William Galison is an American jazz musician, most famous as a harmonica player but also known as a multi-instrumentalist, singer and composer. [1]
Galison was born and raised in New York City, New York. As a child, he started to study piano, but at the age of eight decided to switch to guitar having been inspired by The Beatles. He developed a love of jazz in High School and subsequently attended Berklee College of Music in Boston. He decided to change to the harmonica because "I was one of a million guitarists at Berklee" [2] and it was easy to carry around. [3] He became Berklee's only harmonica player. [4] Among his role models at the time were Toots Thielemans and Stevie Wonder. [5]
After Berklee, he studied further at Wesleyan University in Connecticut, then returned to New York in 1982. He swiftly developed a good reputation as a singer, songwriter and instrumentalist. [6]
He performed at various New York venues including The Village Gate, The Blue Note and the Lone Star Cafe with legendary jazz musicians Jaco Pastorius and Jaki Byard. He also played with his own group at Preacher's Cafe in Greenwich Village. [7]
Galison has worked with a diverse range of artists including Carly Simon, Sting, Barbra Streisand, Peggy Lee, Chaka Khan and Astrud Gilberto. He has performed Gordon Jacob's "Suite for Harmonica and Orchestra" and toured the USA in the Broadway musical, Big River. He has also recorded soundtracks for films, most notably Academy Award nominees The Untouchables and Bagdad Café. [8] His harmonica is also heard on the Sesame Street theme ("a great honor") [9] and countless commercials. [10]
One of his major influences and role models, Toots Thielmans, once described him as "the most original and individual of the new generation of harmonica players". [11]
In spring 2003, Galison recorded a demo with jazz singer and guitarist Madeleine Peyroux. They recorded seven tracks with Peyroux singing and playing guitar and Galison playing harmonica. He recruited an impressive set of back-up musicians including Bob Dylan's bassist Tony Garnier and Saturday Night Live's drummer Sean Pelton on three tracks with Rod Stewart's bassist Conrad Korsch and Conan O'Brien's drummer James Wormworth on the rest. Carly Simon appears very briefly, speaking one line.(Jazz police)
Before these sessions could be released, Galison decided that they needed additional material and some overdubbing. He added two instrumentals and a track from early 2004, as well as a track (Flambee Montalbanese) that he recorded with the German ensemble Quadra Nuevo in 1999.(Jazz police)
He sings on four of the eleven tracks, twice with Peyroux. His voice has been described favourably as "somewhere between Paul Simon and James Taylor". [12]
'Got You On my Mind' Janet Seidel 'Love Letters' YouTube 'guitar incident' mark twain book 'physical abuse' depositions willgalison (depositions) (I'll be Your Baby Tonight) (This Is Heaven) Playin'
Madeleine Peyroux street musicians(Jazz police)
- ^ Jazz Police
- ^ Jazz Police
- ^ NPR interview
- ^ Jazz Police
- ^ Jazz Police
- ^ Jazz Police
- ^ Jazz Police
- ^ Jazz Police
- ^ NPR interview, 2004
- ^ Jazz Police
- ^ Jazz Police
- ^ Jazz Police
- Category:Jazz musicians
- Category:Harmonica players
William Galison is an American jazz musician, most famous as a harmonica player but also known as a multi-instrumentalist, singer and composer. [1]
Galison was born and raised in New York City, New York. As a child, he started to study piano, but at the age of eight decided to switch to guitar having been inspired by The Beatles. He developed a love of jazz in High School and subsequently attended Berklee College of Music in Boston. He decided to change to the harmonica because "I was one of a million guitarists at Berklee" [2] and it was easy to carry around. [3] He became Berklee's only harmonica player. [4] Among his role models at the time were Toots Thielemans and Stevie Wonder. [5]
After Berklee, he studied further at Wesleyan University in Connecticut, then returned to New York in 1982. He swiftly developed a good reputation as a singer, songwriter and instrumentalist. [6]
He performed at various New York venues including The Village Gate, The Blue Note and the Lone Star Cafe with legendary jazz musicians Jaco Pastorius and Jaki Byard. He also played with his own group at Preacher's Cafe in Greenwich Village. [7]
Galison has worked with a diverse range of artists including Carly Simon, Sting, Barbra Streisand, Peggy Lee, Chaka Khan and Astrud Gilberto. He has performed Gordon Jacob's "Suite for Harmonica and Orchestra" and toured the USA in the Broadway musical, Big River. He has also recorded soundtracks for films, most notably Academy Award nominees The Untouchables and Bagdad Café. [8] His harmonica is also heard on the Sesame Street theme ("a great honor") [9] and countless commercials. [10]
One of his major influences and role models, Toots Thielmans, once described him as "the most original and individual of the new generation of harmonica players". [11]
In spring 2003, Galison recorded a demo with jazz singer and guitarist Madeleine Peyroux. They recorded seven tracks with Peyroux singing and playing guitar and Galison playing harmonica. He recruited an impressive set of back-up musicians including Bob Dylan's bassist Tony Garnier and Saturday Night Live's drummer Sean Pelton on three tracks with Rod Stewart's bassist Conrad Korsch and Conan O'Brien's drummer James Wormworth on the rest. Carly Simon appears very briefly, speaking one line.(Jazz police)
Before these sessions could be released, Galison decided that they needed additional material and some overdubbing. He added two instrumentals and a track from early 2004, as well as a track (Flambee Montalbanese) that he recorded with the German ensemble Quadra Nuevo in 1999.(Jazz police)
He sings on four of the eleven tracks, twice with Peyroux. His voice has been described favourably as "somewhere between Paul Simon and James Taylor". [12]
'Got You On my Mind' Janet Seidel 'Love Letters' YouTube 'guitar incident' mark twain book 'physical abuse' depositions willgalison (depositions) (I'll be Your Baby Tonight) (This Is Heaven) Playin'
Madeleine Peyroux street musicians(Jazz police)
- ^ Jazz Police
- ^ Jazz Police
- ^ NPR interview
- ^ Jazz Police
- ^ Jazz Police
- ^ Jazz Police
- ^ Jazz Police
- ^ Jazz Police
- ^ NPR interview, 2004
- ^ Jazz Police
- ^ Jazz Police
- ^ Jazz Police
- Category:Jazz musicians
- Category:Harmonica players