William_Galison
William Galison
American harmonica player (born 1958)
William Alexander Galison (born February 19, 1958) is an American harmonica player.[1]
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]
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][better source needed]
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]
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]
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
- 1990 Music Inside, Joyce
- 1990 There'll Be Another Spring, Peggy Lee
- 1991 Talking Hands, Deborah Henson-Conant
- 1991 Tony Terry, Tony Terry
- 1992 Baby I'm Yours, Maureen McGovern
- 1992 Temporary Road, John Gorka
- 1992 The Woman I Am, Chaka Khan
- 1993 Songs of My Life, Ruth Brown
- 1994 Tropical Escape, Craig Peyton
- 1994 Foot On The Road, Toninho Horta
- 1995 Amor, Jon Secada
- 1995 Thanks, Ivan Neville
- 1995 The Web, Craig Peyton
- 1996 Mortal City, Dar Williams
- 1997 Closer, Mondo Grosso
- 1997 End of the Summer, Dar Williams
- 1997 I Thought About You, Christy Baron
- 1997 Montevideo, Rubén Rada
- 1997 Night in Time: Live, Peter Gallway
- 1997 Ride, Louise Taylor
- 1997 Sing Me a Story, Bob McGrath
- 1998 From Ton to Tom, Toninho Horta
- 2000 Steppin' , Christy Baron
- 2000 Written in Red, Louise Taylor
- 2001 Love Letters, Janet Seidel
- 2002 Cine Passion, Quadro Nuevo
- 2003 Count Your Blessings, Barbara Cook
- 2003 The Movie Album, Barbra Streisand
- 2004 Company, Jeanette MacDonald
- 2004 On the Moon, Peter Cincotti
- 2005 Luna Rossa, Quadro Nuevo
- 2005 Moonlight Serenade, Carly Simon
- 2005 Twilight of the Renegades, Jimmy Webb
- 2007 Fifteen Seconds of Grace, Victoria Clark
- 2008 A Day in the Life of a Mother and Wife, Cat Guthrie
- 2008 Faith Trust and Pixie Dust, Kerry Butler
- 2008 This Kind of Love, Carly Simon
- 2008 To Jobim with Love, Toninho Horta
- 2012 Old LP, Bob Telson
- 2012 Sunken Condos, Donald Fagen
- Canter, Andrea (April 21, 2005). "William Galison & Madeleine Peyroux: 'Got You On My Mind'". Jazz Police. Archived from the original on July 9, 2011.
- Hansen, Liane (January 18, 2004). "William Galison's Harmonica Jazz". NPR. Retrieved April 30, 2022.
- "William Galison". Phil Brodie Band Tributes. Archived from the original on May 17, 2004.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link) - Skinner, David (December 2005). "The Sound and the Fury". Boston Magazine. Retrieved December 1, 2012.
- "Former boyfriend sues jazz singer". UPI. Retrieved April 26, 2022.
- Brown, Jonathan (August 23, 2005). "Former boyfriend sues the disappearing jazz singer, claiming he discovered her". The Independent. Retrieved April 26, 2022.