Gil Bernal (February 4, 1931 - July 17, 2011) was a singer
and a session musician who was described by many as having one of the most
sensual sounds in Jazz.
Bernal was born on February 4, 1931 in Watts, Los Angeles.
His father was Sicilian and his mother Mexican. He grew up in an area rich with
musicians, including Buddy Collette, Big Jay McNeely and Charles Mingus.
By the time he was in his teens he was an accomplished
singer and saxophonist. Gil attended Jordan High School and enrolled at Los
Ageles City College for one year. After graduating from high school in 1948,
Bernal played with a 10-piece band that played at parties. In 1950, he ended up
replacing a sax player that Lionel Hampton had fired. He then toured nationallywith Hampton in a band that included Quincy Jones and Little Jimmy Scott. He
left Hampton's band in the early 1950s.
Next he did a stint with his own band in Las Vegas, before
joining Spike Jones' band as saxophone soloist, vocalist, and impressionist,
spending the next six years touring the U.S., playing Las Vegas and Lake Tahoe,
as well as appearing on numerous NBC and CBS television shows. After which he
returned to L.A. where he founded his own band, which included Shelley Mann and
Shorty Rogers, playing the busy L.A. music scene and working Vegas and Lake
Tahoe, this time with his own band.
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 "Riotin Cell Block Number 9" and “Smoky Joe’s CafĂ©” by The
Robins. He played on Duane Eddy's 1958 hit "Rebel Rouser" and also
"Stalkin'". According to Mike Stoller, co-writer of Smokey Joe's
Cafe, Bernal "could take eight bars and make it very exciting in a middle
of a vocal performance".
As well as a musician, Bernel was a singer in his own right.
Many of his records, like “Can You Love A Poor Boy” and “To Make A Big Man Cry”
are very collectable by Northern Soul fans. Other notable recordings are
"Keep Those Wandering Eyes Off My Baby" for American Records,
"Starwberry Stomp" for Spark Records and "Tower Of
Strength" for the Imperial label.
His single "This Is Worth Fighting For" was picked
by Billboard in July 1967 to chart in the hot 100. Also in 1967, the film
Banning that starred Robert Wagner and Jill St. John and Gene Hackman was
released. Bernal sang the song "The Eyes of Love" which was featured
in the film. He received an Academy Award nomination for it. In 1970, he was
signed to Amaret Records with the intention to be produced Joe Porter and Jerry
Styner.
In 1997 he appeared in the film The End of Violence In the
90s, he received a phone call from Ry Cooder, who had known for about five
years, asking him to come to Havana in the next few days to play on a recording
by Ibrahim Ferrer. Bernal didn't have his passport in order and it would have
been weeks before he could get it sorted. In the end, the solution was to
overdub the saxophone parts. So following Cooder's instructions, he added the
parts. In 2005, Bernal contributed to Cooder's concept album Chavez Ravine.
In 2012, his record "The Dogs" bw
"James" was re-released by Jukebox Jam Series in 2012. The A side is
a Northern Soul favourite while the B side is a tribute to Civil Rights Movement
figure James Meredith. Bernal had agreed to the terms of reissuing the 45 but
died before the record was released.
As one of L.A.’s most in-demand session players, he recorded
with many other greats, including Ray Charles, Big Mama Thornton, The Dominos,
The Coasters, Quincy Jones Orchestra, Buddy Bregman Orchestra, Henry Mancini
Orchestra, David Rose Orchestra, Dan Terry Orchestra and many others.
Gil died of congestive heart failure on July 17, 2011
at Glendale Adventist Medical Centre in Glendale, California at the age of 80.
He was survived by his wife Harriet and his five children, ten grandchildren;
and three great-grandchildren. (Info edited from various sources mainly Wikipedia)
2 comments:
Unfortunately I can’t seem to find any compilations of Gil’s work, but on this Ace CD titled “Spark Records” there are some of his early tracks as a solo and session player. A big thanks to Jake @ Juke box City for link.
http://www37.zippyshare.com/v/QuYy61wx/file.html
01 Riot In Cell Block #9 - Robins
02 Love Me - Willy And Ruth
03 One Bad Stud - Honey Bears
04 King Solomon's Blues - Gil Bernal
05 I Gotta A New Car - Big Boy Groves & Band
06 Bring It On Back - Mister Ruffin
07 I'm Tired Of Beggin' - Sly Fox
08 Loop De Loop Mambo - Robins
09 Farewell - Willy And Ruth
10 Easyville - Gil Bernal
11 Hoo-Hoo Say - Sly Fox
12 I Shall Not Fail - Honey Bears
13 Whadaya Want - Robins
14 A Touch Of Heaven (Just Around The Corner) - Mister Buffin
15 Midnight Special - Big Boy Groves & Band
16 My Four Women - Sly Fox
17 Just Say The Word - Frankie Marshall
18 Soft Winds - Ernie Andrews
19 I Must Be Dreamin' - Robins
20 No One Else Will Ever Know - Frankie Marshall
21 Alley Music - Sly Fox
22 Wobble Lou - Sly Fox
23 Strike A Match (Unreleased) - Garland The Great
24 The Hatchet Man - Robins
25 Another Fool (Sings The Blues) - Ray Agee
26 Tree Stump Jump - Garland The Great
27 It's Hot - Gene And Billy
28 In The Still Of The Night - Ernie Andrews
29 Zerlene - Gene And Billy
30 Smokey Joe's Cafe – Robins
This guy was phenomenal. i came here to get a picture because i neede it to post lyrics on lyrics .com for The Dogs. a song i'd never heard before. blatantly civil rights based and out of this world.backed on the B side with James' about James Meredith the civil rights hero. these lyrics make yu sad for America then And sadly today
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