Bernard Vitet

Who was Bernard Vitet?

Bernard Vitet was a French trumpetist, multi-instrumentist and composer, co-founder of the first free jazz band in France together with François Tusques, Michel Portal Unit and Un Drame Musical Instantané with Jean-Jacques Birgé and Francis Gorgé in 1976.

Born in Paris, France, Vitet was involved in the early fusion of jazz and contemporary music with Bernard Parmegiani and Jean-Louis Chautemps. In the 1960s, he accompanied singers such as Serge Gainsbourg, Barbara, Yves Montand, Claude François, Brigitte Bardot, Marianne Faithfull, Colette Magny, and Brigitte Fontaine. He played with jazz musicians such as Lester Young, Archie Shepp, Anthony Braxton, Don Cherry, Chet Baker, the Art Ensemble of Chicago, Steve Lacy, Gato Barbieri, Jean-Luc Ponty, and Martial Solal. In his early years, he performed with Django Reinhardt, Gus Viseur, Eric Dolphy, and Albert Ayler.

Under his own name he recorded Surprise-partie avec Bernard Vitet, La Guêpe on texts by Francis Ponge, Mehr Licht!, and about 200 other records with the aforementioned, plus Jean-Claude Fohrenbach, Georges Arvanitas, Sunny Murray, Michel Pascal, Alan Silva, Alexander von Schlippenbach, Hubert Rostaing, Alix Combelle, Ivan Jullien, Christian Chevalier, Jef Gilson, Jack Diéval, Jac Berrocal, Hélène Sage and 17 albums with Un drame musical instantané. In 1995, he co-signs the songs of Carton with Birgé, with whom he collaborates on music for films, exhibitions, and CD-Roms.