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Home > Blogs

Trumpeter, 8, finds jazzy groove

By Gabriella Boston (Contact) | Friday, January 9, 2009

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A little boy with a big sound. That's Geoffrey Gallante, an accomplished trumpet player at age 8 who never buckles under pressure.

"Practice like you're performing, and perform like you're practicing," says the barely 4-foot prodigy as he's waiting to perform the national anthem for thousands of people at a recent George Mason University men's basketball game.

Is he nervous?

"Not at all," he replies in rapid-fire mode, his ice-blue eyes peering. He's been free buzzing - blowing air through pursed lips - and doing scales in a tiny arena dressing room during the past hour.

Then he walks out - all 50 pounds of him - in his dark blue corduroy dinner jacket, baggy jeans and blond winter-dry hair to the middle of the court and plays a smooth, pitch-perfect rendition of the national anthem.

It swings.

That's really what makes Geoffrey so special. Not only is he technically skilled at a young age - a la Suzuki prodigies - but he possesses that intangible, intuitive thing that all great jazz musicians have: a unique groove.

"He has an incredible sense of rhythm," says Jim Carroll, director of jazz studies at George Mason University. "And he's got a particular gift for jazz and improvisation."

Mr. Carroll and Geoffrey have known each other about half of the 8-year-old's life. Their paths crossed when Geoffrey's stay-at-home dad, David Gallante, approached Mr. Carroll about gigs for his then-kindergartner.

Mr. Carroll was intrigued and booked Geoffrey to perform "Mack the Knife" with his Fairfax-based Metropolitan Jazz Orchestra at a local fundraiser.

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  • MARY F. CALVERT/THE WASHINGTON TIMES
Geoffrey Gallante sits in with musicians Henning Hoehne on sax, Alex Smith on piano and Mike Flaherty on drums during jazz brunch at John Mandis' Market Inn Restaurant in the District in 2007.
  • Geoffrey (above) plays in 2007 for his mentor, James Carroll, at George Mason University in Fairfax.

Click the photo to enlarge. « Previous | Next »

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