At age 12, Gaillard accompanied his father on a world voyage and was accidentally left behind on the island of Crete.
On a television documentary in 1989, he said, "When I was stranded in Crete, I was only 12 years old. I stayed there for four years. I traveled on the boats to Beirut and Syria and I learned to speak the language and the people's way of life."[12]
When Gaillard was about 15, he re-crossed the Atlantic, hoping the ship would take him home to Cuba, but it was bound for the U.S. and he ended up in Detroit. He never saw either of his parents again.[3]: 674 Alone and unable to speak English, he tried to get a job at Ford Motor Company but was rejected because of his age.
Gaillard is something of an outlier in music history because for much of his career he represented a kind of lost world - his act was heavily influenced by vaudeville and he came after the big band era but before the bebop so his works weren't falling into either category but instead of fading away he continued to work and doing his thing and later in life he finally got more recognition and a couple of retrospective comps in the Chronological Classics series. I'm itching at writing an article about the guy and i'm currently stuck at Detroit's racial segregation and the cultural environment it produced during the late 1910s, throughout 1920s up to 1930s. And that's only Slim's childhood. There's also New York and its stuff and so on. I guess it will be years before i get to his conlang.
that song was older than much of the audience. kinda funny how Gaillard's vaudevillian jazz stuff just doesn't sound like its coming from what is basically jazz's prehistory.
I love Slim Gaillard, have made a point of finding all his songs. I hadn't found this interview/ performance, so thank you for posting it!! Oh yeah, and the link plays on FreeTube, so that's another YAY!
i've got a bunch of documentaries about at internet archive. His 4 part Civilisation series is a must watch. It's basically in-kayfabe Slim documentary and it goes hard.
8 replies
At age 12, Gaillard accompanied his father on a world voyage and was accidentally left behind on the island of Crete.
On a television documentary in 1989, he said, "When I was stranded in Crete, I was only 12 years old. I stayed there for four years. I traveled on the boats to Beirut and Syria and I learned to speak the language and the people's way of life."[12]
When Gaillard was about 15, he re-crossed the Atlantic, hoping the ship would take him home to Cuba, but it was bound for the U.S. and he ended up in Detroit. He never saw either of his parents again.[3]: 674 Alone and unable to speak English, he tried to get a job at Ford Motor Company but was rejected because of his age.
holy shit!!
Galliard was great and I've never heard him perform live before, so thanks!
Gaillard is something of an outlier in music history because for much of his career he represented a kind of lost world - his act was heavily influenced by vaudeville and he came after the big band era but before the bebop so his works weren't falling into either category but instead of fading away he continued to work and doing his thing and later in life he finally got more recognition and a couple of retrospective comps in the Chronological Classics series. I'm itching at writing an article about the guy and i'm currently stuck at Detroit's racial segregation and the cultural environment it produced during the late 1910s, throughout 1920s up to 1930s. And that's only Slim's childhood. There's also New York and its stuff and so on. I guess it will be years before i get to his conlang.
Thanks, his story is really interesting. I just watched a YT bio that was great.
Also, TIL:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constructed_language
Starts with Flatfoot Floozy with Floy Floy. Oh yazz!
that song was older than much of the audience. kinda funny how Gaillard's vaudevillian jazz stuff just doesn't sound like its coming from what is basically jazz's prehistory.
I love Slim Gaillard, have made a point of finding all his songs. I hadn't found this interview/ performance, so thank you for posting it!! Oh yeah, and the link plays on FreeTube, so that's another YAY!
i've got a bunch of documentaries about at internet archive. His 4 part Civilisation series is a must watch. It's basically in-kayfabe Slim documentary and it goes hard.