Two accomplished, hard to classify musicians with a mutual history in street music spent some time together making what they thought would just be a "demo." But the results were too good, and while vocalist Madeleine Peyrous was already on her way to fame with a big contract deal and plenty of tour dates, her harmonica-wielding collaborator was still flying below the radar screen. So William Galison added a few more tracks and the result is the magnificent Got You On My Mind (2004, Waking Up Music). Initially available only through Galison's website, the recording has finally found the light of day, aka Amazon.com and other distributors.

I admit that, until a few months ago, I was a total stranger to the music and art of William Galison. An internationally acclaimed innovator on the unlikely jazz instrument, the harmonica, Galison was born and raised in New York City. After early study of classical piano, at age eight he switched to guitar, inspired by the Beatles. Developing a love of jazz in high school, he went on to Berklee College of Music in Boston where he again changed instruments because "I was one of a million guitarists at Berklee." With Toots Thielemans and Stevie Wonder as role models, he became Berklee’s only harmonica player and played "till I got dizzy."

After Berklee and further studies at Wesleyan University in Connecticut, Galison returned to New York in 1982 where he developed a reputation as a singer, songwriter, and instrumentalist. He performed at the Village Gate, Blue Note, and Lone Star Cafe with legends Jaco Pastorius and Jaki Byard., and led his own group at Preacher's Cafe in Greenwich Village. Over his career, Galison has performed with such diverse artists as Sting and Carly Simon, Eddie Gomez and Les Paul, Astrud Gilberto and Toninho Horta; performed Gordon Jacob's "Suite for Harmonica and Orchestra;" toured nationally in the Broadway musical, Big River; and recorded soundtracks for films such as Academy Award nominees The Untouchables and Baghdad Café. His harmonica is also heard on television (Sesame Street theme) and countless commercials.

Dubbed “the most original and individual of the new generation of harmonica players” by none other than the greatest of them all, Toots Thielemans, Galison—who is also an accomplished guitarist—has released several recordings of contemporary jazz and appears on dozens more with such divas as Barbra Streisand, Ruth Brown, Peggy Lee, and Chaka Khan. And while his career has recently been somewhat waylaid while he untangles the legal and financial quagmire that has suppressed distribution of Got You on My Mind, he looks forward to touring with a new theatrical production of Baghdad Café and to releasing a new album later this year.

A native of Georgia, Madeline Peyroux grew up in Brooklyn before moving to Paris following her parents’ divorce (her mother is French). Absorbing French culture from an early age, she took up guitar in Paris, but her first love was singing. She first performed publicly with groups of street musicians in Paris’ Latin Quarter, including the Riverboat Shufflers and The Lost Wandering Blues and Jazz Band. After touring Europe with her French cohorts, Peyroux was “discovered” by an Atlantic Records agent while performing in a New York club, which led to the recording of Dreamland. Reportedly concerned about the pressure of coming up with another hit, she returned to street music and club dates, traveling from Los Angeles to New York to New Orleans and Western Europe before signing with Rounder Records in 2003. Careless Love soon followed in 2004, and becane an instant classic.

The Recording

Got You on My Mind defies easy classification as jazz, folk rock, country blues, whatever. Featuring hot vocalist Madeleine Peyroux on seven tracks, it might be easy to assume that her tangy vocals and guitar carry the effort. Yet on first listening it is clear that this is a melding of multiple talents, not the least of which is Galison’s soul-stirring harmonica. The “back-up” musicians have reputations of their own—Bob Dylan's bassist Tony Garnier and Saturday Night Live's drummer Sean Pelton on three tracks, with Rod Stewart's bassist Conrad Korsch and Conan O'Brien's drummer James Wormworth on the rest, and a few other guests along the way. Even Carly Simon turns up in a cameo, lending her name to the guest list but, in truth, her contribution is but one spoken line.

The seven tracks with Peyroux were recorded in spring 2003 as a “demo.” To fill the recording to full-length, Galison added 2 instrumentals and one vocal track that he recorded in early 2004, as well as a track (“Flambee Montalbanese”) that he recorded with the acclaimed German ensemble, Quadra Nuevo (www.quadronuevo.de), in 1999. Some tracks are first takes, lending an air of spontaneity to the whole; some overdubbing in the studio allowed Galison’s multi-instrumental performance on other tracks.

Two of Peyroux’s vocals, “J’ai Deux Amours” and “Heaven to Me” also appear on her highly rated Rounder release, Careless Love, with different arrangements and without Galison. What this earlier recording offers, in addition to the smoky voice and driving rhythm guitar of Peyroux, is the unique and often breath-taking harmonica and swinging guitar solos of Galison and the energy of the supporting cast as they present an eclectic mix. Pop/jazz classics include a Rio-tinged “The Way You Look Tonight;” Galison’s mournful treatment of John Lennon’s “Jealous Guy;” a 30s style swing through “Back in Your Own Backyard;” a vocal duet on “Heaven Help Us All,” expanded by Galison after 9/11; and a Josephine Baker standard (“J’ai Deux Amours”). The original compositions are outstanding: Galison’s instrumental that hints Crescent City, “Rag for Madi;” his seemingly autobiographical setting of the universal folk tale of the frog and scorpion, “Shoulda Known”; and the pair’s collaboration on “Playin” which recalls their mutual experiences as street musicians.

For those already familiar with Peyroux, there are no real surprises here, but another display of her engaging vocals and spirited guitar chops. Often (or always?) compared to the great Billie Holiday, indeed at times one hears that same quality and lilt. But her vibrato and phrasing are not as dramatic as Lady Day, and Peyroux is at her best when playing up what is uniquely her own voice, her “lovely, tarnished allure, cut with a hint of tartness,” as described by Celeste Sunderland (All About Jazz). On “Playin’” she reminds me more of Norah Jones, more country than urban; on the nonstandard treatment of the Kern and Fields chestnut, “The Way You Look Tonight,” her points of emphasis give it a sassy rather than romantic spin.

The surprise—at least for those of us not previously familiar with the virtuosity of this chromatic harmonica ace—is William Galison, multi-instrumentalist, composer, and vocalist who may be better known behind the scenes—e.g., his recordings with Streisand and Sting, the Sesame Street theme, the soundtrack for Baghdad Café—than for bringing his voice and songwriting out front. He provides vocals on four of the eleven tracks, 2 in beautiful blends with Peyroux (the title track and “Heaven Help Us All”), a one-liner on “Jealous Guy,” and his most significant (compositionally and vocally), “Shoulda Known.” With his voice pleasantly somewhere between Paul Simon and James Taylor, and proving a good musical fit with Peyroux, one only wishes that more of this recording included two-part harmony.

But in the end, it is Galison’s harmonica that gives Got You on My Mind its panache, its emotional drive. He delivers a plaintive air backing “J’ai Deux Amours”; accompanied by Quadro Nuevo’s global grooves on “Flambee Montalbanese,” the harmonica is mirrored by C-melody sax and accordion to infuse a Klezmer-ish, European folk flavor. On “Jealous Guy,” the mournful harmonica lends a country blues vibe, and one can picture Galison walking down a rural road, wondering where love has gone wrong—more sad than jealous. And while “Heaven to Me” was one of my favorites of Peyroux’s set in Minneapolis last fall, the wonderful addition of the harmonica here makes heaven seem a little closer. Galison is not a one-trick pony. He does double (even triple) duty on acoustic and electric guitars, effective throughout but particularly adding a buoyant twang to the title track.

Got You on My Mind is available from retail shops (including Tower Records, Borders, and Barnes and Noble retail stores), Amazon.com or from www.wakingupmusic.com. For more about William Galison, visit www.williamgalison.com; for more about Madeleine Peyroux, visit www.madeleinepeyroux.com