MICHAEL GALLANT
Genres: Eclectic Fusion, Third Stream • United States

The son of a musical household, Gallant began studying piano at age five. Improvisation followed eight years later, thanks to a fiery teacher at the Levine School of Music named Maria Rodriguez. “She taught me the blues, how to improvise long melodic lines, and how to say a lot with just a single note or rest,” says Gallant. When Rodriguez passed away from cancer, Gallant wrote “The Real Maria” in her memory, and a version of the song is featured on Completely. “Rather than paying tribute to her by composing something mournful, I wanted that tune to capture her grace, her energy, and her swagger — all the qualities that inspired me,” says Gallant. By the time Gallant graduated from the Sidwell Friends School in Washington, DC, he had played music at the White House and the Kennedy Center and toured to New Orleans with a Dixieland jazz band, performing at read more...