Larry Gales

Larry Gales
Birth nameLawrence Bernard Gales
BornMarch 25, 1936
DiedSeptember 12, 1995(1995-09-12) (aged 59)
GenresJazz
InstrumentDouble bass

Lawrence Bernard Gales (March 25, 1936 – September 12, 1995)[1] was an American jazz double-bassist.[2][3]

Life

Gales began playing bass at age 11, and attended the Manhattan School of Music in the late 1950s.[4] In that decade and the beginning of the next he worked with J.C. Heard, Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis, Johnny Griffin, Herbie Mann, Junior Mance, and Joe Williams. From 1964 to 1969 he was a member of the Thelonious Monk Quartet, where he recorded extensively and toured worldwide.[5] After 1969, Gales relocated to Los Angeles, where he worked frequently on the local scene with Erroll Garner, Willie Bobo, Red Rodney, Sweets Edison, Benny Carter, Blue Mitchell, Clark Terry, and Kenny Burrell. He also recorded with Buddy Tate, Bennie Green, Sonny Stitt, Mary Lou Williams, Jimmy Smith, Sonny Criss, and Big Joe Turner, among others. His first session as a leader was released in 1990 on Candid Records; comprising one original and five Thelonious Monk tunes, the album was entitled A Message From Monk.[5]

He died of leukemia in 1995, aged 59.[6]

Discography

As leader

  • A Message from Monk (Candid, 1990)

As sideman

With Kenny Burrell

With Sonny Criss

With Bennie Green

With Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis

With Johnny Griffin

With Eddie Harris

With Johnny Lytle

With Junior Mance

With Thelonious Monk

With Charlie Rouse

With Sonny Stitt

With Buddy Tate

With Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson

References

  1. ^ Carner, Gary; Kernfeld, Barry (2002). "Gales, Larry". In Barry Kernfeld (ed.). The new Grove dictionary of jazz, vol. 2 (2nd ed.). New York: Grove's Dictionaries Inc. p. 5. ISBN 1561592846.
  2. ^ Feather, Leonard. "Larry Gales: A Man With a Bass". LA Times. Archived from the original on May 24, 2011. Retrieved 2008-05-22.
  3. ^ Liska, A. James (28 March 1989). "Jazz Reviews Larry Gales Makes the Connection at Marla's". LA Times. Archived from the original on November 8, 2012. Retrieved 2008-05-22.
  4. ^ Kelley, Robin D.G (September 22, 1999). "New monastery: Monk and the jazz avant-garde". l. Black Music Research Journal. Retrieved 2008-05-22.
  5. ^ a b Scott Yanow, Larry Gales at Allmusic
  6. ^ "Rose Gales, matriarch of L.A.'s jazz community, still strikes a chord - Los Angeles Times". Los Angeles Times. 7 October 2014.
  7. ^ Goldsby, John. "Jazz Concepts: High School Jazz". Bass Magazine. Retrieved 31 March 2022.