Hal Galper and Gary Karr

Angels on my shoulder.

For those who know of these two gentlemen, they may not appear to have much in common. However, for me, they were both essential to my musical journey.

They share the distinction of being both critical mentors/colleagues to me, and the sadness of having both departed this life last week. Hal was 87, and Gary was 83. Although they both had long, productive, and distinguished lives and careers, for me and many others, they are gone too soon. Perhaps that is merely a selfish assessment.

I first heard Hal in the mid-70s when he was a member of the Cannonball Adderley Quintet. Cannonball was and remains one of my all-time favorite musicians. This gave Hal immediate “street cred” in my view. As I recall, Hal might have been playing both acoustic and Fender Rhodes piano in this group. I heard years later a rumor that Hal, disenchanted with the Fender Rhodes, had decided never to play it again and threw his into the East River in New York City. Knowing Hal, that was likely true.

Pianist and educator Hal Galper.

Hal was a great pianist, accompanist, and composer/arranger. His resume includes associations with the finest musicians, including Chet Baker, Stan Getz, Joe Williams, and countless others. Both before and after his tenure with Adderley, he recorded some significant rising stars, including Randy and Michael Brecker, recordings worth checking out if you are not familiar with them.

By the 1980s, I found myself teaching and playing with Hal, mainly as faculty members with the well-known Aebersold Summer Jazz Camps. I became aware of his natural talent for teaching and his exciting and daring manner of playing. Now and then, I would pick his brain for insights into playing and teaching, and I found that he was a deep thinker on both subjects, having begun to formulate truly original theories.

In the early 1990s, Hal invited me to join his trio as its charter bassist along with drummer Steve Ellington. That was an offer I could not refuse. During the two years I remained in the trio, Hal would sometimes come to my hotel room and give me what amounted to a private lesson in improvisation. We never discussed chord/scale relationships, harmony, or theoretical matters. Instead, he showed me how to shape an improvised solo, how to tell a story, how to build momentum and excitement, and importantly, how to end my statement in a manner that would make the entire solo cohesive from start to finish. Over time, the change in my playing was dramatic and much more mature. I eventually left the trio to attend to other personal responsibilities that were not compatible with life on the road. I continued to play with Hal intermittently since that time, as recently as a year or two ago.

Doublebass virtuoso Gary Karr.

Gary Karr entered my life in the summer of 1971. Just before my senior year in high school, I attended a summer music camp at Indiana University for classical music. As luck would have it, Gary was the sabbatical replacement for Murray Grodner, the IU bass instructor at the time. As a result, I received a private lesson from Gary every day until the music camp ended. I already knew who Gary was, having heard his debut recording as a soloist, Gary Karr Plays Double Bass. I had no idea that he was also a fine teacher. To this day, I have known very few musicians who were as inspiring and enthusiastic about the double bass and its potential as Gary. It was that experience that led me to the decision to make doublebass playing my vocation. It was a pivotal moment in my life. In all the years that followed, I would visit with Gary as our paths crossed at conventions, musical events, and even in luthier shops. He was always very kind, encouraging, and interested in what I was doing. I always left those encounters with a feeling of pride for our instrument and for choosing music as my way of navigating this life.

I am still trying, at this early stage, to process the events of the last week, but it's still too recent. Naturally, I feel sadness, but it seems as if my fondness for both of these giants keeps coming to the fore. Today, when I play or teach, I have part of these two gentlemen by my side. No experience surpasses the importance of mentors in my life, and the apprenticeships I served under many great musicians and educators. I shall continue to do my best to pay it forward in honor of their lasting legacies.

TC