| B i o g r a p h y |
Eddie Gale
(b. Brooklyn, New York, August 15, 1941) is an American trumpeter known
for his work in free jazz, especially with the Sun Ra Arkestra. Early
in life, he studied trumpet with Kenny Dorham. He has recorded with
Cecil Taylor, Sun Ra, Larry Young, and Elvin Jones, and performed with
John Coltrane, Jackie McLean, Booker Ervin, and Illinois Jacquet.
In the early 1960s he was introduced to Sun Ra by drummer Scoby Stroman.
He spent many hours exposed to Sun Ra’s philosophy about music and
life. Eddie explains, "Playing with Sun Ra is a great experience--from
the known to the unknown. You play ideas on your instrument that you
never imagine. His music provoked me to explore the use of trills, for
instance, and the placement of whole tones and then a space chord--ideas
you do not find in the exercise books."
During the 1960s and 1970s, he toured and recorded extensively with Sun
Ra, who influenced him greatly until Ra's death in 1993. He has lived in
San Jose, California since 1972.
Helping to bring jazz into the 21st century, the trumpeter made numerous
appearances with Oakland hip-hop outfit The Coup, whereby Gale's
trumpet could be heard engaging with the music's breakbeats and
turntables. In the late 1990s Eddie Gale also held regular creative
music workshops at the Black Dot Cafe a grassroots performance space in
Oakland ran by artist/activist Marcel Diallo and his Black Dot Artists
Collective.