Towner Galaher Organ Trio LIVE album

GROOVE MASTER TOWNER GALAHER PAYS HOMAGE TO CLASSIC ORGAN TRIOS ON HIS FOURTH ALBUM

TOWNER GALAHER ORGAN TRIO LIVE

Coming April 7, 2023 on Rhythm Royale Records  

TOWNER GALAHER ORGAN TRIO LIVE, the newest album by drummer, composer, and bandleader TOWNER GALAHER, is an homage to the great jazz ensembles that were especially popular in the 1950s and 60s. This is Galaher’s fourth album as a leader and follows Uptown! (2012), Courageous Hearts (2009), and Panorama (2007).

Like LIVE, Uptown! was a paean to Hammond B-3 organ groups. It made it to the Top 10 on the JazzWeek radio chart, and All About Jazz said, “This five-piece aggregate seems to have a genuine connection that comes through in its playing; this makes Uptown! a delight to hear from start to finish.” However, unlike Uptown!, which included saxes and trumpet as well as the Hammond B-3, Galaher gets back to basics on LIVE with a traditional trio format that features LONNIE GASPERINI on organ and MARVIN HORNE on guitar, two top-notch, albeit unsung, New York City-based jazz artists.

Galaher wanted to take this album in a different direction from his previous releases. His earlier albums were showcases for his original compositions, but on LIVE, he includes five pieces composed by Gasperini as well as standards written by some of the top names in jazz organ music.

Galaher is a protean drummer adept at a multitude of styles. He plays 10 different grooves on LIVE’s 14 tracks, laying down a smorgasbord of rhythmic styles that range from boogaloo to straight-ahead swing to jazz waltz and beyond.

LIVE was recorded during the Covid lockdown at Daddy Jack’s in New London, Connecticut. Galaher relates, “Jack Chaplin, the owner of the club, was a bigger than life character. He loved jazz and jazz musicians and opened up the club during the lockdown just to use for recording sessions. However, it wasn’t open to the public.” Sadly, Chaplin died in 2021, and the club has been closed since. Because of the lockdown, this was a private event with a small number of family, friends and restaurant staff in attendance, but Galaher and the band played liked they were in front of a crowd. The set was not planned in advance, with Galaher calling the tunes. They recorded all 14 tracks in less than four hours, using the first take for all except “Fever,” for which the second take was used. Galaher, Gasperini, and Horne have been playing together for over 14 years and their chemistry is apparent from the opening number. Galaher says, “After sharing the bandstand for so many years, we’ve developed a kind of telepathy. We didn’t even need to rehearse for this recording. We are so familiar with each other’s style and approach, that we were locked in from the very first downbeat.”

The album opens with “One for McGriff,” composed by Gasperini. The tune, an homage to organ great Jimmy McGriff, is an upbeat, swinging blues shuffle. It’s the kind of tune you’d want to play on your car stereo as you’re cruising down the highway. The band switches gears on “Fever,” first recorded by Little Willie John, then later a smash hit for Peggy Lee, playing it as a medium tempo, straight-ahead swing. “Willow Weep for Me,” typically performed as a jazz ballad, is given an unusual uptempo jazz waltz groove. “Hot Barbecue” is a Jack McDuff composition. The band turns up the heat, riding on what Galaher calls a “New Orleans rhumba groove.”

“Norleans,” by Dr. Lonnie Smith, is based on a three-beat pulse, sometimes called a “tresillo.” The rhythm is a cornerstone of New Orleans R&B and funk. It is the kind of infectious rhythm you would hear at a second line parade after a New Orleans brass band leaves the cemetery or at Mardi Gras.

Galaher always plays at least one ballad on his recordings and his choice for this one is an instrumental version of the Billie Holiday classic, “Lover Man.” “Keep Talkin’,” another Gasperini tune, is a burning, uptempo blues shuffle. Galaher shows off his funky side on Lou Donaldson’s “Alligator Boogaloo.” The song was composed by Donaldson at the end of a recording date. The producer insisted he had 15 minutes left in the session, but Lou had run out of tunes, so he improvised it on the spot. It became his biggest hit.

“Lonnie’s Funk,” by Gasperini, is an old school R&B funk groove. On “I’m Walkin’,” made famous by Fats Domino, Galaher plays a 16th note snare drum pattern that also originated from the Crescent City Brass Bands, then swings the bridge. A real toe tapper! Gasperini recorded “North Beach Blues” on his album of the same name in 2009. It is a fast, edgy shuffle. The band really locks in on Gasperini’s ultra-funky “Little Bit of This, Little Bit of That.” Jimmy Smith’s “Mellow Mood” was originally recorded by Smith and Wes Montgomery. This version features some smoking guitar work by Horne who gets to stretch out here. The album closes with an alternate take of “One for McGriff” with more burning, soulful, and bluesy solos by Horne and Gasperini.

The Hammond B-3 organ could be found in almost every black church, and more than a few of the jazz masters started out playing gospel. There have been a number of organ trio recordings over the years, and it’s become a sub-genre of jazz -- a classic sound -- swingin’ funky, greasy, and bluesy. Galaher is an exceptional drummer, bandleader, and composer, and his cohorts on TOWNER GALAHER ORGAN TRIO LIVE deserve much wider recognition. The album is both an homage to the great trios of the past as well as an eminently listenable, toe-tapping addition to the catalog of outstanding organ trio records.

About Towner Galaher

Galaher was born in Portland, Oregon. He picked up drums at age nine after seeing the Beatles on The Ed Sullivan show. He was very dedicated to learning and playing and was able to practice six hours a day because he went to an alternative high school. He went straight from high school into the club scene and played all types of gigs for the next 11 years. A move to The Big Apple in 1986 enabled him to fully immerse himself in the world of jazz and eventually learn from and play and record with some of the great masters of the art form. His mentor in Portland was Mel Brown, who played jazz between tours with Diana Ross and previously for ten years with The Temptations and The Supremes. Galaher has been teaching music for over 40 years, including 21 years in New York City Public Schools. He studied jazz drumming with Headhunters drummer Mike Clark and then Afro-Cuban drumming with Frankie Malabe, Brazilian drumming with Duduka Da Fonseca, and New Orleans drumming with Ricky Sebastian. Galaher organically blends all those diverse rhythmic elements into his playing and composing.

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TOWNER GALAHER ORGAN TRIO LIVE is set for release on April 7, 2023 and will be available everywhere.

Online:

Townergalahermusic.com

Facebook.com/towner.galaher.7