CREDENTIALS

                    Of

Gino Mezzapelle, D.M.A.

The Early Years

I was born, raised, and educated in Los Angeles, California.  I started playing clarinet in the 8^th grade at  ASCENION SCHOOL  as a recruit for the  SERRA  HIGH  SCHOOL  BAND.  In my junior year, seven of my band mates and myself started the Majestics Dance Band & we were off playing gigs.  During that time, I also played with  Paul Colaluca’s  The  Esquires  Dance  Band, which lead to other gigs and music opportunities.  After graduating from  UCLA  with a B.A. in Music Performance, I my aspiration was to become a “L.A. studio musician.”  For that to happen, I had to be a member of the musicians union, local 47 AFM-CIO.

My first opportunity at playing a union gig was with through one of my mentors, Doctor Louis Palange, conductor of “THE LOS ANGELES MUNIPAL BAND.”   My relationship with Lou began at the Polka Palace in Southwest Los Angeles. Starting in about the eighth grade my older brother would take me to the Polka Palace to dance.  Lou and his brother played clarinet & saxophone in the 8 piece polka band.  When my playing got good enough, the Palanges would let me sit in with the band on clarinet. Lou became my clarinet teacher in high school, so I had an inside track to a clarinet position in the LA municipal band summer concert season of 1968.

Playing that summer gig with the LA municipal band lead to many other opportunities. I also played clarinet in two community orchestras that Mr. Palange was the conductor of “THE DOWNEY SYMPHONY” & “THE SOUTH BAY ORCHESTRA.”  Besides being a friend and teacher, Louis Palange was responsible for one of my defining experiences, my being an extra in the 20^th Century Fox Motion Picture, “Hello Dolly,” August of ’68.   Lou Palange had an inside connection at “fox,” so he got the call to put together Walter Matthew’s Marching Band. I ended up getting my picture in several pages of the February 14, 1969 article on the movie in “Life Magazine.”   Hanging on my studio walls today are 15 pictures from that experience, to include Barbara Striesand (age 27) & Gene Kelly.  In my career, I would go on to play the Broadway touring production of “Hello Dolly” starring Carol Channing at the Morris Mechanic Theater in Baltimore, Maryland. These early experiences earned me the credentials to go on to bigger and better things.

T H E    M A J E S T I C S     D A N C E     B A N D

Taken at a Serra High School Dance/ Gardena, California 1962

PLAYING MUSIC CONCERTS AROUND THE WORLD

         My first “big time union gig” was as a saxophone doubler in the touring production of “B a l l e t  A m e r i c a”   (based in Pasadena, CA.).   I loved touring the country and playing music;  so that summer  I  looked into joining  THE  UNITED   STATES  ARMY  FIELD  BAND, The  Musical  Ambassadors  of  The  U.  S.  Army.   On my 23^nd  birthday, I fly to Washington D.C.

 to play an audition for Ltc.Hal J Gibson, Leader & Major Samuel J Fricano, the 2^nd in command. I was accepted, and on September 9, 1969, I enlisted into the U.S. Army.

          THE UNITED STATES ARMY FIELD BAND took me half way around the world touring as a musician in 49 of our 50 states, four Central American countries, Panama, Bolivia, Ecuador, Columbia, Venezuela, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, as well as excursions to eight European countries, Isreal & Jordan.  As member of THE UNITED STATES ARMY BAND (PERSHING’S OWN) in Washington  D. C., I performed for important diplomats and heads of state, in addition to playing concerts and ceremonies.  The Army Band Program exposed me to an enormous amount of concert band music.  I would go on to play in such concert bands as The Disneyland Band in Anaheim, The Tidewater Winds in Tidewater VA, The Municipal Bands for Long Beach CA, Lexington KY, & Baltimore MD,  and  The  Barnum  &  Bailey  Circus  Band in Inglewood CA, Baltimore MD, Washington DC, Lexington KY & Norfolk & Hampton VA.

THE UNITED STATES ARMY FIELD BAND was based at Fort George G. Meade, Maryland between Washington and Baltimore.  I fell in love with the Baltimore/Washington area.  During the end of my 1^st year in the Field Band, one of my band mate’s wife introduced me to Carol at the 1970 Spring Cherry Blossom Concert on the Mall in Washington D.C.  It was love at first sight, and we were married at the Ft. Meade Chapel on March 27, 1971.  We’re still married!

·         The United States Army Field Band   The Musical Ambassadors for the U.S. Army

·         The United States Army Band             Pershing’s Own - Washington D.C.

·         The United States Continental Army Band Tradoc’s Own / Ft. Monroe VA. /Chief arranger

·        The United States Armed Forces  -  School of Music  -  Instructor of Clarinet & Saxophone

EDUCATION

          Ascension School – South Los Angeles, California / 1952 – 1960

            Junipero Serra High School – Gardena, California  / 1960 – 1964

            El Camino College – Torrance, California                       1964  - 1966

The University of California at Los Angeles / BA in Music Education 1968

            The Catholic University of America,  School of Music, Washington D.C.

SELECTED ON STAGE PERFORMANCES

·                    Paul Anka at Caesar’s Place, Las Vegas, Nevada 1980 - 1981

·                    Johnny Cash on the Mall of our nation’s Bicentennial Celebration July 4, 1976

·                    Glen Campbell at Merriweather Post Pavilion, Columbia, Maryland – Summer 1972

·                    Rosemary Clooney at Painter’s Mill Dinner Theater, Reisterstown, Maryland 1977

·                    The Four Tops (4 occasions) Busch Gardens Theater, Williamsburg, Virginia 1983 /

Grand View State Park, Beckley, WV/ Waterfront Park, Huntington, WV 1988

                        Pier 6 at the Inner Harbor, Baltimore Maryland 1990

·                    Aertha Franklin Pier 6 at the Inner Harbor, Baltimore Maryland 1995

·                    Gladys Knight and the Pips Capital Center Arena, Largo Maryland 1979

·                    Robert Goulet Sheriton Inner Harbor Hotel Grand Ballroom, Baltimore, Maryland 1990

·                    Rich Little  Sahara Hotel Main Showroom, Las Vegas, Nevada 1980

·                    Benny King  1988 North Carolina Cultural Arts Festival, Winston Salem, NC

                        Louisville Center for the Performing Arts on the Ohio River, Louisville 1988

·                    Liberace  Main Showroom of the LasVegas Hilton 1980

·                    Johnny Mathis Pier, 6 Inner Harbor, Baltimore – Summer 1991

·                    Don Rickles Main Showroom of the Sahara Hotel, Las Vegas, Nevada 1980

·                    Sheri Lewis & Lamb Chop Pier 6 (Inner Harbor, Baltimore) 1991

·                    Regis Feldman & Kathy Lee Merriweather Post Pavilion, Columbia, Maryland 1990

·                    Joan Rivers Merriweather Post Pavilion, Columbia, Maryland 1991

·                    The Temptations The Busch Gardens Theater, Williamsburg, Virginia 1983

                        Pier 6 at the Inner Harbor, Baltimore, Maryland 1990

·                      Frankie Valli Pier 6 at the Inner Harbor, Baltimore, Maryland 1995

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PERFORMED WITH THE FOLLOWING ORGANIZATIONS:

The Annapolis Symphony Orchestra               Ballet America (Pasadena, CA)

The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra              The Baltimore City Municipal Band

The Barnum & Bailey Circus (8 cities              The Bay Cities (So.CA) Orchestra

The Disneyland Band (Anaheim CA)            The Downey Symphony (LA area)

The Las Vegas Civic Orchestra                      The Lexington Swing Society (Kentucky)

Long Beach California Municipal Band                The Louisville Symphony Orchestra

The National Symphony Orchestra        Stan Kenton’s Los Angeles Neophonic