Al Gallodoro

Devoting himself to practice, Gallodoro earned a spot with Romeo and His Juliets and made his first stage appearance at Birmingham's Lyric Theatre in 1926.

The next summer he toured the Gulf Coast with Birmingham banjo player George Evans and decided to settle in New Orleans, Louisiana, where his family joined him.

After six years of playing nightclubs, speakeasies and vaudeville shows at the Orpheum Theater, Gallodoro moved to New York City and worked in radio bands.

Known for effortlessly transitioning from classical to jazz idioms and for a clean and virtuosic style, Gallodoro was much in demand as a session recording artist.

Composer Ferde Grofé tailored his Gallodoro's Serenade for Saxophone and Piano for him in 1958, which he recorded in 2004 (Grofe and Gershwin: Symphonic Jazz).