418: Gene Perla on Elvin Jones, Broadway, and the business of music - a podcast by Jason Heath
from 2017-10-27T09:00
In addition to being a bassist and working with artists like Elvin Jones and Miles Davis, Gene Perla is a composer, arranger, orchestrator, band leader, manager, booking agent, music publisher, record company executive, producer, Broadway sound designer, and much more.
Gene and I engage in a delightful and insightful conversation about how the music business has changed and where it's headed.
More About Gene:
Gene Perla was raised in New Jersey where he studied classical piano and trombone. After attending Berklee School of Music he moved to New York and began his musical career as a jazz bassist. He has performed and/or recorded with Chick Corea, Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, Woody Herman, Elvin Jones, Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra, Chuck Mangione, Joni Mitchell, Buddy Rich, Sonny Rollins, Nina Simone, Frank Sinatra, Stone Alliance, Sarah Vaughan, Nancy Wilson, and others.
In the early 1970's he formed music publishing and record companies, and his group “Stone Alliance” traveled to South America and Europe which gave him experience in management and booking. Other efforts include Broadway sound design (Tony Award for “City of Angels”), and recording studio operations.
He is currently playing his basses, producing records, running an Internet design and hosting company, is Webmaster for the Jazz Education Network, and teaching music business and other subjects at Lehigh University and The New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music.
His musical performance activities continue with the wonderful vocalist Viktorija Ge?yt? and his groups “New Light,” “Fine Wine Trio,” “Go Trio,” “Axiom Jump,” “Funk Xpress,” “Fleet Wing,” and the new “The Gene Machine Quintet.”
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