Background
Barber was born John William Barber in Hornell, New York, near Rochester, in 1920.
Barber was born John William Barber in Hornell, New York, near Rochester, in 1920.
He started playing tuba in high school and studied at the Juilliard School of Music.
He is best known for his work with Miles Davis on albums such as Birth of the Cool, Sketches of Spain and Miles Ahead. After graduating, he travelled west to Kansas City, Missouri, where he played with the Kansas City Philharmonic and various ballet and theatre orchestras. He joined the United States Army in 1942 and played in Patton"s 7th army band for three years.
Barber was one of the first tuba players to play in a modern jazz style, playing solos and participating in intricate ensemble pieces.
He then worked in theatre pit orchestration of the King and I, Paradiso and the city center Ballet before joining up with Davis and Gil Evans in 1957 to record albums such as Sketches of Spain, Miles Ahead and Porgy and Bess. Barber also played on John Coltrane"s album Africa/Brass.
Barber completed a master"s degree from the Manhattan School of Music and became an elementary school music teacher at Copiague, New New York He continued to play where possible including with the Goldman Band.
In 1992, he recorded and toured with a nonet led by Gerry Mulligan, reworking material from Birth of the Cool.
From 1998 to 2004 he was part of The Seatbelts, New York musicians who played the music of the Japanese anime Cowboy Bebop. He died of heart failure in June 2007 in Bronxville, New New York
Barber became a founding member of Miles Davis"s nonet in 1949 in what became known as the Birth of the Cool recording sessions.