Oliver Gannon

{{Infobox musical artist

| name = Oliver Gannon

| honorific_suffix = CM

| image = Oliver_Gannon_White_Rock_BC_March_1_2015.JPG

| caption = Oliver Gannon in 2015
Photo by Pat Gannon

| birth_name = Oliver Plunkett Gannon

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|df=yes|1943|03|23}}

| birth_place = Dublin, Ireland

| origin = Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

| genre = Jazz

| occupation = Musician, songwriter, arranger, educator

| instrument = Guitar

| years_active = 1961 – present

| associated_acts = Pacific Salt, RIO, Fraser MacPherson, Ian McDougall, Ron Johnston, Miles Black

| website = {{url|olivergannon.com}}

}}

Oliver Gannon {{Post-nominals|country=CAN|CM}} (born 23 March 1943) is an Irish-born Canadian jazz guitarist.

Early life

The eldest son of Irish jazz pianist Joe Gannon, Oliver Gannon was born in Dublin, Ireland, and emigrated with his family to Winnipeg, Canada, in 1957 when he was 14.{{cite web |url=http://www.jazz.com/encyclopedia/gannon-oliver|title=Oliver Gannon|accessdate=1 February 2015|publisher=Encyclopedia of Jazz Musicians|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150213102511/http://www.jazz.com/encyclopedia/gannon-oliver|archive-date=13 February 2015|url-status=dead}} He began playing in his late teens, after he purchased a Gibson ES-125 electric guitar{{cite web |url=https://vancouversun.com/entertainment/years+Gannon+jazz+guitar/7995580/story.html|title=50+ years of Gannon on jazz guitar |accessdate=18 January 2015 |publisher=The Vancouver Sun}} and amplifier with his leftover tuition money earned from his summer job.{{cite web|url=http://vancouverjazz.com/inview/barclay_gannon.shtml|title=Vancouver Jazz Profiles – Oliver Gannon|accessdate=18 January 2015|publisher=vancouverjazz.com|archive-date=24 February 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150224155200/http://vancouverjazz.com/inview/barclay_gannon.shtml|url-status=dead}}

Gannon enrolled at the University of Manitoba to study engineering but changed his mind.{{cite AV media | people=Dimino, Joe (Host) | date=23 October 2015 | title=A Neon Jazz Interview with Canadian Jazz Guitar Legend Oliver Gannon | medium=Radio broadcast | url=https://youtube.com/P2j_TRPwq_s |location=Kansas City, Missouri | publisher=Neon Jazz}} "I remember a thermodynamics class at 8 o'clock in the morning, having been playing the night before, and the blackboard was full of the Second Law of Thermodynamics or something, and I looked up at that and said, 'Is this what I want to do for the rest of my life, or do I want to do what I was doing last night?' A light bulb went off and I literally got up in the middle of the class, walked out, and never came back."{{cite web |url=http://www.jazzstreetvancouver.ca/artists/33|title=Artist: Oliver Gannon|accessdate=18 January 2015|publisher=Jazz Street Vancouver}} In 1964, he was accepted at the Berklee College of Music, where he studied composition and arranging with Herb Pomeroy and William Malloff,{{cite web |url=http://vancouverjazz.com/disc/artists/o_gannon.shtml|title=Vancouver Jazz Who's Who & Discography: Oliver Gannon|accessdate=18 January 2015|publisher=vancouverjazz.com}} graduating in 1969.{{cite web |url=https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/oliver-gannon-emc|title=Oliver Gannon|accessdate=18 January 2015|publisher=The Canadian Encyclopedia }} He credits this period in Boston with his exposure to jazz musicians such as Wes Montgomery, Wynton Kelly, Jimmy Cobb, and Paul Chambers.{{cite web |first=Jesse | last=Cahill|title=Real Jazz Musicians Don't Play Wimpy Gigs |url=http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/jesse-cahill/real-jazz-musicians-wimpy-gigs_b_3519405.html |accessdate=7 February 2015|work=The Huffington Post| date=28 June 2013}}

Career

Returning to Canada in 1969, Gannon settled in Vancouver, where he became a popular session musician. He worked often at the Cave Supper Club, joining Fraser MacPherson's big band. "The Cave band was such a joy to play," remembers Gannon. "These guys were such excellent readers... They would play a brand new show perfectly the first time."

In 1970 he co-founded the fusion group Pacific Salt with trombonist Ian McDougall, Don Clark (trumpet), Ron Johnston (piano), Tony Clitheroe (double bass, bass guitar), and George Ursan (drums).{{cite web |url=http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/pacific-salt-emc/|title=Pacific Salt|accessdate=18 January 2015 |publisher=The Canadian Encyclopedia}} Pacific Salt recorded three albums and was inactive by the early 1980s. McDougall, Gannon, and Johnston recorded as a trio in 1976 and 1988. In 1990, they toured Canadian festivals under the name RIO.{{cite web |url=http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/ian-mcdougall-emc/|title=Ian McDougall |accessdate=18 January 2015|publisher=The Canadian Encyclopedia}}

In 1975 Gannon was invited by MacPherson to form a trio with bassist Wyatt Ruther.{{cite web |url=http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/fraser-macpherson-emc/|title=Fraser MacPherson|accessdate=1 February 2015|publisher=The Canadian Encyclopedia}} The collaboration lasted until MacPherson's death in 1993. With MacPherson's trio, Fraser & Friends, Gannon toured the U.S.S.R an unprecedented four times starting in 1978. The trio was the first Canadian group to tour the Soviet Union under the Soviet-Canadian Cultural Exchange Treaty. The group intended to play nine concerts in Moscow and Leningrad, but the schedule was expanded to thirteen.{{Cite news | title=Fraser & Friends | url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=TdpTAAAAIBAJ&pg=2211%2C2413630| publisher=The Val d'Or Star| page=5 | date=16 January 1980 | accessdate=9 February 2015 }} The group became the first North American jazz ensemble to be invited back, and they toured again in 1981, 1984, and 1986.{{cite web |url=http://www.canadianjazzarchive.org/en/musicians/fraser-macpherson.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110514134229/http://www.canadianjazzarchive.org/en/musicians/fraser-macpherson.html|url-status=usurped|archive-date=14 May 2011|title=Fraser MacPherson|accessdate=18 January 2015|publisher=Canadian Jazz Archive}}

Gannon has participated in groups in the Vancouver area and has played at most major festivals in the world: Montreux Jazz Festival (1979); North Sea Jazz Festival (1979); Concord Jazz Festival (1981); Montreal Jazz Festival (1982, 1984, 1995, 1997); Toronto Jazz Festival (1986, 1989, 1995, and 1998), Edmonton's Jazz City (1985),{{Cite news | first=Len | last=Dobbin| title=Jazz Notes | url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=PCAyAAAAIBAJ&pg=1114%2C3534680| publisher=The Montreal Gazette | page=C-11 | date=8 August 1985 | accessdate=9 February 2015}} and appearances in his home town at the Vancouver International Jazz Festival.

Gannon was the musical director for PG Music, a software company founded by his younger brother, Peter Gannon. He was with the company since its inception in 1989 and served as the executive producer of program content. He performed and produced content for the company's Band-in-a-Box.{{cite web |url=http://www.pgmusic.com/realtracks.artists.php?a=44&os=win&sortby=name=|title=Featured Artist:Oliver Gannon|accessdate=18 January 2015|publisher=PG Music}} Gannon retired from the company in 2008.

He was married to singer and bassist Patty Hervey.{{cite web |url=http://musicmasteroldies.blogspot.ca/2013_08_01_archive.html|title=New Oldies – Tears of Misery by Pat Hervey |accessdate=1 February 2015|publisher=Music Master Oldies}}{{cite web |url=http://www.superoldies.com/featured/pathervey/pathervey.html|title=Pat Hervey |accessdate=18 January 2015|publisher=Super Oldies}}{{cite web |url=http://treasureislandoldies.blogspot.ca/2016/08/canadas-pat-hervey-has-died.html|title=Canada's Pat Hervey Has Died|date=August 2016 |accessdate=1 January 2018|publisher=Michael Godin}}

Style

With MacPherson, Gannon employed an orchestral accompaniment style, while on his own recordings he displayed a linear, bop-based style,{{cite book |last=Miller |first=Mark |date=2001 |title=The Miller Companion to Jazz in Canada |location=Toronto |publisher=The Mercury Press |page=[https://archive.org/details/millercompaniont0000mill/page/83 83] |isbn=1-55 128-093-0 |url=https://archive.org/details/millercompaniont0000mill/page/83 }} showing his roots as an admirer of Barney Kessel and Wes Montgomery,{{cite encyclopedia |last=Miller |first=Mark |editor-last=Kallman |editor-first=Helmut |editor2-last=Pevin |editor2-first=Gilles |title=Oliver Gannon |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Music in Canada 1992| edition=2nd |pages=512 |publisher=University of Toronto Press |location=Toronto |date=1992 |isbn=0-8020-2881-0}} and Art Blakey.{{cite book |last=Miller |first=Mark |date=1987 |title=Boogie, Pete and the Senator – Canadian Musicians in Jazz:The Eighties |location=Toronto |publisher=Nightwood Editions |page=[https://archive.org/details/boogiepetesenato00mill/page/127 127] |isbn=0-88971-112-7 |url=https://archive.org/details/boogiepetesenato00mill/page/127 }}

Other critics have noted Gannon's "slick, cool stylings",{{cite book |last1=Cook |first1=Richard |last2=Morton |first2=Brian |edition=8th revised |date=2006 |title=The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings |location=Toronto |publisher=Penguin Books |page=[https://archive.org/details/penguinguidetoja00cook_1/page/871 871] |isbn=9780141023274 |url=https://archive.org/details/penguinguidetoja00cook_1/page/871 }} and "studies in careful and complete orchestration. His lines could be crisp and harmonically advanced, or fluid and lyrical."{{Cite news | first=Moody | last=Lois| title=Fraser and Friends give some fine jazz | url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=BKMyAAAAIBAJ&pg=4310%2C3069682 |publisher=Ottawa Citizen| page=50 | date=4 February 1980 | accessdate=9 February 2015}}

Awards and honors

Juno Award, Best Traditional Jazz Album, I Didn't Know About You with Fraser MacPherson, 1983{{cite web |url=http://junoawards.ca/awards/artist-summary/?artist_name=gannon&submit=Search|title=Juno Awards – Artist Summary|work=The JUNO Awards |accessdate=18 January 2015}}
Guitarist of the Year, National Jazz Awards (Canada), 2003{{Cite news |first=Mark |last=Miller|title=Krall, McConnell, Rosnes win big in Jazz Awards |publisher=The Globe and Mail| date=8 January 2003 |id={{ProQuest|387199505}}}}
Member of the Order of Canada, 2017{{cite web |url=http://www.gg.ca/document.aspx?id=17061&lan=eng|title=Appointments to the Order of Canada - December 2017 |date=20 September 2017 | accessdate=1 January 2018|publisher=Governor General of Canada}}