Quick Facts
LeoBiography
Edward Gale Stevens Jr. (born August 15, 1941), better known as Eddie Gale, is an American trumpeter known for his work in free jazz, especially with the Sun Ra Arkestra.
Biography
Born in Brooklyn, New York, Gale 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.
After a yearlong stint as artist in residence at Stanford University, Gale moved to San Jose, California in 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 Café, a grassroots performance space in Oakland run by artist/activist Marcel Diallo and his Black Dot Artists Collective.
Discography
As Leader
- 1968: Ghetto Music (Blue Note)
- 1969: Black Rhythm Happening (Blue Note)
- 1992: A Minute with Miles
- 2004: Afro Fire
- 2007: Joint Happening w/Mushroom (Hyena Records
- 2007: “In Love Again”
As Sideman
With Sun Ra
- Lanquidity (Saturn, 1978)
With Cecil Taylor
- Unit Structures (Blue Note, 1966)
With Larry Young
- Of Love and Peace (Blue Note, 1969)