Holder of an M.Sc. in Chemistry, Eric Gale resorted to his own brand of guitar alchemy in creating the distinctive sound that graced a long list of jazz cross-over albums in the 1970s and 80s.  CTI label recordings with Bob James, Grover Washington Jr. and Stanley Turrentine led to session work with all the major artists in the genre, including Gary Burton, Illinois Jacquet and Herbie Mann, and eventually almost every pop star with hits in the Billboard charts: Aretha Franklin, Diana Ross, Paul Simon, Quincy Jones, Jackie Wilson... Sadly, this brilliant innovator was cut down by lung cancer in 1994 at 55.