{{Use mdy dates|date=April 2022}} {{short description|American harmonica player (born 1958)}} '''William Alexander Galison''' (born February 19, 1958) is an American harmonica player.<ref name="Jazz Police">{{cite web |last=Canter |first=Andrea |date=April 21, 2005 |title=William Galison & Madeleine Peyroux: 'Got You On My Mind' |url=http://www.jazzpolice.com/content/view/5027/2/ |website=Jazz Police |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110709212746/http://www.jazzpolice.com/content/view/5027/2/ |archive-date=July 9, 2011}}</ref>
==Early life== Galison was born and raised in New York City.<ref name="Jazz Police"/> As a child, he started to study piano, but at the age of eight he decided to switch to guitar, having been inspired by the Beatles.<ref name="Jazz Police"/> He developed a love of jazz in high school and attended Berklee College of Music in Boston.<ref name="Jazz Police"/> He decided to change to the harmonica because "I was one of a million guitarists at Berklee"<ref name="Jazz Police"/> and it was easy to carry around.<ref name="npr2004">{{cite web |last1=Hansen |first1=Liane |title=William Galison's Harmonica Jazz |url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1603560 |website=NPR |access-date=April 30, 2022 |language=en |date=January 18, 2004}}</ref> He was Berklee's only harmonica player.<ref name="Jazz Police"/> He toured extensively in Europe with Billy Leadbelly (Bill Gough from Hatfield UK).<ref name="Jazz Police"/> Among his role models at the time were Toots Thielemans and Stevie Wonder.<ref name="Jazz Police"/>
After Berklee, he studied at Wesleyan University, then returned to New York City in 1982.<ref name="Jazz Police"/>
He performed at various New York venues, including The Village Gate, The Blue Note and the Lone Star Cafe with jazz musicians Jaco Pastorius and Jaki Byard.<ref name="Jazz Police"/> He also played with his own group at Preacher's Cafe in Greenwich Village.<ref name="Jazz Police"/>
==Collaborations and recordings== Galison has worked with Carly Simon, Sting, Barbra Streisand, Peggy Lee, Chaka Khan, Steve Tyrell, and Astrud Gilberto.<ref name="Jazz Police"/> He performed Gordon Jacob's "Suite for Harmonica and Orchestra" and toured the US in the Broadway musical ''Big River''.<ref name="Jazz Police"/> He has recorded soundtracks for films, including Academy Award nominees ''The Untouchables'' and ''Bagdad Café''.<ref name="Jazz Police"/> His harmonica is also heard on the ''Sesame Street'' theme ("a great honor")<ref name="npr2004" /> and commercials.<ref name="Jazz Police"/> Other television work includes ''Oz'' and ''Saturday Night Live''.<ref name="philbrodieband.com">{{cite web |title=William Galison |url=http://philbrodieband.com/muso_william_galison.htm |website=Phil Brodie Band Tributes |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040517093854/http://philbrodieband.com/muso_william_galison.htm |archive-date=May 17, 2004 |url-status=usurped}}</ref>{{bsn|date=April 2022}}
One of his major influences and role models, Toots Thielemans, once described him as "the most original and individual of the new generation of harmonica players".<ref name="Jazz Police"/>
==''Got You On My Mind'' and Madeleine Peyroux== In 2002, Galison met jazz singer and guitarist Madeleine Peyroux in a bar in Greenwich Village.<ref name=skinner>{{cite news | url=https://www.bostonmagazine.com/2006/05/15/the-sound-and-the-fury/ | title=The Sound and the Fury | work=Boston Magazine | date=December 2005 | accessdate=December 1, 2012 | author=Skinner, David}}</ref> They started to play music together and eventually moved in together.<ref name=skinner/>
By the end of the year Peyroux had moved out and the couple had broken up, but they continued playing together and recorded a seven-song CD called ''Got You on My Mind'' in February 2003.<ref name=skinner/> Peyroux's contract with Rounder Records prohibited her from selling the ''Got You on My Mind'' recording, and she stopped performing with Galison.<ref name=skinner/> Galison continued to sell the recording and claimed that he was owed payment for canceled performances.<ref name=skinner/> After threatened legal action from Peyroux's lawyer, Galison sued Peyroux, the lawyer, and Rounder.<ref name=skinner/><ref>{{cite news |title=Former boyfriend sues jazz singer |url=https://www.upi.com/Entertainment_News/2005/08/24/Former-boyfriend-sues-jazz-singer/20241124931067/ |access-date=April 26, 2022 |work=UPI |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Brown |first=Jonathan |title=Former boyfriend sues the disappearing jazz singer, claiming he discovered her|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/former-boyfriend-sues-the-disappearing-jazz-singer-claiming-he-discovered-her-307882.html |access-date=April 26, 2022 |work=The Independent |date=August 23, 2005 |language=en}}</ref>
==Discography== ===As leader or co-leader=== * ''Overjoyed'' (Polygram, 1988) * ''Midnight Sun'' (Eclipse Collage, 1997) * ''Waking Up with You'' (JVC, 2000) * ''Got You on My Mind'' with Madeleine Peyroux (Wake Up Music, 2004)
===As sideman=== * 1990 ''Music Inside'', Joyce * 1990 ''There'll Be Another Spring'', Peggy Lee * 1991 ''Talking Hands'', Deborah Henson-Conant * 1991 ''Tony Terry'', Tony Terry * 1992 ''Baby I'm Yours'', Maureen McGovern * 1992 ''Temporary Road'', John Gorka * 1992 ''The Woman I Am'', Chaka Khan * 1993 ''Songs of My Life'', Ruth Brown * 1994 ''Tropical Escape'', Craig Peyton * 1994 ''Foot On The Road'', Toninho Horta * 1995 ''Amor'', Jon Secada * 1995 ''Thanks'', Ivan Neville * 1995 ''The Web'', Craig Peyton * 1996 ''Mortal City'', Dar Williams * 1997 ''Closer'', Mondo Grosso * 1997 ''End of the Summer'', Dar Williams * 1997 ''I Thought About You'', Christy Baron * 1997 ''Montevideo'', Rubén Rada * 1997 ''Night in Time: Live'', Peter Gallway * 1997 ''Ride'', Louise Taylor * 1997 ''Sing Me a Story'', Bob McGrath * 1998 ''From Ton to Tom'', Toninho Horta * 2000 ''Steppin' '', Christy Baron * 2000 ''Written in Red'', Louise Taylor * 2001 ''Love Letters'', Janet Seidel * 2002 ''Cine Passion'', Quadro Nuevo * 2003 ''Count Your Blessings'', Barbara Cook * 2003 ''The Movie Album'', Barbra Streisand * 2004 ''Company'', Jeanette MacDonald * 2004 ''On the Moon'', Peter Cincotti * 2005 ''Luna Rossa'', Quadro Nuevo * 2005 ''Moonlight Serenade'', Carly Simon * 2005 ''Twilight of the Renegades'', Jimmy Webb * 2007 ''Fifteen Seconds of Grace'', Victoria Clark * 2008 ''A Day in the Life of a Mother and Wife'', Cat Guthrie * 2008 ''Faith Trust and Pixie Dust'', Kerry Butler * 2008 ''This Kind of Love'', Carly Simon * 2008 ''To Jobim with Love'', Toninho Horta * 2012 ''Old LP'', Bob Telson * 2012 ''Sunken Condos'', Donald Fagen
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== * [https://www.willgalison.net Official website] * [https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1603560 NPR (audio) interview, January 18, 2004] * {{IMDb name|0302232}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Galison, William}} Category:American jazz singers Category:American jazz composers Category:American male jazz composers Category:Jazz harmonica players Category:Wesleyan University alumni Category:Living people Category:1958 births