From: "Samuel J. Gravina" Date: Wed, 27 Jan 1999 10:50:35 -0500 Subject: Hatrack Gallager
I just saw Hatrack Gallager and found him to be extremely entertaining. His "Workingmans Band" consists of a Drummer, Piano, Bass and Hatrack on vocals and harp. The rhythm and bass were appropriate and well done but not inspirational. The piano player was very good and was well featured in several solos. But the focus of this band is definitely Hatrack.
He is a very competent player. His first four songs were jazz standards like "Autumn Leaves" and "Bye, Bye, Blackbird. He played a CX12 on all of these and was very impressive. I noted that he kept the slide in most of the time and got a lot of ornamentation by letting it out. These standards were also well served by his voice. A very jazzy subtle Moss Alison type voice.
Then he switched to diatonic and did some straight ahead blues. A lot of very standard blues songs and harp playing but I believe that he is a Jazzer at heart because I could still hear the interesting harmonic drifts of his Jazz numbers and urge to swing the riffs.
This guy is a very experience player (probably not as old as he looks though) and well worth seeing simply for the music. He seems to be well connected with his audience. I think harp players especially would enjoy hearing him. I will be seeing Toots next week so it will be an interesting contrast.
His gear was very simple. He played chro into a hand held radio shack mike with a volume control. His diatonic was done directly into the PA system of our auditorium. With the diatonic he used his hands extensively and to good effect. The sound and tone of both methods were beautiful supporting the notion that it's more the player than the gear.
The acoustics in our auditorium are very good. He kept the volume down and let the room do some of the amplification. I really appreciate that especially during the blues which sound much better when your ears don't hurt. Of course he didn't have a guitar player so it was easier to be reasonable. Actually one of our own employees who jams with hatrack on occasion joined in on guitar for two blues songs. He was very good had a nice voice and also wasn't too damn loud.
I asked him about harps and he said he played the CX12 because it was so reliable, but that he preferred the sound of the Toots hard bopper, which he used to play, partly because it was tuned better. I asked him what he did about sticking valves and he just said it was a problem only when the harp is first played. That's not my experience but he doesn't play any quiet notes like I try to do. His diatonics were marine bands.
