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.
[1] In the early 1950s, he began a successful career, playing with Django Reinhardt,[2] leading his own quintet, composing film soundtracks, and achieving notice in the clubs of Paris, Monte Carlo and Nice, and eventually becoming nationally known.
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".
During his first years in America, he achieved considerable success, performing at Carnegie Hall, Birdland, and the Newport Jazz Festival.