Jazz Articles about John O'Gallagher

About John O'Gallagher

Album Review

Andrew Rathbun Large Ensemble: Atwood Suites

Read "Atwood Suites" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky

by Dan Bilawsky
June 25, 2018

The marriage between jazz and poetry is having a true moment in the present artistic sphere. The two have long mixed and mingled, oft proving sympathetic and symbiotic in their multidirectional moves, unique cadences, and improvisational capacities. But never before has the connection been so strong and centralized. With drummer Matt Wilson's triumphant encounter with the work of Carl Sandburg, soprano saxophonist Jane Ira Bloom's exploration of Emily Dickinson's writing, saxophonist Benjamin Boone's collaboration with Philip Levine, and a handful ...

Album Review

John O'Gallagher Trio: Live In Brooklyn

Read "Live In Brooklyn" reviewed by Roger Farbey

by Roger Farbey
January 23, 2017

Over the past 25 years, altoist and New York resident, John O'Gallagher has worked with the likes of Joe Henderson, Maria Schneider, Kenny Wheeler, Billy Hart and Chris Cheek amongst many others. German born but long-time New Yorker bassist Johannes Weidenmueller has played with the Hank Jones trio, the John Abercrombie quartet, Joe Lovano and many others. Born in California, in-demand drummer Mark Ferber has worked with Lee Konitz, Don Byron, Fred Hersch, Norah Jones and Steve Swallow to name ...

Album Review

John O’ Gallagher: The Honeycomb

Read "The Honeycomb" reviewed by Maurizio Zerbo

by Maurizio Zerbo
March 5, 2016

Da Charlie Parker ad Ornette Coleman, fino al jazz groove contemporaneo. Si potrebbe definire così l'itinerario del viaggio sonoro proposto dall'alto sassofonista newyorchese John O'Gallagher. Il free-bop messo in atto dal suo affiatatissimo trio è sintetizzato da “Extralogical Railman," che rielabora un celebre standard ("Relaxin' at Camarillo") di Bird. Del nucleo tematico preesistente viene cambiato tutto o quasi dopo averne enunciato brevemente la melodia. Con un tempo dinamicamente serratissimo, la nuova versione viaggia ad altezze, velocità ed ...

Album Review

John O'Gallagher: The Honeycomb

Read "The Honeycomb" reviewed by Mark Corroto

by Mark Corroto
February 15, 2015

What if jazz was rock-and-roll? Not the corporate-halftime show-American Idol rock, but the dangerous music your parents (maybe grandparents) were afraid of. Remember, there was a time when jazz was threatening. Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie startled listeners with their revolutionary 'bebop,' before Ornette Coleman and Albert Ayler caused fist fights and mini-riots. Jazz has since been tamed and put on display in Lincoln Center, safe for listeners to consume unscathed. Be warned, there still are some wild ...

Album Review

John O'Gallagher: The Honeycomb

Read "The Honeycomb" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan

by Dan McClenaghan
February 14, 2015

Bring up the trio format, one with an alto saxophone, bass and drums, and Ornette Coleman, alto man extraordinaire, might come to mind, especially those fantastic Blue Note Records sets, The Ornette Coleman Trio at the Golden Circle Stockholm, Volume One and Two (1965). In fact, alto saxophonist John O'Gallagher, on The Honeycomb, has a lyricism not unlike Coleman's, a similar sharp, keening tone. Add to this a geometrical compositional structuring to the tunes, and a predominance from Gallagher's horn ...

Live Review

John O'Gallagher Trio at Triskel Arts Center, Cork

by Ian Patterson
March 27, 2014

John O'Gallagher Trio Triskel Arts Center Cork, Ireland March 22, 2014 Had there been a stage invasion--a historically rare occurrence at a jazz gig--saxophonist John O'Gallagher's trio, armed with its sticks, wood and metal--and with the ace up its sleeves of the high ground--would no doubt have repelled the waves. This, alas, was not a well attended gig. In fact, had the trio played an encore it could feasibly have dedicated one song per ...

Album Review

John O'Gallagher: The Anton Webern Project

Read "The Anton Webern Project" reviewed by C. Michael Bailey

by C. Michael Bailey
June 11, 2013

Here's to avant-garde jazz. Unruly and ill-behaved, the seeds planted by saxophonists Ornette Coleman and John Coltrane, and carried forward by reed multi-instrumentalist Anthony Braxton and melded with trumpeter Miles Davis's Post-bop, gave rise to a brand of jazz that, while not the complete chaos of free jazz, nevertheless possessed such an inventive spirit that begged the listener to hear “what comes next." Layer this spirit with a cogent theme and an entirely new dimension to the music is revealed. ...