Double Bass | b. 1945

Henri Texier was born in Paris on January 27, 1945, started on piano at fifteen in Parisian nightclubs, and switched to double bass at sixteen after discovering Wilbur Ware's playing behind Thelonious Monk. He taught himself the instrument, formed his first free jazz group in 1965 inspired by Don Cherry and Ornette Coleman, and worked through the late 1960s with Jean-Luc Ponty, Michel Portal and François Jeanneau before joining Phil Woods's European Rhythm Machine from 1968 to 1972 alongside Daniel Humair. The Humair-Jeanneau-Texier trio of the late 1970s produced "Humair Jeanneau Texier" (Owl, 1979) and "Akagera" (JMS, 1980). He signed to Label Bleu in 1986 and built the most sustained body of his own work there, including the Romano-Sclavis-Texier African trilogy documented with photographer Guy Le Querrec and the Native American trilogy that began with "An Indian's Week" (Label Bleu, 1993). Texier drew a parallel between the genocide of Native Americans and the oppression of African Americans, finding a way into both through the jazz tradition that had come from that history. His Transatlantic Quartet in 1988 brought Joe Lovano, Steve Swallow and Aldo Romano together; his son Sébastien Texier joined as clarinettist and saxophonist in the early 1990s. He has continued recording and performing into his eighties. Texier remains active, aged 81.