Whether performing, composing, or interviewing world-famous musical figures, Michael Gallant relies on a potent combination of guts and musicality, learning and improvisation to see him through — and his first album with the Michael Gallant Trio, Completely, is no exception. The album, released on February 12, 2013, features Gallant on piano and keyboard, DownBeat Critics Poll winner Linda Oh on bass, and New York session drummer Chris Infusino on percussion. The album was engineered and mixed by Grammy® award-winning engineer Mario J McNulty and produced by Gallant and Rachel Rossos. Completely features nine original works, as well as a cover of Pearl Jam’s “Go” that channels equal parts Eddie Vedder and McCoy Tyner. Throughout his compositions and arrangements, Gallant sought to alchemize the energy of the Seattle grunge band with the grace of Bill Evans, the timeless melodicism of Leonard Bernstein, and the improvisational astronautics of Medeski Martin and Wood — all within the vehicle of the traditional jazz trio. Completely is a collection of stories, people, and places. Gallant wrote the funky, swaggering The Real Maria as a memorial to his first jazz piano teacher, a brilliant and fiery player who always urged him to put “salsa” into his fingers. The wistfully sensual Cornelia Street Tango was premiered at a theater production at the tune’s namesake Cornelia Street Café. The Led Zeppelin-meets-Debussy composition Problem With The Game was also originally written to