Al Gallodoro(1913-2008)
- Actor
Well into his nineties, and still going strong, Al Gallodoro is known
as one of the very last of the big band reed men; he started playing
professionally for the group "Romeo and His Juliets" at the Lyric
Theatre in his home town of Birmingham, Alabama soon after his
thirteenth birthday. From there, he went first to New Orleans, and
thence to New York City, where he would play clarinet and alto
saxophone with such greats as Isham Jonesand
Paul Whitemanas well as bass
clarinet in the NBC Symphony under
Arturo Toscanini and
Leopold Stokowski. A long time
resident of New York City (where he still [2008] regularly plays in
small combos and bands), he lives now in the Leatherstocking region of
central New York state, where in 2005, he received an honorary
doctorate in music from Hartwick College in Oneonta, New York.