BARRY ALTSCHUL

Barry Altschul was born in the Bronx where "jazz was in the streets." He was introduced to the piano by his sister when he was two years old and took lessons for three years. Before long, Barry rebelled against the piano and he tried to play the clarinet. From clarinet, he made the jump to the drums when he was eleven. Barry mostly taught himself by picking up on rhythms he heard around his neighborhood until Charlie Persip became Barry’s teacher in 1960.

As a teenager, Barry started playing gigs with other musicians from his neighborhood. While working as a janitor at a recording studio, he met Paul Bley. A little later, Paul and Barry played together at a new venue—Slugs. Although he had dabbled in it while playing along with his sister on the piano and with some local bop guys, Barry experienced true free-style music for the first time while he played with Paul Bley. The Bley Band worked to find niches for its unique music and recorded frequently in Europe. Barry worked with Paul intermittently throughout the 70s and 80s.

Barry also performed in an acoustic trio with Chick Corea and Dave Holland, playing for free to whoever would listen. Anthony Braxton soon joined them and Circle was created. While playing with Circle, Barry began composing music for the entire group, instead of just solo pieces for himself.

In the 1980s Barry predominantly recorded independently and accompanied various artists on their recordings. However, Barry led Circle on 1985’s That’s Nice. After the 1980s, Barry’s presence in the music arena diminished, although recently he accompanied the FAB trio.

Barry’s style is consistently recognized as a free-form variety of jazz in the same vein as artists such as Cecil Taylor, Ornette, Coleman, and John Coltrane.