Biography
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Born
20 September 1938
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Born In
Brooklyn, New York, New York, United States
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Died
25 May 1994 (aged 55)
This article is about Eric Gale (1938-94) the jazz guitarist, not blues guitarist Eric Gales (b. 1974)
Eric Gale (Brooklyn, New York, 20 September 1938 - Baja California, Mexico, 25 May 1994) was a leading American jazz and session guitarist.
He began playing guitar at the age of 12. Although he majored in chemistry at Niagara University, Gale was determined to pursue a musical career, and began contributing to accompaniments for such stars as Maxine Brown, the Drifters, and Jesse Belvin. He soon began to attract the attention of King Curtis and Jimmy Smith, who began recommending him for studio work. He became known first as a session musician in the 1960s, eventually appearing on an estimated 500 albums. Among the many artists he recorded with were Aretha Franklin, Paul Simon, Lena Horne, Quincy Jones, Grover Washington Jr., Herbie Mann, Esther Phillips, Lalo Schifrin, Joe Cocker, Carly Simon, Van Morrison, and Billy Joel. He also had a spell in Aretha Franklin's stage band.
The epitome of the guitarist's guitarist, he was also used for many R&B-oriented dates. From the early 1970s he recorded extensively on the CTI label, as a sideman, on his own records, and as part of the group Stuff. Among his own albums were Forecast (1975) and Ginseng Woman (1976) and many more.
According to the New York Times, Gale died May 25, 1994 in a hospital in Baja California, Mexico of lung cancer.
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