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Jazz Articles about Hal Galper
Hal Galper Trio: Trip the Light Fantastic
by Ken Dryden
This liner note assignment was very special to me, as it followed a phone interview that I did with Hal Galper that was a cover feature. Galper was ecstatic when it was published and called me one afternoon, exclaiming that the release date for his new CD was being moved up and he didn't have time to writer the liner notes, so he asked me if I was interested. With so much great material from the recent interview, all I ...
read moreHal Galper Quintet: Live at the Berlin Philharmonic 1977
by Paul Rauch
Sullivan County, New York, is a long way from the grind of the jazz scene in New York City. For iconic pianist Hal Galper, it has been home for some forty five years. The area has long drawn artists attracted to its rural lifestyle, and quick access to the city. For Galper, his move represented a bit of a repose lifestyle-wise, after spending many years on the road and in the studio with the likes of Chet Baker, Cannonball Adderly ...
read moreHal Galper: Ivory Forest Redux
by Paul Rauch
There are a myriad of reasons as to why two musicians may have a special chemistry. They may be aesthetic pertaining to style, or philosophical in terms of what direction their personal musical journeys are headed. For pianist Hal Galper and guitarist John Scofield, two recordings on the German Enja label in 1979 and 1980 demonstrated in no uncertain terms, that the two were well grounded in musical paths that while being decidedly different, coalesced peacefully in a hub of ...
read moreHal Galper Trio: Invitation to Openness
by Paul Rauch
Two and a half hours outside of New York City, the tiny Delaware River town of Callicoon, New York is home to little more than three thousand people. On Upper Main Street, Rafter's Tavern has been a part of this upstate hamlet since the late nineteenth century. In current times, this local eatery, bar and music venue welcomes in forty five year local resident and jazz piano legend Hal Galper and his trio for a weekly matinee performance. Bassist Tony ...
read moreHal Galper Trio: Invitation To Openness
by Dan McClenaghan
Pianist Hall Galper turned away from the life of touring in 2000, and eased into the shed," to work on some innovative ideas that would change the shape of the piano trio. Rubato is where he went--a style of playing that stretches time, making it flexible, unpredictable and free. It takes special trio mates to assist in this, and he found them in his East Coast Trio, with bassist Tony Marino and drummer Billy Mintz, eventually, the group responsible for ...
read moreHal Galper Quintet: Live At The Berlin Philharmonic 1977
by Dan McClenaghan
It must be gratifying to accomplish everything you set out to do. Pianist Hal Galper says he has done just that. And, after a career that included work with trumpeter Chet Baker and saxophonists Cannonball Adderley and Stan Getz, along with a ten year stint in saxophonist Phil Woods' band (1980-1990), followed by ten years of touring and recording with his own trio, that claim would have been a valid one then, before the dawn of the new millennium. But ...
read moreHal Galper: Adventures In The Zone
by Paul Rauch
The career of Hal Galper has earned the pianist acclaim as both a performer and educator. Perhaps most importantly, it has drawn attention to his contributions to the music as a true innovator. While other pianists of his era gained more recognition, Galper sought out a career path where acclaim would be genuine among his peers and his audience, and not measured by the value of his name and the balance of his bank account. Now at the ...
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