Ancestral marks a profound metamorphosis for master saxophonist John O'Gallagher. He cast off his old skin, fundamentally altering his studies, homeland, and life, thereby charting a new future. Recorded at Sound on Sound Studios in Montclair, New Jersey, in January, 2024, Ancestral was influenced, in part, by O’Gallagher’s PhD studies into the music of John Coltrane, and reunites the versatile reeds player with guitarist Ben Monder while, notably, features the first-ever recorded collaboration between master drummers Andrew Cyrille and Billy Hart.

“Basically, my PhD (available on O’Gallagher’s website) is an analysis where I transcribed all of Trane’s solos, spelling out what he does on his late recordings Interstellar Space and Stellar Regions. And it shows that free music is not free, not the way people think it is. Trane was definitely thinking about organization in those records. This research definitely gave me ideas about how to be freer within the systems that I had developed, and how to perceive them in a more organic way.”

O'Gallagher's latest recording marks a significant artistic evolution, following a period of considerable personal change. After leaving Brooklyn, New York, he and his wife relocated to the UK before ultimately settling in Lisbon, Portugal. This journey, coupled with dedicated study, profoundly shaped his new music. O’Gallagher, Monder, Cyrille, Hart, and Coltrane: a potent brew. 

In an album consisting largely of first takes, O’Gallagher’s compositions vary from through-composed pieces to skeletal charts to full-blown group compositions/improvisations.  

‘Awakening’ begins slowly, like a spectral dawn, mallets dancing on drumheads, guitar and saxophone unfurling like a mist, forecasting the muscular middle section. “I wanted to portray something that felt ancient and organic, almost like a folk song. It awakens when it begins, introducing the listener to this emerging melody, and gets more intense until the final crescendo.” Like some skittering New Orleans rumble, ‘Under the Wire’ cavorts and skips, dips and cajoles. “It’s a blending of swing, a bass ostinato that Ben plays, with an interesting melody. It’s maybe Monkish in some ways; that was the idea behind that, just to have fun.”

The rustling percussion and angular guitars of ‘Contact’ portend an eerie solitude, its meeting points unknown. “It’s an improvised piece that Ben did with Andrew and Billy. It could mean a lot of things: get ready to take off, contact, strap in.” ‘Tug’ is regal, wily, flowing, salty, ethereal, explosive. “The way Andrew is pulling at the time and almost doing the same thing as the harmony. Billy, laying down the time, it's so beautiful. These musicians are masters of listening and creating textures and forms.”

A bubbling, floating feeling informs ‘Profess,’ its energy and quaking drive recalling a Paul Motian recording.  “That was a melody from a larger piece that gained its freedom. It became a thing unto itself. ‘Altar of the Ancestors’ harkens back to Trane’s explorations, like when Trane plays ‘Vigil’ with Elvin Jones. The idea for the musicians is this is the altar at which we pay homage to our forefathers, the bandstand.” 

“’Quixotica’ feels like you're in a loop that feels familiar, but it's always changing and disorienting. The nature of the loop is such that you can't really tell what's different, but you know things are different as they evolve. The melody is this descending line, but each time it's introduced, it’s slightly different. ‘Postscript’ is completely improvised, the first thing we recorded. The way Ben ends the tune, I think he's playing a low E, gave it this falling feeling, like an ending to the record. I could have placed it differently in the order, but even though we live in a time when people don't listen to records, it felt like that should be the end to the recording.”

Ancestral, in all its beauty and fragility, dynamism and power, proves the cosmos is always asking questions; it's up to us to unearth the answers. 

As New York-based saxophonist & composer John O’Gallagher would emphatically relate, there is nothing quite like the concept and energy of a live performance to provide both artist and listener with the affecting, visceral tingle which is at the heart of great music – and especially true when it comes to the spontaneity of improvised jazz. So the opportunity to offer up these riches to a wider audience, through a live album, has always been an aspiration for the acclaimed altoist and his longtime colleagues Johannes Weidenmueller (bass) and Mark Ferber (drums).

Live in Brooklyn captures the spirit of the chordless trio’s appearance as part of Seeds Brooklyn’s intimate, weekly concert series – a popular venue for many leading contemporary artists – with realism and verve. And having forged a close, intuitive working relationship over several years, this became the perfect environment in which to unveil new material alongside interpretations of two tracks from their studio album 'The Honeycomb' (the saxophonist has also previously released on Whirlwind, with 2013’s The Anton Webern Project). The realization and “stretch and pull” of the original compositions in this conducive setting, during the gig and in playback, confirmed to O’Gallagher that this was ‘the one’ – and now the wider public have the fortuity to focus on this rich seam of in-the-moment creativity.

One of the most compelling saxophone improvisers on the New York scene, John O’Gallagher’s many collaborators have included Jeff Williams, Ben Monder, Maria Schneider and Kenny Wheeler – and all the years of experience cascade from his alto bell with a seemingly inexhaustible and colorfully individual vocabulary, supported prominently by the high-level, malleable responses of Weidenmueller and Ferber. The saxophonist explains that the blurred lines of composition and conversational improvisation are key to the challenge: “That’s the beauty of playing with these two guys – they’re masters of form and structure, yet don’t always have to mark it.”

Oblique five-against-seven-meter experiment ‘Prime’ sets up an increasingly turbulent dialogue, O’Gallagher’s forceful, rippling lines prompting heavyweight, percussive reactions from bassist and drummer; and ‘Blood Ties’ alludes to the band’s prowess in intertwining the number’s purely rhythmic beginnings with various pitch collections. The broad landscape of ‘Credulous’ prompts extreme displays, especially from saxophonist and drummer; and furtive ‘Nothing To It’ finds its animation through the close connection between Weidenmueller and Ferber.

‘Extralogical Railman’ – an anagram in both composition and title – turns Charlie Parker’s ‘Relaxin’ at Camarillo’ upside down, O’Gallagher carefully spinning the rhythmic content on its axis, then reassembling re-pitched melodics against it… and it swings with glorious abandon, the saxophonist’s lines incessantly searching, screeching and tumbling through “a number you know, but can’t put your finger on.” Finally, ‘The Honeycomb’, specifically originating from common links and patterns between tones, lets rip for an appreciative audience.

Describing the elevated, exposed nature of this three-way partnership, O’Gallagher concludes: “We are constantly listening and taking risks, creating an atmosphere which is exciting to play in – there is no ‘wrong’, and we all know the paths back. A shared trust provides the confidence to pretty much explore any avenue and be assured that everything will be OK. That transformative, on-the-edge excitement – not knowing what’s gonna happen – is what I’ve always wanted.”