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| Eddie Gale & Dick Griffin bring avant-garde to New England Eddie Gale & Dick Griffin with Equal Time will play Monday, October 2nd at Railroad Square Cinema, Waterville, ME and Tuesday, October 3rd at Studio AC at the Wentworth-Dennett School, Kittery, ME. In addition to his many recordings as a leader for Blue Note, Mapleshade, and others, trumpeter Eddie Gale has performed and recorded with Sun Ra, Cecil Taylor, and Larry Young. Trombonist Dick Griffin has several recordings under his own leadership, and his other recording credits include Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Abdullah Ibrahim, and McCoy Tyner. This show pairs these living legends with northeast-based creative improvising group Equal Time (Thom Keith-saxes, Mike Walsh-drums, and Tim Webb-bass). Presented by the Maine Jazz Alliance and Avant Coast. Don't miss it! In the early to mid '60s, trumpeter Eddie Gale performed and recorded with Sun Ra, Cecil Taylor (appearing on his famous recording Unit Structures), Booker Ervin, and Larry Young. Gale had the opportunity to know and sit in with John Coltrane on several occasions, including a memorable performance at The Half Note Club where Gale and John Gilmore played with the John Coltrane Quartet. Between 1968-69, Gale recorded two albums as a leader for Blue Note Records--Eddie Gale's Ghetto Music and Black Rhythm Happening. The music, which combined voices with multiple bass players and drummers, received rave reviews. Gale toured on the East coast with his 16-piece group which included on guitar his sister Joanne Stevens, who also wrote lyrics for some of the songs on both recordings. Gale continued to record and perform with Sun Ra through the '70s. In the '80s and '90s, he made a number of recordings as a leader for Roof Top Records and Mapleshade Records, including A Minute with Miles, which was voted one of the best records of 1993 by the NY Village Voice. His latest recording, Vision Festival X, NYC, has received wide acclaim from critics everywhere. Trombonist Dick Griffin spent several summers in the mid-1960s playing with Sun Ra's Arkestra. It was also during this period that he befriended Rahsaan Roland Kirk, and went on to perform on numerous recordings with Kirk, including The Inflated Tear, Rahsaan, Rahsaan, and Volunteered Slavery. In 1974, Griffin released his debut album as a leader, The Eighth Wonder, for Strata-East Records, one of the most successful independent jazz labels of that period. Griffin's second and third albums, Now is the Time: The Multiphonic Tribe (1978) and A Dream for Rahsaan (1986), received wide critical acclaim. Griffin taught music theory and the history of Jazz at Wesleyan University and later at SUNY-Old Westbury. He was also the recipient of several grants from the National Endowment for the Arts. As a composer, Griffin completed the World Vibration Suite, a work for a symphony orchestra and jazz quartet which was premiered by the Brooklyn Philharmonic. Throughout the '80s and '90s, Griffin performed as a sideman with the likes of Jimmy Heath, Frank Foster, Slide Hampton, Abdullah Ibrahim, Illinois Jacquet, Sun Ra, Hilton Ruiz, and Lionel Hampton. For the past few years, Griffin has performed more extensively with his own group, the Dick Griffin Organ Ensemble. In 2001, he played at the Uncool Jazz Festival in Switzerland with Charles Gayle. Griffin also continues to devote some of his time to painting, presenting exhibitions in both the U.S. and Europe. write your comments about the article :: © 2006 Jazz News :: home page |