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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:
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