Children of the Night
By Hal Galper
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Track listing
- 1 Speak with a Single Voice 12:59
- 2 I Can't Get Started 10:18
- 3 Waiting for Chet 13:05
- 4 Blue and Green 3:04
- 5 Now Hear This 9:56
- 6 Children of the Night 15:49
- Total length: 65:11
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1 Review
Very good improv-focused post-bop
This live recording of pianist Hal Galper's quintet from 1978 has also been re-issued under the title "Speak with a Single Voice."I'm not extremely familiar with Galper's work, but this album caught my attention because the horn section consists of Randy and Michael Brecker. I'm always eager to hear those two in a largely acoustic, straightforward setting, and here Galper is joined in the rhythm section by Wayne Dockery on bass, and Bob Moses on drums.
This album starts out with a Galper tune called "Waiting for Chet." Galper introduces it with a solo piano section that sounds like equal parts Bill Evans and Chick Corea before the rest of the band comes in for the melody. Mike Brecker plays flute during the head but switches back to tenor for his solo. The band sounds great on this uptempo swinger and shows a real talent for interactive post-bop playing. The second tune, "Now Hear This" is another modal post-bop number that reminds me a lot of the kind of music Woody Shaw was playing in the late 70's. Here Galper is all about quartal voicings and solo lines and comes off sounding quite a bit like McCoy Tyner. All the solos are almost relentlessly intense and the music crackles with the band's energy.
Next, the band takes on a medium ballad version of the standard, "I Can't Get Started." The contrast is nice, but I don't think the band is quite as adept at this style as they are at the high-energy thing. This tune is more of a chops workout and the band shows that they've all got bebop technique for days with dazzling instrumental pyrotechnics, but it's a bit one-note, and there isn't near the same level of interplay and exciting sense of group cooperation. The unaccompanied bass solo near the end also slows things down rather unpleasantly. The title track is a shimmering, modal vamp in the McCoy Tyner vein. The driving straight-eighth groove proves to be a good feel for the band. The improv and interplay is some of the best on the record and the drumming is especially ear-grabbing. The record finishes with an obviously Bill Evans-influenced solo piano version of "Blue in Green." The chord voicings are beautiful, but it feels fairly rushed, and I think it would have been more enjoyable at a much slower tempo. I wonder if Galper was a cocaine user.
This is an incredibly talented band, playing the kind of straight-ahead post-bop that was popular in the late 70's with people like Woody Shaw, Freddie Hubbard, or Joe Henderson. The band does it exceptionally well, though this recording is slightly one-note without a lot of variation in approach and style. The tracks are long (all over 10 mintues, except the last one) and require focus and attention, so the album begins to feel a little long winded even though it clocks in at 50 minutes. It's clear that the tunes are mostly vehicles for the advanced, exciting improvisations and tight group interplay. It's not essential listening, but it's well worth hearing for fans of the style, or for those looking for an introduction to the direction that acoustic post-bop went after the 60's.
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4 May 2022
10 Sep 2021
28 Aug 2019
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31 Aug 2016
23 Feb 2015
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