Hal Galper

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American jazz musician (1938–2025)

title: "Hal Galper" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1938-births", "2025-deaths", "american-jazz-pianists", "american-male-jazz-pianists", "mainstream-records-artists", "enja-records-artists", "steeplechase-records-artists", "20th-century-american-pianists", "21st-century-american-pianists", "20th-century-american-male-musicians", "21st-century-american-male-musicians", "cannonball-adderley-quintet-members", "double-time-records-artists", "origin-records-artists", "musicians-from-salem,-massachusetts"] description: "American jazz musician (1938–2025)" topic_path: "arts" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hal_Galper" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary American jazz musician (1938–2025) ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox musical artist "]

Field	Value
name	Hal Galper
<!-- Commented out because image was deleted:	image
background	non_vocal_instrumentalist
birth_date
birth_place	Salem, Massachusetts, U.S.
death_date
death_place	Cochecton, New York, U.S.
genre	Jazz
occupation	Musician
instrument	Piano
website
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Harold Galper (April 18, 1938 – July 18, 2025) was an American jazz pianist, composer, arranger, bandleader, educator, and writer.

Life and career

Galper was born in Salem, Massachusetts, United States on April 18, 1938. Galper studied classical piano as a boy, but switched to jazz which he studied at the Berklee College of Music from 1955 to 1958. He hung out at Herb Pomeroy's club, the Stable, hearing local Boston musicians such as Jaki Byard, Alan Dawson and Sam Rivers. Galper started sitting in and became the house pianist at the Stable and later on, at Connelly's and Lenny's on the Turnpike. He went on to work in Pomeroy's band.

Later on he worked with Chet Baker and Stan Getz and accompanied vocalists Joe Williams, Anita O'Day, and Chris Connor.

In 1969, Galper recorded with Randy Brecker and Michael Brecker on Randy's Score album. Randy and Michael Brecker subsequently appeared on Galper's 1971 album The Guerilla Band and his 1972 album Wild Bird. Though he began recording albums under his own name in the 1970s, Galper continued to work for other bandleaders throughout the 1970s and 1980s, either as a full time band member, or on a freelance basis. He played with Stan Getz for a year starting in 1972, and in 1973, he joined the Cannonball Adderley Quintet, replacing George Duke and staying until 1975. Galper continued to work with Randy and Michael Brecker in the late 1970s, and the brothers appeared on Galper's 1977 album Reach Out! and the 1979 Speak With A Single Voice (reissued as Children of the Night), though by this point the Breckers were leading their fusion band The Brecker Brothers and did not work with Galper full time. Galper performed in New York and Chicago jazz clubs in the late 1970s, and recorded two albums with John Scofield for the Enja label in 1978-79, the first led by Scofield, and the second led by himself. From 1980 until 1990, he was a member of Phil Woods's quintet.

Galper left the Woods group in August 1990 to tour and record with a trio with Steve Ellington on drums. Initially, Todd Coolman was the trio's bass player. After Coolman left the trio, his permanent replacement was Jeff Johnson, though other bassists worked with Galper and Ellington for short periods until they joined with Johnson. From 1990 to 1999, his group was on the road six months a year.

He was internationally known as an educator. Galper was on the faculty of Purchase College and the New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music. His theoretical and practical articles appeared in six of Down Beat editions. His scholarly article on the psychology of stage fright, originally published in the Jazz Educators Journal, has subsequently been reprinted in four other publications.

Galper died in Cochecton, New York, on July 18, 2025, at the age of 87.

Discography

As leader

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Recorded	Released	Title	Label	Personnel
1971	1971	The Guerilla Band	Mainstream	Randy Brecker (trumpet, electric trumpet, flugelhorn), Michael Brecker (tenor sax, soprano sax), Bob Mann (electric guitar), Victor Gaskin (bass guitar), Charles Alias and Steve Haas (drums)
1971?	1972	Wild Bird	Mainstream	Randy Brecker (trumpet, electric trumpet), Michael Brecker (tenor sax, soprano sax), Jonathan Graham (electric guitar), Bob Mann (electric guitar), Victor Gaskin and Charles LaChappelle (double bass, bass guitar), Bill Goodwin (drums), Billy Hart (drums)
1972?	1973	Inner Journey	Mainstream	Dave Holland (double bass), Bill Goodwin (drums)
1975	1976	Windows	SteepleChase	Lee Konitz (alto sax)
1977?	1977	Now Hear This	Enja	Terumasa Hino (trumpet), Cecil McBee (bass), Tony Williams (drums)
1976	1977	Reach Out!	SteepleChase	Randy Brecker (trumpet), Michael Brecker (tenor sax, flute), Wayne Dockery (bass), Billy Hart (drums)
1978?	1979	Speak with a Single Voice	Century	Randy Brecker (trumpet), Michael Brecker (tenor sax, flute), Wayne Dockery (bass), Bob Moses (drums)
	1980	Ivory Forest	Enja
	1987	Dreamsville	Enja
	1987	Naturally	Blackhawk
	1989	Portrait	Concord Jazz
	1991	Invitation to a Concert	Concord
1978?	1991	Redux '78	Concord Jazz
	1993	Tippin'	Concord Jazz
	1994	Live at Vartan Jazz	Vartan Jazz
	1994	Just Us	Enja	Jerry Bergonzi
	1995	Rebob	Enja	Jerry Bergonzi
1991	1991	Live at Port Townsend '91	Double-Time	Todd Coolman (bass), Steve Ellington (drums)
1999	1999	Let's Call This That	Double-Time	Tim Hagans (trumpet), Jerry Bergonzi (tenor sax), Jeff Johnson (bass), Steve Ellington (drums)
2006	2006	Agents of Change	Fabola	Tony Marino (bass), Billy Mintz (drums)
2006	2007	Furious Rubato	Origin	Jeff Johnson (bass), John Bishop (drums)
2008	2009	Art-Work	Origin	Reggie Workman (bass), Rashied Ali (drums)
2009	2010	E Pluribus Unum	Origin	Jeff Johnson (bass), John Bishop (drums)
2011	2011	Trip the Light Fantastic	Origin	Jeff Johnson (bass), John Bishop (drums)
2012	2012	Airegin Revisited	Origin	Jeff Johnson (bass), John Bishop (drums)
2016	2018	Cubist	Origin	Jerry Bergonzi (tenor sax), Jeff Johnson (bass), John Bishop (drums)
1990	–	Live at Maybeck Recital Hall, Volume Six	Concord
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As sideman

With Cannonball Adderley

Inside Straight (Fantasy, 1973)
Love, Sex, and the Zodiac (Fantasy, 1973)
Pyramid (Fantasy, 1974)

With Nat Adderley

Double Exposure (Prestige, 1975)

With Franco Ambrosetti

Heartbop (Enja, 1981)

With Chet Baker

The Most Important Jazz Album of 1964/65 (Colpix, 1964)
Baby Breeze (Limelight, 1965)
Live at Fat Tuesday's (Fresh Sound, 1981)

With Randy Brecker

Score (Solid State, 1969)

With Tom Harrell

Open Air (SteepleChase, 1986)

With Sam Rivers

A New Conception (Blue Note, 1966)

With John Scofield

Rough House (1978)

With Phil Woods

Birds of a Feather (Antilles)
Bop Stew (Concord)
Boquet (Concord)
All Birds Children (Concord)
Dizzy Gillespie Meets Phil Woods Quintet (Timeless, 1986)

Bibliography

Forward Motion: From Bach To Bebop. A Corrective Approach to Jazz Phrasing, AuthorHouse, July 17, 2003,
The Touring Musician: A Small Business Approach to Booking Your Band on the Road, Alfred Publishing, January 10, 2007,

References

Rinzler, Paul. (2002). "The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz, Vol. 2". Grove's Dictionaries Inc..
"Hal Galper Biography, Songs, & Albums".
"Hal Galper R.I.P.".
"Hal Galper Albums and Discography".

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