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Eric
Gale (born on September 20, 1938, of Barbadian parents, in Brooklyn,
NY,) recorded over 500 albums as sideman, backing such stars as Aretha
Franklin, King Curtis, Dianna Ross, Paul Simon, Lena Horne, Michel
Legrand, Quincy Jones, Roberta Flack, Gladys Knight & The Pips,
Joe Cocker, Carly Simon, Van Morrison, Milton Nascimento, Billy Joel,
Gato Barbieri and Mongo Santamaria, to name a few. Gale’s
association with Creed Taylor began when the celebrated producer was
working at Verve Records. Curiously, their first sessions together, on
August 18 and October 24, 1966, were part of a Johnny Hodges album
titled Blue Notes; a very peculiar name for a Verve LP! During
the A&M/CTI years, Eric Gale was heard on albums by Herbie Mann,
Soul Flutes, Richard Barbary, Quincy Jones, and J.J. Johnson & Kai
Winding. When CTI became a completely independent label, he became the
house guitarist for one of its subsidiary labels, Kudu Records,
appearing on the first album issued under the Kudu logo: Johnny
Hammond’s Breakout. Many other sessions followed and, on
January 1973, Creed Taylor finally allowed him to record as a leader. Forecast
may not have been the big commercial success everyone at CTI/Kudu
anticipated,
but it has not damaged Gale’s relationship with Creed Taylor.
The main reason
for the poor sales was that, instead of doing a typical
soul-jazz session spiced with funky grooves, covering many r&b
hits, Gale opted to record several of his own compositions and only
one pop song (Killing Me Softly), using different beats and moods
throughout the album. The
opening track is a short and easy-listening version of Roberta
Flack’s Killing Me Softly huge pop hit. The beautiful sound on the
intro comes from Tony Studd’s baritone horn, a seldom heard
instrument nowadays. Bob James, who signs the opulent orchestration,
plays electric piano with a very light touch, assisted by Gordon
Edwards on electric bass and Rick Marotta on drums. Undoubtedly
the album highlight, Eric Gale’s Cleopatra is a delightful
calypso-tinged tune, propelled by Ralph MacDonald doubling on congas
and various Latin percussion instruments. There are irreproachable
solos by Gale and Hubert Laws, on piccolo! The joyful horn arrangement
completes the atmosphere of a street party in St. Thomas. During the
tag, Gale and Laws continue to stretch out in a vivacious interplay. A
totally unpredictable version of Dindi follows. Composed by Antonio
Carlos Jobim & Aloysio de Oliveira, introduced by singer Sylvia
Telles on her famous Amor de Gente Moça album in 1959, this
bossa nova ballad receives a breath of fresh air thanks to Gale’s
approach. The guitarist doesn’t play it with a bossa beat. Instead,
he treats Jobim’s elegant melody like a jazzy pop ballad played in a
very slow tempo. Bob James adds some subtle strings that doesn’t
disturb the dreamy mood of the track. The
three remaining songs are all by Eric Gale: the r&b-flavored
White Moth, the afro-reggae Tonsue Corte (including a brief but
admirable Hubert Laws solo, Bob James playing the bass-marimba near
the end of the track, and Arthur Jenkins replacing Ralph MacDonald on
percussion) and the title track, Forecast, built upon an intoxicating
funk-rock riff. Additional showcases of Gale’s highly personal sound
and instantly recognizable style. The
first time I met Eric Gale, I asked him which was his favorite
recording for Creed Taylor. I could bet he would say something like I can’t choose only one or it’s hard to
remember. However, for my surprise, Gale answered that it was a
version of Where Is The Love from Grover Washington, Jr.’s second
album for Kudu, All The King’s Horses in 1972. He told me:
“We had only five minutes to finish that session at Van Gelder’s
studio, and Creed wanted us to do that track. During my solo, I simply
developed it in a way completely different from what Creed wanted. I
was playing bebop phrases and Creed became so nervous that he began to
talk to my earphones from the microphone in the control room: play
the blues, Eric, play some blues lines...But I remained doing what
I was doing, because I knew there would be no time for another take. I
was trying not to laugh, but Creed became mad with me anyway. For my
luck, everybody else in the studio loved the track!” Even
after Eric Gale signed with Columbia, he continued to record as a
sideman for Creed. Besides performing as rhythm guitarist on George
Benson’s sessions which yielded the albums Good King Bad, Benson
& Farrell, and Pacific Fire, he appeared as a featured
soloist on Bob James’ last album for CTI, BJ 4, as well as on
Lalo Schifrin’s two albums for CTI in 1976, Black Widow and Towering
Toccata.
For Kudu, Gale kept recording until 1977, on albums by Grover
Washington, Jr. (Soul Box, Mister Magic, Feels So
Good, A Secret Place), Esther Phillips (Capricorn
Princess), Idris Muhammad (House of The Rising Sun, Turn
This Mutha Out), and Hank Crawford (I Hear A Symphony, Hank
Crawford’s Back, Tico Rico). Then, in September 1981, he
was reunited again with Creed Taylor during the sessions for Silk,
the second album by the all-star project Fuse One. Gale’s
big popularity in Japan is mainly the result of many tours with the
legendary Stuff group (which did a best-selling live album at
Yubin-Chokin Hall in 1978), Sadao Watanabe (How’s Everything –
Live at Budokan in 1980) and Dave Grusin (Grusin and The NY-LA
Dream Band, also at Budokan, in 1982). He continued to tour Japan
regularly, sometimes three times a year, until 1993. In 1994, soon
after performing on Al Jarreau’s Tenderness album
(fortunately documented on video), Gale passed away on May 25, 1994,
in Baja, California. The few obituaries (less than 10 lines in Down
Beat!) referred to him only as a respected
studio guitarist. But, according to Brazilian percussionist Dom Um
Romao, who pays tribute to Gale on his latest album, Lake of
Perseverance, which includes a song titled Eric’s Stuff, Eric
Gale will live forever, in the heart of his fans, as a brilliant
musician who contributed to the success of many careers in all genres
and styles”. Arnaldo
DeSouteiro Mr.
DeSouteiro is Brazil’s top jazz producer and CTI historian |
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