World-class clarinetist and saxophonist, Al Gallodoro, who played in sets with Sarah Fieg Corkery's drummer husband, Kevin, arrived in Oneonta 40 years ago next year. His name can easily be spoken in the same sentence with Benny Goodman, Artie Shaw and any other great clarinetists of the 20th Century.
A member of the Hartwick College faculty, and eponym of the H'05 Award for outstanding achievement in music performance by a student, he was notable for having played alto sax with the famed Paul "King of Jazz" Whiteman Orchestra in the 1930s and, later, bass clarinet for 12 years with the NBC Symphony Orchestra under Arturo Toscanini.
Fortunato Alfred J. Gallodoro (whose surname in Italian means "golden rooster"), had a career that spanned eight decades, playing until his death at age 95 in Oneonta on Oct. 4, 2008. Fieg cousin Allison Bookhout officiated at his funeral.
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| Al Gallodoro |
By any measure, he was one of the world's longest continually active performing musicians, having started his career in the city of his birth, Chicago, at the age of 13.
In addition to Toscanini, Al was conducted by Leopold Stokowski, Leonard Bernstein, Arthur Fiedler, Percy Faith, and Skitch Henderson.
He appeared with George Gershwin, Victor Borge, Dinah Shore, Sid Caesar, Les Paul, Bob Hope, Edgar Bergen, Duke Ellington, Tommy Dorsey, Mario Lanza, Frank Sinatra, and Milton Berle. Al also appeared in the 20th Century Fox 1952 production of Ernest Hemingway's "The Snows of Kilimanjaro," starring Gregory Peck, Ava Gardner and Susan Hayward.
The Gallodoro Serenade was written for him by composer Ferde Grofe. He was also the subject of a PBS documentary.
A member of the adjunct faculty and instructor, he trained numerous Hartwick College graduates to play the reeds, and was the recipient of an honorary doctoral degree from the school.
At the time of his death, he held the world's record for the most performances on the clarinet in Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue," ten thousand. He played both classical and jazz selections, and was arguably the greatest saxophone/clarinet virtuoso in history.
The Al Gallodoro Music Memorial Fund is named for him, as well as the annual Al Gallodoro music award at Hartwick.
At the time of his death he had produced eight CDs and a music video, in addition to recordings with other artists. His production company was Chmusic Productions/Golden Rooster Records.
Take a listen to Al Gallodoro and the Beau Hunks playing a 1931 hit, "The Hour of Parting."
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6 comments:
Free-wheeling, sweeping, inventive and technically perfect, Al playing The Hour of Parting is not to be missed. Click, click, click!! Are you listening Don Roman? Great job, Judy!
Great blog. Groovy music too. I had no idea who this guy was before you wrote the article. But I have heard of that Corkery guy, hee hee.
Thank you for the story about the reed player. Believe it or not, just last night I watched my recording of Rhapsody in Blue.
Merry Christmas
Russell
Be sure to click the blue link at the end of this post. The music is quite good and makes one wonder why "Hour of Parting" doesn't more often make lists of the standards.
Al Golidoro has quite a bit of time on screen in "The Snows of Kilimanjaro," in which he plays a saxophonist in support of Gregory Peck and Susan Hayward. Based on a Hemingway's story, one of the greatest of the 20th Century, it was less than well mounted by 20th Century Fox, who rewrote the tragic ending to make it happy. Darryl Zanuck called Hemingway during the production to see whether the author could come up with a more marketable title than Snows of Killimanjaro. Hemingway reportedly replied: 'F' as in 20th Century Fox, 'U' as in Universal Pictures, 'C' as in Culver City, and 'K' as in RKO.
*Gallodoro
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