Al Gallodoro

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.