By the time he was in his teens he was an accomplished singer and saxophonist. In the early days he played at parties. In 1950, he ended up replacing a sax player that Lionel Hampton had fired. He then toured nationally with Hampton in a band that included Quincy Jones and Little Jimmy Scott.LA Weekly Tuesday, July 19, 2011 R.I.P. Gil Bernal; Los Angeles Tenor Sax Great is Dead Obituary by Jonny Whiteside In the period between 1954 and 1955, Bernal recorded under his own name. He recorded "Easyville" and "The Whip" for the Spark Records label. Two others he recorded for the label were "Strawberry Stomp" and "King Solomon's Mines". "The Whip" did receive some airplay and was used by Alan Freed as the opening theme for his late R&B show. He did some session work for the label which included "Riot in Cell Block Number 9" by The Robins.Beyond Alliances: The Jewish Role in Reshaping the Racial Landscape of Southern California George J. Sanchez, Editor Page 49 Multicultural Music, Jews and American CultureYou Found that Eastside Sound Saturday, July 2, 2011 CHICANO ROCKER – GIL BERNAL
