last bite
People
local jazz musicians
Galen & Lisa
The love of music keeps this couple
in tune with each other.
F
The Details: You can see Galen and Lisa play at The Bellamy Mansion of History and Design Arts (503 Market Street) at Jazz at the Mansion, a concert
series on the mansion grounds, on Friday, September 10, from 6-8 p.m. For ticket information call (910) 251-3700 or visit www.bellamymansion.org.
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WBM september 2010
rom the jazz age of the 1920s
and ’30s, to swing, to Dixieland,
to bebop, to cool jazz, to hard
bop, to modal jazz, to free jazz,
to Latin jazz, to post bop, to
soul jazz, to jazz fusion, to jazz funk, to smooth
jazz, to acid jazz, nu jazz, jazz rap, punk jazz and
jazzcore, one thing is clear: Since its inception,
it’s all been “close enough for jazz.”
While jazz may be difficult to define, improvi-sation
is one of its key components. Jazz players
will interpret a tune in individual ways, never
playing the same song exactly the same way
twice. Depending upon the musician’s mood,
personal experience, interplay with other musi-cians
and even the emotionality of the audience,
a jazz performer may improvise melodies, har-monies
or time signature as the moment arrives.
One Wilmington couple has been improvising
their own special jazz for the past 20 years: Lisa
and Galen Hunsucker.
A friend suggested that Galen watch Lisa play
at the Sheraton Grande in Greensboro, North
Carolina. When she finished her set, he picked
up his guitar, and they played a few songs
together. People came up to them for the rest
of the night and asked how many years they’d
been playing together. They were married less
than a year later — their wedding bands are
engraved with music.
Their life together revolves around their love
of jazz. “Galen’s out of his era,” says Lisa. “He
plays songs from the ’40s and has an emotional
connection with the music.” Music has been an
important part of his life since he was 10 years
old. Lisa has been playing the piano since she
was eight, and Galen says, “Even if she’s play-ing
someone else’s work, she makes it her own.
That’s why I still love — 20 years later — to listen
to her play.”
Their influences are as varied and hard to
pin down as the history of jazz, but, generally,
Galen and Lisa play a swing version that brings
to mind the smooth sounds of the Nat King
Cole Trio with a touch of Diana Krall for good
measure. They take popular songs, by artists
like the Beatles, and give them their own spe-cial
jazz-swing feel. They have performed at
City Club at de Rosset and The Balcony on Dock
Street and are often booked for private parties
and weddings. — Amanda Thames
Allison Breiner Potter