The melancholy "I Guess I'll Hang My Tears Out to Dry" has long been a favorite of vocalists. One can hear what Hal is talking about in the trio's breezy setting of the popular standard "Alice in Wonderland," which is typically played as a subdued waltz tempo. We're always surprised playing rubato about what comes next, we're not playing with intention, we've taken the ego out of the equation and letting it take us where it wants to go." Plus it's not fun doing unless it's magic. ![]() Miles Davis' secret wasn't picking instruments, it was picking personalities, characters that produced the magic. John has got a style that no else can play in, the only one close was Rashied Ali. Jeff is always a sixteenth note behind me, it's almost like he knows what I'm going to play next. The mind reading that goes on when we're playing is just phenomenal. They read each other so well, you want a rhythm section that's got magic. I've been listening to John and I have no idea what he's doing or how he does it. But John had never played this way before, it opened up something new for him that he's really excited about and wants to follow now, because he's a total professional musician who's played it all. "When I started the trio again a few years ago, Jeff and John had been playing together for twenty years, so they were well mated. It's easy to hear the enthusiasm in Hal's voice about playing with Jeff and John. Galper soon reunited with Jeff Johnson (the pianist's regular bassist for seven years during the 1990s), who recommended drummer John Bishop. He initially hired bassist Tony Marino and drummer Billy Mintz to play his new style, recording the CD Agents of Change. ![]() When I realized I had been doing that all those years, it gave me a sense of confidence that I didn't have before." It's been there all the time and kept developing, but I never focused on it. I'd suddenly break into rubato playing in the middle of a solo. Yet the seed had been planted long ago, as the pianist recalled, "I was kind of surprised at my direction, so I went over my recordings to do a retrospective and I noticed how often I would go into that mode for short periods, but I used it judiciously. I had no idea what it was, but felt that I'd never find anybody to play this with." Over time, Galper transformed himself by adapting his playing style, strictly focusing on playing rubato, a method of bending and shaping tempo, harmony and melody in a way to create new possibilities as his trio collectively improvised. This sort of crept out, I didn't plan it and I thought this feels really right, really good. I usually found every way of avoiding it all day long until 11:30 pm, then I'd go to the piano. "I felt that I needed to get to another technical level, so I 'got in the shed,' doing very heavy practicing. So Galper broke up his group in 2000 and experimented over a several year stretch. The audience would like it and it was a real problem for me." I had so many influences over the years, I could play like anybody, imitate anybody and have fun doing it. He explained to me in a 2011 interview: "The reason I started the trio was to create a laboratory for myself to find out how I wanted to play. Yet Galper was not satisfied with being a top bop pianist. The pianist has long proved himself as an innovative composer as well, in addition to his brilliant work as a sideman with Chet Baker, Sam Rivers, Cannonball Adderley, Lee Konitz and especially his decade with Phil Woods. That's not for Hal Galper, who has the heart of an explorer and the insight to make even familiar songs sound fresh to seasoned ears every time. Some veteran jazz musicians get to a point where they find a style and don't stray far from it, stick to a set repertoire and play it in an accomplished, though predictable manner. I was pleased that Galper shared my interview transcription on his website, which can be found here. With so much great material from the recent interview, all I had to do was immerse myself into his provocative, fascinating music. ![]() 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. 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.
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