Many Roads Home - Trio Album

MANY ROADS HOME 

A longtime fixture on the Southern California jazz scene as a jazz guitarist and a music therapist, George J. Gilliam recently recorded his definitive album. Many Roads Home showcases his playing talents in an intimate pianoless trio, a perfect setting for his guitar solos.

Born and raised in Gary, Indiana, George J. Gilliam first played clarinet before switching to the guitar when he was 13. “Early on I heard blues, my father (saxophonist Ira H. Gilliam) liked to listen to Dinah Washington, and I listened

to a lot of jazz. When I was young, a friend would bring me to Chicago to the Plugged Nickel to see Wes Montgomery play whenever he was in town.” After working extensively in Chicago, George majored in music at Xavier University where he met and played with a high schooler named Wynton Marsalis. He toured with the James

Rivers band, settled permanently in Southern California, married the talented singer Elena Gilliam, gigged regularly, and became a musical therapist, founding Creative Identity. Among his best previous recordings are his trio set Stepping Lightly, and Recorded Moments in Time which was made with his wife Elena.

“For Many Roads Home, my goal was to record a well-rounded set of music that is drawn from a variety of sources,” says the guitarist. “There are many ways to approach these songs, from the blues and straight ahead to other possibilities; many roads to get home.” On this project, he was fortunate to be joined by two masterful

musicians. Bassist Michael Saucier has played with a countless number of groups in Los Angeles for the past forty years including, in recent times, with John Bolivar, Billy Mitchell and in the musical play Billie Holiday: Front And Center. Don Littleton has long been a busy session and studio drummer and percussionist when he is not leading his own groups including the Jazz Conclave Latin Soul Band. Together they give George Gilliam stimulating support that inspires him to play at his most creative.

Many Roads Home begins with Antonio Carlos Jobim’s classic bossa nova “Triste.”

One of Jobim’s most likable melodies, this piece is taken by the trio at a perfect tempo. Gilliam’s pretty chords during the melody precede some melodic improvising, a chorus by Saucier, and excellent playing over the closing vamp.

Michael Jackson’s “Human Nature” would be considered an offbeat choice for a jazz record if Miles Davis had not found beauty in the melody and featured it in the 1980s. “We took the pop tune and added some of ourselves to it” says Gilliam, who displays the ability to play both pretty and funky at the same time. Saucier’s bowed bass during the melody is a special touch.

The guitarist’s “Highway 61” is a soulful medium-tempo blues that gives him an opportunity to wail a bit. George Gershwin’s “But Not For Me” is taken at a medium-slow ballad pace with Gilliam’s use of octaves recalling the early inspiration of Wes Montgomery.

“I remember hearing ‘Jive Samba’ in the 1960s and always loving how playful it sounded.” Nat Adderley’s song (which was made famous by his brother Cannonball’s group) is not covered often, certainly not by a guitar trio. This relaxed version uses space well and has a hypnotic bass pattern.

A change of pace is offered by “Bouree,” a Bach melody that has George Gilliam engaging in some classical-oriented playing, at least for the first two minutes before the performance becomes a soulful strut. A spirited and swinging version of Horace Silver’s “Juicy Lucy” is next. The melody, played over the chord changes of Charlie

Parker’s “Confirmation” is quite singable.

Concluding the enjoyable program is a rare instrumental version of “Here’s To Life.” Gilliam gives the song a dramatic and heartfelt interpretation. “This is my statement of how appreciative I am of being able to play music and to enjoy life.”

Speaking about his future goals, George Gilliam says, “I want to perform music as long as I can, keep reaching out and expanding my vocabulary, develop more songs of my own, and add to the legacy of jazz by playing the best music that I can. In addition to being a jazz guitarist, I’m a music therapist so this recording is my way of reaching out to people and giving them a positive interaction with music.”

Suffice it to say that listening to the soulful and swinging music of Many Roads Home cannot be anything but a positive experience!

Scott Yanow, author of 11 books including The Great Jazz Guitarists, The Jazz Singers and Jazz On Record 1917-76