Claude Bolling

Born in Cannes, France on April 10, 1930, Claude Bolling was a jazz pianist, composer, arranger, and conductor. Initially interested in learning to play the trumpet, his mother convinced him to study the piano. As a child prodigy studying under pianist/trumpeter Marie-Louise ‘Bob’ Colin, she noticed his gift for improvisation and encouraged him to move to Paris. In 1945, Bolling won the Hot Club de France amateur tournament and passed his entrance exam to the Society of Authors, Composers, and Publishers of Music (SACEM). After taking lessons from Germaine Moulier, Léo Chauliac, Maurice Duruflé, and André Hodeir, he began his military service. After completing his time in the military, he became a studio musician and live sideman for jazz greats like Roy Eldridge, Lionel Hampton, Buck Clayton and many others. In the mid 1950s, he began his recording career as a solo artist as well as a film composer. His catalog includes albums such as Rolling with Bolling (1957), Original Ragtime (1967), and Suite for Flute and Jazz Piano Trio (with Jean-Pierre Rampal/1975). This album became an enormous success in the U.S. and remained in the Top 40 on Billboard’s Classical Albums chart for nearly 10 years. Bolling was just as prolific as a film composer, scoring such films as The Hands of Orlac (1960), Borsalino (1970), Daisy Town (1971), To Catch a Spy (1971), Borsalino & Co. (1974), La Ballade des Dalton (1978), The Awakening (1980), and Chance or Coincidence (1998). Bolling remained active in the music industry for the remainder of his life. Claude Bolling died on December 29, 2020 at the age of 90.