Born in
Épinal, France, Peiffer was raised in a musical family, with his father and uncle playing the violin and the organ, respectively. Beginning to learn piano at age nine, he studied under
Pierre Maire, a student of
Nadia Boulanger, and quickly demonstrated his abilities by repeating long sections of classical works by ear. After winning the 1st Prize in Piano at the
Paris Conservatory, Peiffer began his professional career at the age of twenty, playing with
André Ekyan and
Django Reinhardt. During World War II, he joined the
French resistance after he witnessed the execution of a friend by the
Gestapo in the streets of Paris. Soon afterwards he was captured, and was incarcerated for over a year. In the early 1950s, he began a successful career, playing with
Django Reinhardt, leading his own quintet, composing film soundtracks, and achieving notice in the clubs of Paris,
Monte Carlo and
Nice, and eventually becoming nationally known. He moved to
Philadelphia in 1954 with his wife Corine and daughter Rebecca. The subsequent loss of his third daughter (his first was from a previous marriage with singer
Monique Dozo) profoundly affected him, resulting in "Poem for a Lonely Child".
Sumi Tonooka,
Tom Lawton, and
Don Glanden. His last major appearance was at the 1974 New York/Newport Festival at Carnegie Hall. He died on 7 September 1976, aged 53. A posthumous release, entitled
Formidable...!, that spans twenty years of his career, was released in 2005, produced by his student Don Glanden and son Stephen. ==Selected discography==