William Alexander Galison (born February 19, 1958) is an American harmonica player.[1]

Early life

Galison was born and raised in New York City.[1] As a child, he started to study piano, but at the age of eight he decided to switch to guitar, having been inspired by the Beatles.[1] He developed a love of jazz in high school and attended Berklee College of Music in Boston.[1] He decided to change to the harmonica because "I was one of a million guitarists at Berklee"[1] and it was easy to carry around.[2] He was Berklee's only harmonica player.[1] He toured extensively in Europe with Billy Leadbelly (Bill Gough from Hatfield UK).[1] Among his role models at the time were Toots Thielemans and Stevie Wonder.[1]

After Berklee, he studied at Wesleyan University, then returned to New York City in 1982.[1]

He performed at various New York venues, including The Village Gate, The Blue Note and the Lone Star Cafe with jazz musicians Jaco Pastorius and Jaki Byard.[1] He also played with his own group at Preacher's Cafe in Greenwich Village.[1]

Collaborations and recordings

Galison has worked with Carly Simon, Sting, Barbra Streisand, Peggy Lee, Chaka Khan, Steve Tyrell, and Astrud Gilberto.[1] He performed Gordon Jacob's "Suite for Harmonica and Orchestra" and toured the US in the Broadway musical Big River.[1] He has recorded soundtracks for films, including Academy Award nominees The Untouchables and Bagdad Café.[1] His harmonica is also heard on the Sesame Street theme ("a great honor")[2] and commercials.[1] Other television work includes Oz and Saturday Night Live.[3]

One of his major influences and role models, Toots Thielemans, once described him as "the most original and individual of the new generation of harmonica players".[1]

Got You On My Mind and Madeleine Peyroux

In 2002, Galison met jazz singer and guitarist Madeleine Peyroux in a bar in Greenwich Village.[4] They started to play music together and eventually moved in together.[4]

By the end of the year Peyroux had moved out and the couple had broken up, but they continued playing together and recorded a seven-song CD called Got You on My Mind in February 2003.[4] Peyroux's contract with Rounder Records prohibited her from selling the Got You on My Mind recording, and she stopped performing with Galison.[4] Galison continued to sell the recording and claimed that he was owed payment for canceled performances.[4] After threatened legal action from Peyroux's lawyer, Galison sued Peyroux, the lawyer, and Rounder.[4][5][6]

Discography

As leader or co-leader

  • Overjoyed (Polygram, 1988)
  • Midnight Sun (Eclipse Collage, 1997)
  • Waking Up with You (JVC, 2000)
  • Got You on My Mind with Madeleine Peyroux (Wake Up Music, 2004)

As sideman

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 Canter, Andrea (April 21, 2005). "William Galison & Madeleine Peyroux: 'Got You On My Mind'". Jazz Police. Archived from the original on July 9, 2011.
  2. 1 2 Hansen, Liane (January 18, 2004). "William Galison's Harmonica Jazz". NPR. Retrieved April 30, 2022.
  3. ↑ "William Galison". Phil Brodie Band Tributes. Archived from the original on May 17, 2004.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Skinner, David (December 2005). "The Sound and the Fury". Boston Magazine. Retrieved December 1, 2012.
  5. ↑ "Former boyfriend sues jazz singer". UPI. Retrieved April 26, 2022.
  6. ↑ Brown, Jonathan (August 23, 2005). "Former boyfriend sues the disappearing jazz singer, claiming he discovered her". The Independent. Retrieved April 26, 2022.
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