Jean-Michel Defaye

Jean-Michel Defaye (18 September 1932 – 1 January 2025) was a French pianist, composer, arranger and conductor known for his collaboration with French poet and singer-songwriter Léo Ferré.

Defaye was born in Saint-Mandé, Val-de-Marne, near Paris, on 18 September 1932. At aged ten he entered the Paris Conservatoire and completed his musical training in theory, piano and composition, taking in Nadia Boulanger's accompaniment class. In his early years, he was interested in jazz. Defaye's primary instrument was the piano, but he also played trombone and trumpet. He attended the composition classes of Darius Milhaud and Tony Aubin. In 1952 he won second prize of the Grand Prix de Rome; and the following year he won the Lili Boulanger Prize of Harvard and the second prize in composition for the Belgian Queen Elisabeth Competition.

As a composer he wrote mostly for brass, especially trombone; he wrote pieces for trombone and piano in the style of classical composers such as Bach, Brahms, Debussy, Schumann, Stravinsky and Vivaldi. He composed chamber music with brass instruments, pieces for competitions, concertos for clarinet, saxophone, trumpet and trombone, and many educational pieces. His writing was often influenced by jazz.

Defaye wrote several film scores, including Pouic-Pouic. As an arranger, he worked for decades with singer-songwriter Léo Ferré. He also collaborated with Juliette Gréco, Zizi Jeanmaire and Les Branquignols.

Defaye died on 1 January 2025, at the age of 92.

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