René Urtreger (born July 6, 1934) is a French

bebop Bebop or bop is a style of jazz developed in the early-to-mid-1940s in the United States. The style features compositions characterized by a fast tempo, complex chord progressions with rapid chord changes and numerous changes of key, instrum ...

pianist.

Early life

Urtreger was born in Paris and began his piano studies at the age of four, studying privately first, and then at the Conservatory. He studied with an orientation toward jazz, playing in a small Parisian club, the Sully d' Auteuil. Conducted by

Hubert Damisch Hubert Damisch (28 April 1928 – 14 December 2017), was a French philosopher specialised in aesthetics and art history, and professor at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (EHESS) in Paris from 1975 until 1996. Damisch studied at ...

, the Sully boasted an orchestra of talented students including

Sacha Distel Alexandre "Sacha" Distel (29 January 1933 – 22 July 2004) was a French singer, guitarist, songwriter and actor who had hits with a cover version of " Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head" in 1970, which reached No 10 in the UK Charts, " Scoubidou ...

and Louis Viale. In 1953, Urtreger won first prize in a piano contest for amateurs, and from that moment decided to be a professional musician.

Later life and career

In a Parisian concert in 1954, he accompanied two great American expatriates: saxophonist

Don Byas Carlos Wesley "Don" Byas (October 21, 1912 – August 24, 1972) was an American jazz tenor saxophonist, associated with swing and bebop. He played with Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Art Blakey, and Dizzy Gillespie, among others, and also led ...

and trumpeter

Buck Clayton Wilbur Dorsey "Buck" Clayton (November 12, 1911 – December 8, 1991) was an American jazz trumpeter who was a member of Count Basie's orchestra. His principal influence was Louis Armstrong, first hearing the record "Confessin' That I Love You" ...

. Their collaboration in the "Salon du Jazz" became one of the most highly requested French performances by the American musicians that toured the French capital. After serving in the military from 1955 to 1957, Urtreger would play in a club on the

left bank In geography, a bank is the land alongside a body of water. Different structures are referred to as ''banks'' in different fields of geography, as follows. In limnology (the study of inland waters), a stream bank or river bank is the terrai ...

of the Seine, the famous

Club Saint-Germain The Club Saint-Germain was a jazz club located at 13 rue Saint-Benoît in the 6e arrondissement de Paris. History The club was opened in 1947 by Freddie Chauvelot, Christian Casadesus, Paul Lavigne, Marc Doelnitz, and Boris Vian