Allan Ganley

Allan Anthony Ganley (* 11. March 1931 in Tolworth , Surrey ; † 29. March 2008 in Slough , Berkshire ) was a British jazz - drummer and arranger.

Live and act

Ganley was self-taught and began his professional career in the early 1950s in Bert Ambrose's dance band . In 1953 he became a member of Johnny Dankworth's band, which was then one of the most successful modern jazz groups in England. In the 1950s, Ganley also worked with Derek Smith , Dizzy Reece , Vic Ash , Ronnie Scott, and US musicians touring England. In 1956/57 he played with Jimmy Deuchar , at the end of the decade he was co-leader of a band with Ronnie Ross , The Jazzmakers .

At the beginning of the 1960s Ganley mostly worked with Tubby Hayes and later Joe Harriott , had his own formations and with an occasional big band . As a house drummer in Ronnie Scott's Club, he played with numerous musicians such as Dizzy Gillespie , Stan Getz , Jim Hall , Freddie Hubbard and Rahsaan Roland Kirk . He studied at Berklee College of Music in Boston , Massachusetts in the early 1970s and then returned to the UK to form a big band with which he performed sporadically over the next decade. In the 1970s / 1980s Ganley took part in countless radio concerts and recording sessions, including Digby Fairweather , Bud Freeman , Slim Gaillard , Brian Lemon , Dick Sudhalter and Al Haig . In 1980 he played at the Trombone Summit in the backing band with Horace Parlan and Mads Vinding with trombonists Albert Mangelsdorff , Kai Winding , Bill Watrous and Jiggs Whigham .

In the 1990s he continued to appear at club guest performances and festivals, played in the trio of pianist David Newton and was an accompanist for Warren Vaché , Teddy Wilson , Ruby Braff and Tony Coe as well as for singers such as Carol Kidd and Blossom Dearie . He led his own trio with Dave Cliff and Geoff Simkins ( Live at the Station ).

Ganley worked as an arranger for the BBC Radio Big Band, among others .

Lexical entries

• John Chilton , Who's Who of British Jazz . London: Continuum 2004, ISBN 978-0826472342 .

Web links

• Obituary in the Independent ( Memento from April 7, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
• Obituary in the telegraph