Introducing Adrian Galante

[GA Russell]

Adrian Galante Declares His Arrival in the Jazz World With "Introducing Adrian Galante," Set for April 25 Release On Zoho Music Australian Clarinetist Debuts with a Collection of Standards & A Superlative Quintet Spearheaded by Pianist Tamir Hendelman   CD Release Show at Birdland (Upstairs), NYC, Sunday, June 1, 5:30pm   February 19, 2025 Adrian Galante offers up his wide-open, highly expressive clarinet sound to the world with the April 25 release of Introducing Adrian Galante (Zoho Music). The 28-year-old Australian-born musician engages with an ace Los Angeles–based quintet that includes pianist Tamir Hendelman, guitarist Larry Koonse, bassist Alex Frank, and drummer Joe LaBarbera on a program of eight pieces from the Great American Songbook.   While studying what has become a lesser-played instrument in jazz, Galante has absorbed the clarinet’s major voices, and it shows in his playing. Yet the more immediate inspiration for his beautiful tone and playing style is the jazz vocal tradition. “I remember hearing Tony Bennett talk about the way Bing Crosby revolutionized popular singing, getting right up close to the microphone making a very intimate sound,” Galante says. “I like to approach the clarinet in the same way.”   As a result, the young clarinetist has created for himself a broad palette of interpretive and emotional nuances—and he applies them with similar breadth. “When most musicians play a song, they’re usually content to play only the music,” observes music critic Will Friedwald in the liner notes to Introducing. “Adrian, however, plays the whole song.” Sure enough, Galante brings a rare depth to his performances of pieces like Cy Coleman and David Zippel’s “With Every Breath I Take” and a brooding rendition of Cole Porter’s “It’s Alright with Me” (on both of which he plays Fender Rhodes as well as clarinet). But if his clarinet uncannily expresses the romance and wanderlust of Henry Mancini and Leslie Bricusse’s “Two for the Road,” on which Galante also plays the tender celeste accents, that’s no impediment to his swinging ferociously—and even bringing a little bit of bite to his tone—on “You’re All the World to Me.”   It's rare for a new jazz musician to have such a fully formed and distinctive voice upon their arrival, and rarer still for that voice to be on the clarinet. Introducing Adrian Galante should find a warm welcome in jazz lovers’ collections. Adrian Galante was born October 24, 1996, in Perth, Western Australia. While he came from a classical lineage—his grandfather was an opera singer—and his parents loved pop music, Galante was from a young age drawn to the buoyant rhythms of jazz. It was at around the same time—age seven—that he was also drawn to the clarinet and began taking lessons. By 15, he was playing professionally.   From that auspicious early start, Galante would follow a path that took him to Perth’s West Australian Academy of Performing Arts—which, in turn, took him to a summer program at New York University. He ultimately made the permanent move to the Big Apple in 2022, deciding to facilitate his development as a jazz artist by living and working in the music’s mecca.   Meanwhile, Galante was taking advantage of the opportunity to perform across America; in August 2022, he joined L.A. pianist Tamir Hendelman in a concert in Seattle. Not long after, while Hendelman was visiting New York, he and Galante had dinner together and began the discussions that led to the clarinetist making his first recording. Hendelman recruited his California colleagues Larry Koonse, Alex Frank, and Joe LaBarbera to play on the date; Galante served as producer.   The end product, of course, is Introducing Adrian Galante. It is the launch of what promises to be a stellar and accomplished career for the gifted young clarinetist from Perth.   Adrian Galante will perform a CD release show at Birdland (upstairs), New York City, on Sunday, June 1, 5:30pm.     Photography: Angelique Lee 

EPK: "Introducing Adrian Galante" 

Adrian Galante Web Site