Deryl Gallant

It is entirely plausible that Deryl Gallant accidentally became one of PEI’s most versatile and sought after bass players. The story goes like this…

Deryl’s friend had a meeting with Jenet Clement about taking music lessons, but the friend didn’t want to go alone, so Deryl tagged along in support. During the meeting, an upright bass was placed in his hand and one month later, he found himself performing on stage in Saint John, NB. 

That same year, he found out that he was due to get the Super Mario Bros 3 video game for Christmas. Instead, he asked his parents if it could be returned so the money could be used to buy a bass. They obliged, he got the bass, but he didn’t have an amplifier, so his father rewired an old boombox and Deryl started making noise. 

Jenet Clement taught him how to read music, but also how to listen and play by ear. It was this approach that gave Deryl his balanced skill. The first CD he bought for himself was Guns N’ Roses Use Your Illusions I and by ear, he learned how to play each song. He spent his high school years in a variety of rock n roll or indie bands. 

Following his graduation, Deryl took a hard stylistic turn and got a Classical Degree in double bass from UPEI. In 1999, he joined a swing revival group called The Jive Kings. Their three year run produced two albums and won them back-to-back East Coast Music Awards for Jazz Artist/Group of the Year. 

When the Jive Kings went kaput, and Deryl had graduated from UPEI, he started working in IT. Focusing on employment, he would still take the odd jazz gig, but his full-steam-ahead approach to musical life slowed.  

In 2008, while focused on family and working his IT job, he got an offer to teach music at UPEI. It felt good to be working part-time in music again, and teaching a new generation of students offered him a much needed injection to the soul.  

In 2011, his mother passed, and he took a work break and spent some time searching. His work, while very supportive in a financial sense, was draining him on a human level. During this period, he bought a guitar, he reset himself, and returned anew. Though he felt renewed musically, he was still trudging through his work life and he knew he needed to make adjustments.  

In 2023, he was offered another role with UPEI, but this time as the Manager of Operations for UPEI’s Client Services. So, he’s still in IT, but this time he loves it. It allows him time and energy to pursue music again, on new terms. This shift has completely transformed his life and Deryl is happy. 

He has always been dedicated to excellence and in 2024, the East Coast Music Awards honoured that dedication with the Musician Achievement Award. He is a seasoned and skilled musician, a mentor, and a nurturer of future talent and our community is stronger because he is in it. His journey is marked first by happenstance, but his 30-year timeline is brimming with examples of patience, sacrifice, dedication, and grace.  

These days, if you’d like to catch Deryl in action, you will find him performing with Route 225, Craig Fair Productions, The Soosh, Take the Mic (Live Band Karaoke), and Nice Boys (Tribute to Guns N’ Roses.)