The pianist and composer René Urtreger, a figure on the French jazz scene known for having recorded with Miles Davis the music for the film “Ascenseur pour l’échafaud”, died Thursday at the age of 92, his son announced on Friday July 17. “He died early yesterday evening, around 8:30 p.m., at the hospital in Mortagne-au-Perche”, a Normandy town where “he had resided since 2000”, specified Philippe Urtreger, himself a professional musician. “He left peacefully and surrounded by his family,” he added.
René Urtreger spent time with renowned American jazzmen like Buck Clayton and Chet Baker during a thriving career launched in 1953. But his career is especially marked by his collaboration with Miles Davis (1926-1991), whom he met at the age of 22 and whom he accompanied on European tours.
He reunited with the trumpeter to record, in one night, the soundtrack for the film “Ascenseur pour l’échafaud” (1958), directed by Louis Malle. Him on piano, Barney Wilen on tenor saxophone, Pierre Michelot on double bass and Kenny Clarke on drums play in front of the images of the feature film, alongside Miles Davis who is stingy with directions. “There was nothing written, everything was really improvised,” said René Urtreger, then the last survivor of this quintet, in 2009.
A youth marked by the Second World War
“For me, there are two kinds of musicians, of individuals: those who vomit their despair or their pleasure, who show off, and those who have a restraint, a politeness, capable of releasing an enormous sensitivity without needing to roll on the ground for it,” he confided about the “high class” of Miles Davis.
Born in Paris in July 1934, to Polish Jewish parents, René Urtreger’s youth was marked by the Second World War. In 1944, his mother was arrested and then deported to Auschwitz. His musical training initially took place through the classical route, at the conservatory. But as he grew up, his heart chose jazz and his virtuosity allowed him to stand out.
During his career, he allowed himself deviations by moving towards French song, around Claude François or Serge Gainsbourg. However, jazz remained his compass: with double bassist Pierre Michelot and drummer Daniel Humair, he formed the HUM trio, whose first album in 1960 received the Django Reinhardt prize, awarded by the Jazz Academy.
René Urtreger was awarded a Victoire du jazz (2000), a Victoire de la musique for all of his work (2005) and received the Legion of Honor in 2010.
