Richie Beirach, an American jazz pianist and composer, passed away last Monday, January 26 in southern Germany. He was 78.
Born in Brooklyn, Beirach collaborated with saxophonist David Liebman, beginning in the late 1960s. Additionally, he was celebrated as a soloist and collaborator. Later, Beirach settled in Leipzig, Germany where he taught jazz piano at the Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy Conservatory. He collaborated extensively with ECM producer Manfred Eicher.
Richie Beirach’s approach to jazz was influenced by classical music. In a recent Substack post, Ethan Iverson writes, “Beirach had not just the fire and a brilliant piano technique, but also a dissonant harmonic approach that embraced the modernist ethos of 20th-century composers like Bela Bartók, Igor Stravinsky, and Arnold Schoenberg.”
This can be heard in two works by Beirach which have become jazz standards, Leaving (1978) and Elm (1979).
Leaving
Elm
Gargoyles
Beirach’s Gargoyles is rhapsodic and hauntingly dissonant. This 1986 recording features a collaboration with saxophonist Dave Liebman.
Pendulum
Recordings
- Richie Beirach’s complete discography
Featured Image: “Richie Beirach performing at Bach Dancing & Dynamite Society, Half Moon Bay CA in the 1980s,” photograph by Brian McMillen