Jean-Michel Defaye (born 18 September 1932) is a French pianist, composer, arranger and conductor known for his collaboration with French poet and singer-songwriter Léo Ferré. He was born in

Saint-Mandé Saint-Mandé () is a high-end commune of the Val-de-Marne department in Île-de-France in the eastern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the center of Paris. It is one of the smallest communes of the Île-de-France by land area, but i ...

, Val-de-Marne near Paris, on 18 September 1932. Aged ten he entered the

Paris Conservatoire The Conservatoire de Paris (), also known as the Paris Conservatory, is a college of music and dance founded in 1795. Officially known as the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris (CNSMDP), it is situated in the avenue ...

and completed his musical training in theory, piano and composition, taking in

Nadia Boulanger Juliette Nadia Boulanger (; 16 September 188722 October 1979) was a French music teacher and conductor. She taught many of the leading composers and musicians of the 20th century, and also performed occasionally as a pianist and organist. From a ...

's accompaniment class. In 1952 he won the Premier Second

Grand Prix de Rome The Prix de Rome () or Grand Prix de Rome was a French scholarship for arts students, initially for painters and sculptors, that was established in 1663 during the reign of Louis XIV of France. Winners were awarded a bursary that allowed them t ...

and the following year he won second prize in composition for the Belgian Queen Elisabeth competition. As a composer he wrote mostly for brass and especially trombone. As an arranger, he worked during ten years with Léo Ferré. He is mostly known by general public in France today for this body of work. At piano in the Olympia Big Band.

Classical works

* ''Suite Marine'' * Morceau de Concours I (SG 1–2) * Morceau de Concours II (SG 3–4) * Morceau de Concours III (SG 5) * Deux Danses, for trombone and piano (1954) * Quatre pièces, for trombones quartet (1954) * ''Sonatine'' (1956) * ''Mouvement'', for trombone and piano (1972) * ''Fluctuations'', for solo trombone, 6 trombones and 2 percussions (1987) * ''À la manière de Bach'', for trombone and piano (1990) * ''Suite entomologique'', for trombone and piano (1992) * Œuvre de concours I, for trombone and piano (1993) * Œuvre de concours II, for trombone and piano (1993) * Œuvre de concours III, for trombone and piano (1993) * ''À la manière de Schumann'', for trombone and piano (2000) * ''À la manière de Debussy'', for trombone and piano (2001) * ''À la manière de Vivaldi'', for trombone and piano (2002) * ''À la manière de Stravinsky'', for trombone and piano (2005) * ''À la manière de Brahms'', for trombone and piano (2011) * ''Musique à Curitiba'', for trombone solo and 16 trombones (????)

Discography

with Léo Ferré

* 1957: ''

Les Fleurs du mal ''Les Fleurs du mal'' (; en, The Flowers of Evil, italic=yes) is a volume of French poetry by Charles Baudelaire. ''Les Fleurs du mal'' includes nearly all Baudelaire's poetry, written from 1840 until his death in August 1867. First publish ...

'' * 1960: '' Paname'' * 1961: ''

Les Chansons d'Aragon ''Les Chansons d'Aragon'' (English: "''Songs of Aragon''") is an album by Léo Ferré, released in 1961 by Barclay Records. It is his second album dedicated to a poet, after Baudelaire's '' Les Fleurs du mal'' in 1957. Here, Ferré focuses on fo ...

'' * 1961: ''Récital à l'Alhambra'' (live) * 1962: '' La Langue française'' * 1964: '' Ferré 64'' * 1964: '' Verlaine et Rimbaud'' * 1965: ''Ni Dieu ni maître'' ( EP) * 1966: '' Léo Ferré 1916-19...'' * 1967: ''Cette chanson (La Marseillaise)'' * 1967: ''

Léo Ferré chante Baudelaire ''Léo Ferré chante Baudelaire'' (English: "''Léo Ferré sings Baudelaire''") is an album by Léo Ferré, released in 1967 by Barclay Records. It is his fourth LP dedicated to a poet, after a first Baudelaire effort in 1957 (''Les Fleurs du m ...

'' * 1969: ''

L'Été 68 ''L'Été 68'' (English: ''Summer of '68'') is an album by Léo Ferré, released in 1969 by Barclay Records. History Track listing All songs written and composed by Léo Ferré. ;Original LP Personnel * The orchestra consists of sessi ...

'' * 1969: '' Les Douze Premières Chansons de Léo Ferré'' * 1970: '' Amour Anarchie'' * 1972: ''

La Solitudine "La solitudine" (''"The Loneliness"'') is an Italian ballad recorded by pop singer Laura Pausini and released as her debut single by CGD in February 1993. The song is included in Pausini's self-titled first album, released on 18 May 1993. Paus ...

'' * 2003: ''Les Chansons interdites... et autres'' (recorded in 1961)

References

1932 births Living people People from Saint-Mandé Conservatoire de Paris alumni 20th-century French composers French music arrangers French film score composers Prix de Rome for composition French male film score composers 20th-century French male musicians {{france-composer-stub