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. In 1933 he briefly joined Isham Jones' big band, making one record session with it. In 1936 he was hired to play lead alto saxophone in Paul Whiteman's orchestra, among the most popular performing groups of the era. After that group disbanded in 1940 he was hired to play bass clarinet in the NBC Symphony Orchestra under Arturo Toscanini. Among his credits is the famed opening clarinet glissando from the 1945 Warner Brothers film Rhapsody in Blue. He claimed to have performed that particular piece over 10,000 times in his career, more than any other person.Alfred J. Gallodoro obituary. (October 7, 2008) (Oneonta, New York) The Daily Star.
