Blue Note

Eddie Gale, a pioneering jazz trumpeter who work on numerous classics with Sun Ra, Cecil Taylor and many more, died Friday (July 10) after a battle with cancer. He was 78. Born in Brooklyn in 1941, Gale got a frontrow seat with the finest jazz musicians of the era, including Bud Powell, the bebop pianist who lived nearby, and trumpeter Kenny Dorham. A fast learner, he soon found himself in jam sessions with the likes of drummers Art Blakey and Max Roach and saxophonists Illinois Jacquet, Sonny Stitt, and Jackie McLean. In the early ’60s, a 20-something Gale connected with Sun Ra. A long-standing professional relationship was formed and Gale toured and recorded with Ra’s Arkestra throughout the ’60s and ’70s. His output with the intergalactic jazz icon included the 1965 set Secrets of ...