar-Nouval, bassist Henri Texier, and drummer Pierre-Alain Dahan. Spirit Jazz coupled those recordings with earlier Cachan material on Jef Gilson Septet avec Lloyd Miller. In early 1962, Gilson brought the group to the Vieux-Colombier and École Normale de Musique in Paris. On Dec. 23, he entered Europasonor for the opening session of Enfin!.

Discography:

• Enfin! (1963)
• Œil Vision (1963 • Jef Gilson, Jean-Luc Ponty & Jean-Louis Chautemps)
• Jeff Gilson à Gaveau (1965)
• New Call From France (1966)
• Jazz pour Dieu (1968)
• Le Massacre du Printemps (1971)
• Malagasy (1972)
• Concert À La M.J.C. Colombes (live, 1972 • Jef Gilson, Jean-Charles Capon, Gilbert Rovère, Jean-Luc Ponty & Lionel Magal)
• Christian Vander et les trois Jef (1973 • Christian Vander, Jeff Saeffer, Jef Catoire, Jef Gilson)
• Malagasy at Newport-Paris (live, 1973)
• Workshop (1973 • Philippe Maté & Jef Gilson)
• Soul of Africa (1974 • Hal Singer & Jef Gilson)
• Europamerica (live, 1977 • L. “Butch” Morris, J.L. Chautemps, F. Jeanneau, A. Jaume, Ph. Mate, A. Hatot, M. Richard, J.C. Capon, J. Gilson, P.Y. Sorin & G. Brown)

References and notes

• Bandcamp Daily, “Renaissance Man: The Undervalued Career of French Jazz Virtuoso Jef Gilson.” Strongest biographical source for birth, family move, early instruments, occupation-era activity, Vian/Luter, the Gilson name, Vogue, Kiosque d’Orphée, and Miller. (Bandcamp Daily)
• Jef Gilson, Anthology Jef Gilson 1945/1975: The Beginning of Jef Gilson. Archival track/personnel data place Gilson on clarinet with Luter in the 1940s, document “Chant Inca,” and trace the 1958–62 ensembles. (Inconstant Sol)
• Frémeaux, Bobby Jaspar discography. Gives the Oct. 3, 1958 Cachan Gilson septet session with Guérin, Verstraete, Fuentes, Jaspar, Walter Davis Jr., Watkins, and Taylor. (Frémeaux & Associés)
• Now-Again / Lloyd Miller biography. Confirms Miller recorded with Gilson and Texier in Paris and identifies the contemporary 10-inch Jef Gilson Septet avec Lloyd Miller. (Now-Again Records)
• Jazz Hot archives. Gilson appears as a contributor by 1959; the 1962 issues document the Vieux-Colombier appearance, the École Normale de Musique concert, and a Gilson orchestra containing Miller, Caron, Tabar-Nouval, Melet, and Gilson. (Jazz Hot)
• Jazz à Caen / BnF. The session data place the opening Enfin! recordings at Europasonor on Dec. 23, 1962, with further sessions in early 1963; BnF confirms Gilson, Claude Lenissois, Chautemps, Jeanneau, Ponty, and Bernard Vitet in the album record. (Jazz Caen)