Clarinetist, flutist and saxophonist Jimmy Giuffre (1921), a former member of Shorty Rogers' group, opted for a piano-less trio, first with guitarist Jim Hall and bassist Ralph Pena, the The Jimmy Giuffre 3 (december 1956), debuting his signature tune The Train and the River and the Crawdad Suite, then with Hall and trombonist Bob Brookmeyer on Western Suite (december 1958), titled after its four-movement title-track.
In between he had shown his skills as a lyrical composer with the folkish compositions of Tangents In Jazz (june 1955), performed with trumpeter Jack Sheldon, bassist Ralph Pena and drummer Artie Anton, and the Seven Pieces (march 1959), alternating on clarinet, tenor and baritone sax, with guitarist Jim Hall and bassist Red Mitchell (Happy Man, Princess).
His skills as an architect of intimate chamber jazz were proven by the solos, duets and trios of The Jimmy Giuffre Clarinet (november 1956), notably the dissonant The Side Pipers for three flutes and drums, as well as by the pieces for four overdubbed tenor saxes (all played by Giuffre), either "solo" or accompanied by other instruments, of The Four Brothers Sound (september 1958), as well as by the austere Piece for Clarinet and Strings (july 1960) and by the large-scale Pharoah and Suspensions, that debuted on Gunther Schuller's Music for Brass (june 1956).
All of Giuffre's directions merged in his trio with pianist Paul Bley and bassist Steve Shallow, that developed a meditative and minimal free-jazz style with an elastic concept of time. They progressed towards a new art of sculpting sound from Fusion (march 1961), notably Emphasis, to Thesis (august 1961), that contained the counterpoint wizardry of Giuffre's Sonic and Flight and Carla Bley's Ictus, to the impressionist Free Fall (november 1962) that explored soundscapes for clarinet solo, for clarinet and bass and for trio (ranging from two to ten minutes), at the border between free-jazz and classical music.
It took ten years for Giuffre to resume this program of intimate zen-like atmospheres: Night Dance (november 1971), alternating on clarinet, flute and tenor sax with bassist Kiyoshi Tokunaga and percussionist Randy Kaye, Music for People, Birds, Butterflies & Mosquitos (december 1972), Quiet Song (november 1974) with Paul Bley on piano and Bill Connors on guitar.
Dragonfly (january 1983), Quasar (may 1985) and Liquid Dancers (april 1989) were representative of the Jimmy Giuffre 4 (Peter Levin on electronic keyboards, plus bass and percussion), that basically adapted his cool jazz to the age of ambient music.
Conversations with a Goose (may 1993) reunited him with Bley and Swallow.

Giuffre died in 2008.

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