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Hal Galper Trio: The Zone: Live At The Yardbird Suite
by Dan McClenaghan
Pianist Hal Galper has rounded out a career spanning five decades with his stint at Origin Records, beginning with Furious Rubato (2007) and wrapping things up--or so it was rumored--with 2018's Cubist. Most of these are trio affairs featuring bassist Jeff Johnson and drummer John Bishop, with Cubist adding saxophonist Jerry Bergonzi to the mix. All of them respresent Galper's quest for the perfection of the elastic approach to tempo called the rubato style. And it could be credibly said ...
read moreHal Galper: Cubist
by Paul Rauch
Hal Galper has been in the jazz limelight now for over a half century, establishing his trademark sound in more traditional settings with alto saxophone luminaries Cannonball Adderly, and Phil Woods, and trumpet legend Chet Baker. Yet in the new century, Galper has turned the piano trio concept on its collective ear, something that hadn't taken place in the jazz universe since Bill Evans entered the fray with his conversational approach to the trio with Scott LaFaro, and ...
read moreHal Galper Quartet: Cubist
by Dan McClenaghan
Count pianist Hal Galper as another veteran rising like the brightest of stars into a compelling late career zenith. An alumni of saxophone great Phil Woods' 1980s group, Galper found his inspiration of late with an exploration of the Rubato Style of playing, with its flexible approach to tempo and the disassembling of melodies and putting them, slightly askew, back together again, somewhat in the mode of the Cubist painters. Think Picasso, an image of a human figure in profile, ...
read moreHal Galper And the Youngbloods: Live At The Cota Jazz Festival
by Dan McClenaghan
The trio recordings released by pianist Hal Galper between 2006 and 2014--six discs, all but one on Origin Records--plowed fresh ground. Each disc dug deeply into the “Rubato" form. Taken as a whole--from 2006's Agents Of Change (Fabola Records) through 2014's O's Time (Origin Records)--the full series represents a monumental, sharply focused project that, for those who listened, redefined the piano trio. Live At The Cota Jazz Festival features Galper still riding the wave of a fifty ...
read moreHal Galper Trio: O's Time
by Maurizio Zerbo
O's Time è un ragguardevole CD che ci fa ritrovare Hal Galper in splendida forma e ne documenta sia la ricchezza espressiva che la rilevante creatività. Emblema di una particolare schiera di jazzisti, i musician's musicians, Galper propone un affascinante viaggio di fantasiosa esplorazione di alcuni standard. Senza cali di tensione, il fiorito interplay del suo trio è il volano di un percorso vibrante, fatto di limpidi slanci melodici ed esuberante forza ritmica. Le sei tracce proposte ...
read moreHal Galper Trio: O's Time
by Dan McClenaghan
It's hard to be innovative in the piano trio format. The last big change happened in the late fifties and early sixties, with pianist Bill Evans' groundbreaking trio featuring bassist Scott LaFaro and drummer Paul Motian. The democratization of input and interplay changed the trio game, and countless groups have worked on refining that Evans approach ever since. A more recent development has been bombast and the inclusion of rock and poplar tunes into the jazz piano trio endeavor--with varying ...
read moreHal Galper Trio: Airegin Revisited
by Dan McClenaghan
Hal Galper's Airegin Revisited is exhilarating. The pianist has been working at his artistry for more than a half century, and he is moving surely into the “elder statesman of jazz" category, riding the furious wave of several distinctive and idiosyncratic trio recordings. Galper, like alto saxophonist Lee Konitz and pianist Martial Solal, has gone deeper into the music than seems possible, taking a great many standards and unleashing them, reshaping the familiar tunes with his unwavering vision into a ...
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