Live at Vartan's
The Hal Galper Trio......Fabola Records
W/ Steve Ellington, Jeff Johnson .
1. My Romance,2. Holiday For Strings,
3. Misty,
4. Bye Bye Blackbird,
5. More Or Less Four,
6. Ghost Of A Chance,
7. Whisper Not,
8.Cottontail.
5/4 Magazine
Jay Thomas Hal Galper‘s CD was recorded live at Denver‘s new Vartan Jazz Club and has the looseness and fire associated with a club date. Galper has great hands, and if his ears were any larger he could fly to the gigs on his own. Seriously, this jazz trio stuff is all about listening closely to one another.
The CD is comprised of standards but only as a point of departure. This is adventuresome music. Although Hal evokes Bill Evans, he is a little harder edged and has more blues and bop in his vocabulary.
Steve Ellington is a very quirky drummer with the swinging thing happening plus a textural style that can go into an extra sensory mode. He is never on automatic pilot. He plays compositionally and makes it sound like spontaneous arrangements.
Great pianist and drummers are essential to a trio setting but its the bass that supplies the glue that holds it all together. Jeff (Johnson) plays superbly....
