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This day in Buffalo History - July 3.

Tommy Tedesco is considered the most recorded guitarist in music history. He was born in Niagara Falls on July 3, 1930 and after performing dates at Buffalo/Niagara Falls clubs, moved to LA in the early 1960s. Tedesco was part of Phil Spector’s Wall of Sound and became a member of the Wrecking Crew, a group of musicians that played on thousands of 1960s and 1970s pop and rock hits. The recording studios often used the Wrecking Crew instead of actual band members to expedite the recordings. He was on records by the Beach Boys (playing many of those memorable surf guitar solos), Mama’s & the Papa’s, Everly Brothers, Association, Barbara Streisand, Jan & Dean, 5th Dimension, Elvis Presley, Sam Cooke, Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Zappa, Ricky Nelson, Cher, Frank Sinatra and the 1963 Grammy Award winning song “Deep Purple” by Niagara Falls natives Nino Tempo & April Stevens. In addition to records, Tedesco recorded the TV theme songs for Bonanza, Green Acres, Twilight Zone, Mash and Batman, along with the movie soundtracks for Jaws, the French Connection, Godfather, Rio Lobo, several Elvis movies and the Rocky Horror Show. His son Denny Tedesco produced a documentary on The Wrecking Crew in 2008, which was commercially released in 2015 after all the clearances were obtained for the music. Make sure you watch this documentary and keep in mind that thousands of those guitar parts from your favorite 60s & 70s songs were played by Buffalo’s own Tommy Tedesco. Excerpt from the book “History of Buffalo Music & Entertainment.”

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Happy Father’s Day to Asa Ransom – who can be considered Buffalo and Erie County’s First Father. In 1797 Asa and his wife Keziah built a log cabin at the corner of Main and Terrace, one of the first four houses built at the mouth of Buffalo Creek. He worked as a silversmith, selling bracelets, jewelry, ornaments and brooches to the Seneca. Their daughter Sophia was born on February 27, 1798, the first non-Native American female born in Buffalo. In 1799, Asa accepted a Holland Land Company offer to purchase 150 acres of land at $2.00 per acre to any proper man willing to build and operate a tavern/Inn on the property. At the foot of the hill in Pine Grove, later Ransomville and Clarence Hollow, he built a tavern and home that became the first hotel outside of Buffalo Creek, at what is now the corner of Main Street and Ransom Road. Henry Bolton Ransom was born at this home in 1800, the first white male child born in what became Erie County. Asa was the first appointed official in WNY, when NYS Governor George Clinton named his Justice of the Peace in 1801, built the first grist mill in 1804, first distillery in 1807 and with his brother Elias and half-brother Timothy Hopkins, controlled politics in the town of Willink and early Clarence, Williamsville, Amherst and Snyder. The 33rd Session of the New York State Legislature was even held at Ransom’s Tavern in 1808. Excerpt from “Profiles Volume I – Historic & Influential People from Buffalo & WNY – the 1800s”

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This day in Buffalo History - April 26

Happy 200th Birthday to Frederick Law Olmsted – the Father of American Landscape Architecture. Born on 4/26/1822, he started out as a farmer on Staten Island and established himself as a journalist by publishing a book about English gardens in 1852 and the effect of slavery on the economic and social conditions of the South for the New York Daily Times before the Civil War. In 1858 Olmsted and architect Calvert Vaux won the competition to create Central Park in NYC. Beginning in 1861, Olmsted took leave from the Central Park project to become Executive Secretary of the U.S. Sanitary Commission, the precursor of the Red Cross. While working with the U.S. Sanitation Commission Olmsted met Buffalo attorney William Dorsheimer, who invited him to meet with the Buffalo Parks Commission at the home of Sherman S. Jewett in August 1868, to discuss Olmsted and Vaux creating a municipal parks system for the City of Buffalo. This led to an association that lasted from 1868 to 1896, and after Olmsted’s retirement was continued by his son until 1915. Olmsted also worked with H.H. Richardson, designing the grounds for Buffalo State Hospital and was instrumental in advocating for and creating the first State Park in the U.S. at the Niagara Reservation, established at Niagara Falls in 1885. Olmsted transformed the landscape of the City of Buffalo by creating its urban park system, the first and oldest coordinated system of public parks and parkways in the country. When he completed the park system, Olmsted proclaimed “Buffalo to be the best planned city in the U.S., if not the world.” Thank you, Mr. Olmsted for making Buffalo such a beautiful city. For more on Olmsted and the history of Buffalo & WNY, see my Buffalo History Books – “Profiles – Historic & Influential people from Buffalo & WNY – the 1800s, Early 1900s” and coming soon “Late 1900s and 2000s.”

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This Day in Buffalo History - October 11

Happy Birthday to one of the most recorded drummer in rock music - Gary Mallaber, born in Buffalo on October 11, 1946. He attended Lafayette High School on the West Side where he and other musicians like Bobby Militello were mentored by saxophone player and teacher Sam Scamacca, Before becoming a member of Raven, in 1963 he became the drummer for The Vibratos. Another Buffalo musician that was associated with The Vibratos in 1963 was Emil Lewandowski, who moved to California, changed his name to Cory Wells and formed Three Dog Night. When Sandy Konikoff left Stan & the Ravens to join Ronnie Hawkins & the Hawks, Gary joined Stan's band. Gary and Tom Calandra left Stan & the Ravens to join Tony Galla, Jim Calire and John Weitz in a new version of The Rising Sons, that changed their name to Raven. The rest is history - Van Morrison, Eddie Money, Steve Miller, Bruce Springsteen and studio work with hundreds of artists from all styles of music. Mallaber has over 70 gold or platinum albums to his credit and has recorded or toured with three different bands that have been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Happy Birthday to Buffalo's Gary Mallaber.

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JOEY GIAMBRA: Buffalo’s Renaissance Man.

Buffalo lost another iconic member of its entertainment community, when the coronavirus claimed the life of Joey Giambra, just before midnight on May 14,2020. Giambra was a well-known musician, vocalist, author, playwright, actor, restaurant owner, chef and retired Buffalo Police Department detective (1963-1983). He even ran for Mayor of Buffalo.

Born in 1933, he began his career as a teenager, playing trumpet and singing at downtown and West Side clubs during the late 1940s. He led the band at the Chez Ami and continued performing while into his 80s. He released “Bread & Onions” in 2014, which featured Joe’s compositions performed by Jackie Jacko and many other top performers. In 2017 he recorded the CD “Legacy: Up Close and Personal,” featuring Don Menza.

Joe owned the Hard Times Café on Hertel Avenue (1974-1985), wrote a book that included his recipes, served food as part of the production of his play “Bread & Onions” and his son Greg ran Merlin’s on Elmwood. Giambra wrote and acted in plays at Studio Arena, Catherine Cornell Theater, Pfeifer Theater, African Cultural Center and Kavinoky Theatre.

He was on the television show *Naked City* during the 1960s and appeared on *Unsolved Mysteries*. Joe was asked to audition for “The Soprano’s” and in 2020 was part of the cast for the television pilot of “For Nothing,” filmed in Buffalo.

The movie “Hide in Plain Sight” was filmed in Buffalo, with Joe having a part and consulting on the film. As a detective, he was involved with the case. Joe was also in the movie *Prizzi’s Honor*, Sylvester Stallone’s *Night Hawks*, Vincent Gallo’s *Buffalo 66* and in William Fitchtner’s *Cold Brook* and in “Marshall.” He wrote the documentary “The Promised Land (La Terra Promessa”), which was produced by Joe DiLeo. Giambra and DiLeo also worked together on the quarterly Italian American magazine Per Niente.

He wrote four books, including Well Done: From Skipping Class to First Class (The Life & Times of Russell J. Salvatore). In 2018 he published Sam Noto: A Life in Jazz, about internationally known Buffalo trumpet player Sam Noto.

I was fortunate to work with Joe for several years at TCI Cable, learned a lot from him and have many Joe stories. When I was writing History of Buffalo Music & Entertainment and needed information about the Music & Jazz Scene in Buffalo from late 1940s to early 1960s, I knew who to call. Giambra was more than glad to provide information. He even fact checked and edited that section of the book.

Certain that Joe is now entertaining up in heaven, singing songs and telling stories. He is probably trying to convince St. Peter to allow him to return to Buffalo so he can write a play about his reception at heaven’s gate.

This day in Buffalo Music History. 

On July 3, 1955 Tom Clay aka Guy King climbed out of the WWOL radio station studio window, perched himself on top of a billboard in Shelton Square (next to the infamous Palace Theatre) and continually played Bill Haley & the Comets "Rock Around the Clock." He encouraged listeners to come downtown and honk their horns in support of him playing the song. This caused a traffic jam and Clay was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct and creating a disturbance. He spent a couple nights in jail and was fined $25.00 but was not reprimanded by the radio station, they thought it was a great PR stunt - and that it definitely was. Excerpt from the book History of Buffalo Music & Entertainment.

This Day in BUffalo History - April 30

Happy Birthday. ANDY KULBERG, who was a member of the influential ‘60s band The Blues Project, was born in Buffalo on April 30, 1946. After graduating from Amherst Central HS, he moved to NYC where in 1965 he was a founding member of The Blues Project. He played bass with the Blues Project, but he was a classically trained flutist and his solo on the band’s jazz-rock “Flute Things” was a staple of early FM radio. When the Blues Project disbanded in 1969 their keyboardist Al Kooper formed Blood Sweat & Tears, while Kulberg formed Sea Train, which was the first rock band produced by George Martin after the Beatles. Kulberg wrote Seatrain’s biggest hit “13 Questions”. In 1976 Kulberg moved to California and formed the music production company Kulberg/Michie Music with former Van Morrison guitarist Chris Michie. For 25 years he wrote and produced a wide variety of music for film, television and recordings, winning awards for his work. Kulberg passed away in 2002 at age 57. He was inducted into the Buffalo Music Hall of Fame in 2007.