Gus Bivona
Gus Peter Bivona ( born November 25, 1915 in North London ( Connecticut ), † January 5, 1996 in Woodland Hills (Los Angeles ) ) was an American jazz clarinetist, alto saxophonist and bandleader.
Bivonas parents were musicians, his mother played piano, his father was a guitarist. Bivona first learned violin and then switched to clarinet and alto saxophone. He began professionally in the band of Spider Johnson to play, played in Brunswick Orchestra of Leo Scalzi, Jimmy Monaco Orchestra in New York City, the Hudson - DeLange Orchestra, 1938 Bunny Berigan ( with whom he recorded ) and the end of the decade Will Hudson and Teddy Powell, who promoted him as soloists. In 1940 he led his own band short to bore the end of the year until the spring of 1941 when Benny Goodman. He played with Jan Savitt and Les Brown before he was in the Naval Air Force band during World War II. In 1945 he played with Tommy Dorsey and in 1946 with Bob Crosby.
From 1947 he was a studio musician at MGM. In the 1950s his collaboration with Steve Allen, including the Round Table began in New York City (Album At the Round Table 1958) and took with him on (among other things Music for Swingers 1957). He had in the late 1950s and early 1960s own (Big ) Band, with which he appeared in California and several albums for Mercury and Warner recorded. In the 1970s, he took on, among others, with Terry Gibbs and guitarist Geoff Muldaur.
In addition to clarinet and alto saxophone he played the flute.