[Dixielandjazz] Jim Galloway RIP

[Ken Mathieson]

Hi all,
I had heard that Jim was ill, but it still comes as a huge shock to hear 
of his passing, even if 79 is not a bad innings, especially for a jazz 
musician. And Jim was certainly a jazz musician and a fine one at that.

He was born in Ayrshire and studied art at the world-famous Glasgow 
School of Art. When I first bumped into him on the Glasgow jazz scene of 
the early 1960s, I was a raw cub drummer, while he was established as 
one of the finest reed players who had progressed through the best local 
Dixieland bands and led his own band consisting of the best trad/ 
mainstream players in town. At this time he was still semi-pro and 
worked as an art teacher by day. His band, Jim Galloway's Jazzmakers, 
had an eclectic repertoire  with a bias towards mainstream jazz in 
general and the music of Ellington in particular. By this time he was 
concentrating on soprano sax and developing his characteristic sound and 
style based on Johnny Hodges' soprano playing. Around 1964-65 he 
emigrated to Toronto and I lost touch with him, although I heard about 
him through the local Glasgow musicans' grapevine.

By the mid 1970s, I was house-drummer at the Black Bull Jazz Club in 
Milngavie, near Glasgow, where we featured US and other international 
guests on a regular basis, and agent Robert Masters contacted me to see 
if the club fancied a double-header of Jim with Buddy Tate. What a silly 
question! Buddy had played (and packed) the club before and Jim was a 
local lad with a growing international reputation, so how could it fail? 
On the night, the club was packed with local musicians and Jim was very 
nervous about playing in front of so many old pals and with a local trio 
who were all too young to have played with him before he left town. 
Buddy sorted that out with loads of encouragement and a couple of stiff 
drinks. There's a recording of that gig and it shows Buddy and Jim in 
roaring form: it's not a cutting session, just a glorious non-combative 
meeting of minds. After that Jim was a regular visitor to the club and 
later to festivals, notably Edinburgh, in Scotland and we played 
together frequently over the years. When I played with Fat Sam's Band, 
we often played festivals in Sacramento, Los Angeles and Victoria BC and 
Jim was often there too, so we had plenty chances to catch up socially, 
often in the company of Jake Hanna, so the fun was terrific.

Since those days, we've seen each other less often, although we were 
occasionally in touch by email, especially when one of us had a good 
joke to pass on. When I think about it, I've known Jim for over 50 years 
off and on, and can't recall him being anything other than courteous, 
warm, friendly, great company and a wonderful musician to accompany. He 
was a genuinely likeable person and I shall miss him a lot.  RIP Jim old 
pal.

Ken