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Gary Hassay
Gary
Hassay has been performing since 1979 with various groups, both as a leader and a
sideman. His large ensemble, "Dr. Vincent Sakeeda's Attack Ensemble," founded in
1979, was a tour de force of free music which drew critical acclaim, and helped establish
Allentown, Pennsylvania as a vibrant home of highly creative improvisational music.
While not yet widely known outside the Northeast, Gary has
performed with some of the world's leading new music artists including Fred Frith, Andrew
Cyrille, Gerry Hemingway, Anne LeBaron, Peter Broetzmann, William Parker, Tom Cora, Wadada
Leo Smith, and Milford Graves. Hassay cites among his formative influences Hungarian
Gypsy violin music, R&B/soul music, Albert Ayler, Jimi Hendrix, Peter Brötzmann, and
Evan Parker.
Gary's first CD, A Survivor's
Smile, is an intensely personal collection of 13 solo pieces for alto saxophone that
eloquently bespeak the recording's title. His tone is reminiscent of that big 50s
sound we all grew up on, tempered with an edge that comes from surviving in the 90s.
But his tone is only the backdrop for a compositional approach that causes your spirit to
soar beyond the confines of our daily boundaries and limitations.
His second CD,
Another Shining Path, with William
Parker and Toshi Makihara was a highly acclaimed critical success. He returns with
an intensely personal recording on Drimala Records, Blackwater Bridge, featuring harpist,
Anne LeBaron.
Gary is a survivor. On the sheer
strength of his own desire, he has persevered against great odds to maintain an artistic
vision filled with clarity, honesty, and purpose. That indeed is a rare and valuable
luxury in this day...most worthy of support and praise.
Gary Hassay's Website
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© Photo by Larry Fink
Discography on Drimala Records
2004
Tribute to Paradise
with Ellen Christi
DR-04-347-04
2002
Blackwater Bridge
with Anne LeBaron
DR02-347-02
1999
Another
Shining Path Ye Ren Trio
DR99-347-01
Selected Discography
1996
A Survivor's Smile. Dbops Music 1235-8
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