Gallodoro Stage in Oneonta Pays Homage to Woodwind Legend

By CASSANDRA MILLER
ONEONTA

The gold paint on the interior of the Al Gallodoro Stage is the same shade used on the marquee of the Orpheum Theater in New Orleans, where the legendary woodwind musician performed as a teenager in the 1920s. Gallodoro would have turned 112 on June 20—just one day before the stage’s dedication ceremony in his honor, to be held at noon on Saturday, June 21 in Oneonta’s Muller Plaza.

“My grandfather Al was a tremendous talent who played among the best of the best,” said Kevin Wood, Gallodoro’s grandson, who spearheaded the Oneonta stage project.

Gallodoro was a renowned jazz clarinetist and saxophonist, best known for playing lead alto sax with the Paul Whiteman Orchestra for four decades and bass clarinet in the NBC Symphony Orchestra under Arturo Toscanini. That iconic clarinet slide at the start of George Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue”? That’s Gallodoro, who claimed to have performed the piece more than 10,000 times—more than anyone else.

In 1981, after nearly 60 years as a professional musician, Gallodoro moved to Oneonta, where his grandson was studying business and music industry at SUNY Oneonta. Wood’s family and Gallodoro stayed in Oneonta for years. Wood’s mother, Alice, Gallodoro’s daughter, owned Alice’s Restaurant in the Southside Mall and a dancewear store on Main Street. 

“Electronics were coming into place, and Al was unsure of his future. He was worried,” Wood said. “He found a whole new career in Oneonta.”