Autobiography and Discography, covering the Life and Work of Chris Barber

1. The Autobiography of Chris Barber"Jazz Me Blues"

2. A Life in Music: The CHRIS BARBER  DISCOGRAPHY 1949-2009
    compiled by Gerard Bielderman & Julian Purser

Jazz Me Blues / The Autobiography of Chris Barber
Chris Barber with Alyn Shipton  /  released March 2014  /  equinox  ISBN 978-1 84553-088-4

This is the official autobiography of Chris Barber, packed with great stories of Chris Barber and the band and a section of 16 pages with photographs.

Please read more at the publishers website

We have an own short review on this website

A Life in Music: The CHRIS BARBER  DISCOGRAPHY 1949-2009
compiled by Gerard Bielderman & Julian Purser

The legendary Chris Barber Discography has been updated and covers now a period of 60 years of the musical life of Chris Barber.

Gerard Bielderman and Julian Purser († 2009) have again done a fantastic work. Read below Ed Jackson's review of the former 1949-2001 issue.

The new issue is in format A 5 with a white metal ring binder and has now 172 pages. Included are also the CD's on the GB records label.

The price incl. postage is € 20.00 for European buyers and € 25.00 for buyers outside Europe.

Please take note that the discography will not be sold via this website. For all requests please contact Gerard Bielderman who gives you all further information and payment details. You will find Gerard Bielderman's address on the bottom of this page.

(August 2010)
A Life in Music: The CHRIS BARBER DISCOGRAPHY 1949-2001, Compiled by Gerard Bielderman & Julian Purser
Review by Ed Jackson
A Life in Music: The Chris Barber Discography 1949-2001 is the most recent (4th edition, December 2001) version of a work that has been in progress since 1976. Well-known (and prolific!) Dutch discographer, Gerard Bielderman, has joined forces with his British colleague, official Chris Barber archivist Julian Purser, to produce this impressive discography.

Click to see a full-screen version
The book begins with short introductions written by Gerard and Julian, and continues with two essays ("The Chris Barber Story" as told in 1965, and a second, untitled, piece in German), liberally illustrated with photographs (several never before published) from almost every stage of the band's history. At the heart of the book, of course, is the discography itself, an amazing 74-page detailed listing of every recording which the Chris Barber band recorded and on which Chris himself played between the first sessions of October, 1949 and the Misty Morning concert CD of December 2000. Each entry (usually one per studio recording session or recorded live concert) gives the leader of the session, where and when it was recorded, and the personnel (complete with instrumentation on the tracks recorded during that session!). Then the tunes and songs themselves are listed, together with details about labels, catalogue numbers, and so on.* As an example shown to the left, I've chosen the page that lists recordings from January 9 to March 9, 1955, which include the famous second Festival Hall concert released and re-released numerous times on the Decca and London labels, and most recently on the Lake Records 2-CD set, The Complete Decca Session 19654/55 (LACD141/142).

 
Pat Halcox & Gerard Bielderman
At the end of the book is a very useful (not just for cross-referencing purposes) list of record titles organized by format (10-inch LPs, 12-inch LPs, CDs, etc.), a page showing how and when the band's personnel changed, an index of titles, and finally a list of Chris Barber compositions.

I cannot imagine that any serious Barber fan would want to be without this absolutely indispensable resource. You can purchase it (or any of many more discographies of European Tradtional Jazz) by contacting:
Gerard Bielderman
Leie 18
8032 ZG Zwolle
Netherlands
E-mail: gerard.bielderman@telfort.nl
* In this edition of the discography, not all issues of LPs, EPs and singles are mentioned. After each title one finds the original issue plus all (where known) CD issues.

The cover and sample page shown above and on the pages to which they are linked are Copyright © Gerard Bielderman and Julian Purser 2001 and are reproduced with their permission.
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