Eric Gale

This article is about Eric Gale ) the jazz guitarist, not Eric Gales (b. 1975) the current blues guitarist.

Eric Gale (b 20 September 1938, Brooklyn, New York - d 25 May 1994, Baja California, Mexico) was a leading American jazz and session guitarist.

In the twenties and thirties, when big bands thrived, there was no better training ground for a Jazz Musician. A well-oiled swing band comprised 16 or so musicians who had to be technically skillful, disciplined, and articulate. The latter trait was a extra importance because solos seperated the stars from the bit because players; an expectional soloist eventually moved on to head his own band and group. Most of the successful band leaders, men whose tone and style was as familiar as a Fortune 500 logo, started as backround players. Today, only a few big bands manage to get work on a regular basis, and that wonderful training ground is no longer there for young musicians, but there is something else: session work.

When he was young and growing up in Brooklyn, Eric Gale dreamed of making records. An aspiring bass player, he switched to guitar at the age of 12 because it was easier to carry, but he listened mostly to horn players. Later Gale would teach himself how to play a few horn instruments, but his focus remained n the guitar. It was the fifties, a decade that saw the big bands dwindle to a precious few; rhythm and blues was thriving, and the electric guitar was deemed the perfect companion for deep throated, funky saxaphones. Although he majored in chemestry at Niagara University, Gale was determined to pursue a musical career, and it was during his school years that he began contributing to accompaniments for such stars as Maxine Brown, the Drifters, Jesse Belvin, the Flamingos, and Baby Washington. As he honed his skills, Gale began to attract the attention of such superstars as King Curtis and Jimmy Smith, who recommended him for studio work.

Studio work is what freelance musicians and singers do when they called upon to accompany featured performers at recording session concerts .The term "studio musician" is sometimes used in a derogatory sense. To say that a band sounds as if it is comprised of studio musicians is often to imply that the musicians is often to imply that the music is skillfully and precisely executed, but lacking emotion. To be a successful studio musician (or "session player", if you will) one must first be technically proficient and a good reader. Producers want performers who can come into a session, quickly grasp the task at hand, perform with as few re-takes as possible, and finish before overtime has to be charged. A good studio player--and that includes back up singers--arrives on time, easily adapts to any musical idiom, and knows all the cliches of the day. There are studio musicians and singers who never emerge from he backround; they can go through ife performing on records, soundtracks, and commercials while maintaining absolute anonymity. If they are good, producers and featured artists will single them out and use them repeatedly. Thus--in such cities as Los Angeles, Memphis, Nashville, Chicago, and New York, where there is a great deal of recording activity--one finds on elite inner circle of star musicians. These are men and women who not only have the expected skills attributes, but also show a good measure of creativity. One might think of such an inner circle as a band unto itself, for its members are ofen called upon to work the same gig. Indeed, such groups of star freelancers have been known to organize themselves into a working band. One of the most successful studio musician combos was Stuff. It had its nucleus in bassist Gordon Edward's Encyclopedia of Soul group, which had made occasional apperances for close of ten years but never really caught on. In 1976, with a new name and a modified, updated style, Stuff captured the imagination of fans on both sides of the pop/jazz fence. That's not surprising, for Stuff's members represented New York's session elite, men who knew every nook it's founders, and he contributed greatly to the shaping of its curiously prepossesing, lubricous sound. Stuff quickly became a sought-after club and concert attraction, staying together until the end of he decade, and left a legacy of successful Warner Brothers albums. If you cherish the smooth, slinky soud of Stuff, this release will delight you, for two of its prominent members, Richard Tee and Steve Gadd, also appear on these selections. The recordings and live appearances with Stuff gae Gale's career a considerable boost, but he was already a spotlight player by 1977, when the group's first album was released. He had made his recording debut as a leader four years earlier--while a member of the CTI label's house band (a sort of musical repertory company)--and his distinctive style had captured the interest of some prominent artists and producers, who featured him on their recordings. At that time, the list of artists was as impressive as it was long; it included Little Richard, Bob James, Joe Cocker, Ron Carter, Paul Butterfield, Ashford and Simpson, Donny Hathaway, Al Kooper, Kenny Logins, George Benson, and Patti Austin. Later would come sessions with Carly Simon, Billy Joel, Marvin Gaye, Frank Sinatra, Diana Ross, The Jackson Five, The Supremes, Michael Jackson (The Bad abum especially), Esther Phillips, Herbie Mann, Van Morrison, Billy Joel, Lena Horne, Quincy Jones, and Paul Simon (in whose film, One Trick Pony, Gale also appears), and a stint with Aretha Franklin's stage band--not to mention more albums under his own leadership, which brings us to two of many releases.

This set combines two popular Columbia albums--Ginseng Woman and Multiplication--produced by Bob James, whom Gale worked with extensively at CTI, and released in 1977 and 1978, resectively. They reflect Gale's broad stylistic scope and aptly demonstrate the stuff (as it were) that brought him front and center. Before signing with Columbia, Gale spent some four years in semi-retirement at his Ohio farm. He also traveled to Jamaica where he absorbed reggae rhythms. The Jamaican impressions and, indeed, Gale's ancestry come to the fore in such selections as the gentle , lilting "Red Ground", the lush, vocally accented "Sara Smile", and the lively , whimsical "De Rabbit". Enhanced by brass and vocal groups, the recordings have a broader sound than Stuff produced, but the bouncy ambiance of Stuff is ever present, underscoring Eric Gale's influence on that group. "Gingense Woman", "Morning Glory", "East End, West End", "Thumper", and "Multiplication" are given the kind of lithe treatment that made Gale--fusion's influencial style player, a combination of funky beats and infectious accents--the nooks and crannies that coddle FM receivers. There is also a lovely ballad, "She is My Lady", and a couple of wonderful spiritual numbers that probably reflect Gale's childhood in Brooklyn. "Sometime I Feel LIke A Motherless Child" is sintroduced as an impressionistic portrait of the old spiritual, but it soon shifts gear and boogies on down the line to a funky beat that is clearly unorthodox in this context, but seems surprisingly appropriate when Hank Crawford's alto saxophone and Gale's guitar testify. "Oh! Mary Don't You Weep" takes us back to church for a body-swaying, slow-rocking sanctified experience, complete with choir and Richard Tee's old-fashioned, nitty-gritty gospel piano. Gale's bluesy guitar commentary is the icing on this cake.

--Chris Albertson

 Contributing Editor
    Stereo Review