Giorgio Gomelsky
Encyclopedia
Giorgio Gomelsky is a filmmaker, impresario
, music manager, songwriter (as Oscar Rasputin) and record producer. He owned the Crawdaddy Club
where The Rolling Stones
were house band, and he was involved with their early management. He hired The Yardbirds
as a replacement and managed them. He was also their producer from the beginning through 1966. In 1967, he started Marmalade Records
(distributed by Polydor), which featured "Julie Driscoll
, Brian Auger
and The Trinity", The Blossom Toes, and early recordings by Graham Gouldman
, Kevin Godley
and Lol Creme
, who became 10cc
. The label closed in 1969.
Giorgio was also instrumental in the careers of The Soft Machine
, Daevid Allen
and Gong
, and Magma
.
He now lives in New York City
.
. His father was a medical doctor, and his mother was from Monte Carlo
. The family left in 1938 and via Syria, Egypt, and Italy, in 1944 settled in Switzerland
, the country where his father had trained.
Giorgio discovered jazz at the age of 10, while living in Italy. One Sunday he was caught out by the 4pm German curfew, so he stayed in the house of friends. Exploring their attic he discovered a gramophone and some jazz records. As a symbol of defiance he and his friends took to occasionally briefly blasting the music out of the window. Fortunately they were never caught. After the liberation, eventually black GI's arrived and furthered his jazz education.
He attended a Benedictine
school in Ascona
, near Locarno
, Switzerland. With the war over, he was able to pool resources with friends to start a record collection. By 1946 the American Forces Network
had been established and Giorgio was exposed to be-bop via the Cool City program on VOA.
(In 1964, his father having died and left him some money, Giorgio would returned to Ascona and stage a jazz festival in a local airfield.) .
He attended a progressive private school, the School of Humanity run by Paul Gehheb, in the mountains of Switzerland. While on vacation, with friends, he travelled around Europe by bicycle. In post-war Germany, they found a thriving cellar-jazz scene in towns like Düsseldorf
. They visited Milan, and pedaled all the way to Paris to see Charlie Parker
perform at the Salon de Jazz.
His mother was a hat designer. Her father had worked for the Société des Bains de Mer
(the casino operator) in Monte Carlo, a popular resort for the British, and so she spoke English and became an anglophile, with a particular love of English literature. Thus her employer, Claude St. Cyr of Paris, sent her to run his atelier in London. She would send her Swiss schoolboy son the English music paper Melody Maker
on a weekly basis, from which Giorgio learned English and also became familiar with the British jazz scene.
There was still at this time limited opportunity to hear new jazz in Europe. Apart from Willis Conover
on VOA. there was an Italian jazz radio show; Flavio Ambrosetti's show on Swiss Radio ran just 20 minutes a week; there was Charles Delaunay jazz show on Europe 1
in Paris; and Charlie Fox on the BBC
; and maybe a couple of German shows. There was a scene in Copenhagen. Aficionados in many cities set up jazz appreciation societies, and Giorgio and friends set one up in Locarno. A trio was formed, Roland Schramlei on bass, Bert Armbruster on piano, and Giorgio on drums. Resources were so limited that, only possessing a ride cymbal, Giorgio would have to hire a drum kit every time they had an engagement.
The main jazz magazine was Les Cahiers du Jazz from Paris, and there was also one in Italy. In both countries the magazines organized the local Jazz Societies into Federations which could then stage concert tours. Giorgio followed their model and formed a Swiss federation that staged concerts. In 1954, having been denied permission to stage a concert during the Zurich Festival by the city fathers, the Federation staged a daring protest on a Sunday. The resulting publicity persuaded the City to reverse its decision, and thus the Zurich Jazz Festival was born (and exists to this day).
Having become a Swiss citizen, Giorgio had to perform National Service, undergoing basic training with Swiss Air Force
, where he flew Bucher biplane
s. Although a proficient pilot he deliberately failed promotion tests and, after rejection, was then free to leave the country.
and had formed forward-thinking stylistic ideas including synchronised fast cutting. He succeeded in obtaining a 500 UKP commission from a young Italian TV station and departed for England.
In London he established a relationship with the National Jazz Federation, run by Harold Pendleton, who also managed Britain's top jazz star of the time Chris Barber
. Despite Giorgio's inclination to shoot the avant-garde Johnny Dankworth
, Pendleton prevailed on him to shoot Chris Barber. The resulting piece, comprising four songs, intercut establishing and audience reaction shots from the Royal Festival Hall
with a separate studio session footage. The studio footage, shot in one day, used cutting-edge technology like large Mitchell cameras with 'elephant' suspended mics that restricted camera movements in the small studio, preventing Giorgio from getting all the angles he had hoped for.
This first film was sufficiently well-received that two years later Giorgio filmed Chris Barber for a second time - now a 3 camera shoot in b&w Cinemascope
.
Harold Pendleton had started the National Jazz Festival
and Giorgio had participated as a volunteer helper at the first one in 1959. He was able to secure the rights to film the 1960 festival, A producer/backer was found - Frank Green, the owner of a facility on Wardour Street
where Giorgio had edited his earlier films. Filming was with 4 b/w cameras. Sound was recorded on the Leevers-Rich synchro-pulse system, allowing separate recording of audio on magnetic tape. The intercom between the cameras was the Royal Artillery
's system which, designed to be heard over cannon fire, was so loud that at times it would get picked up by the stage mics! Giorgio edited two pilots from the footage, including a piece of the new Alexis Korner Blues Incorporated
with Charlie Watts
on drums, but Green was unable to find a buyer.
craze, and their hit 'Rock Island Line' had made the band's banjo player Lonnie Donegan
a star. As skiffle became passé, Chris, whose sets were structured around the history of jazz, began to feature blues
in its place, utilizing his school friend vocalist/guitarist Alexis Korner, and harmonica player Cyril Davies
.
While the Barber blues set was strictly country style, Korner was set on expanding the sound to incorporate the more modern electric Chicago sound and an improvisational jazz approach. He formed his own group Alexis Korner Blues Incorporated and recruited musicians like drummer Charlie Watts and saxophonist Dick Heckstall-Smith.. Giorgio, then writing for Jazz News, became inspired by this to the extent of becoming evangelical. He coined the term BRB - British Rhythm and Blues, wrote articles, and bent the ear of anyone who would listen.
Alex and Cyril had a club in a pub upstairs room on Wardour St where blues aficionados would gather on Wednesdays but they needed a larger venue for the noisy big band. With some difficulty, and support from Barber, Giorgio persuaded Pendleton to run a weekly Blues Night on Thursdays at his newly opened neighbouring club The Marquee. Korner's new band, and others, were duly booked. However the audiences were still limited to a small group of enthusiasts and the future was uncertain.
A Jamaican Blue Beat
club just off Portobello Road (immortalized in the move Scandal) was one of the hottest spots in London at the time. On a visit Giorgio had a chance encounter with its most notorious clients - Christine Keeler
& Mandy Rice-Davies
. He invited them to visit the Marquee Blues Night and they showed up the following week. The publicity generated was enough to give the night sufficient cachet
to become fashionable and successful.
Giorgio wanted to build on the success of The Marquee Blues night with more shows but Pendleton wasn't interested. He began to organize the bands, suggesting that they work co-operatively
to obtain bookings and do other business, just as the Jazz Societies had earlier federated. Giorgio persuaded the Portobello Jamaican club to host a couple of blues bands, but the patrons were not impressed.
Giorgio then discovered an alternative venue - the Cy Laurie Piccadilly Club
in Ham Yard. Formerly a major London hotspot, it was now on its uppers. He was able to secure a Saturday night for a fee of $5 and proceeded to stage the first festival of British Blues
. Bands appearing included Alexis Korner's Blues Incorporated, Blues By Six (which included Nicky Hopkins
), the Rolling Stones. Although attendance was slight, as a promotional device Giorgio prevailed on a number of friends to stand in line outside to attract the attention of passers by, and give the impression of a larger crowd. Pendleton was not at all happy with this local competition for his club.
in nearby Ealing. Another group having dropped out The Rolling Stones were given the first residency. The first night only attracted three people, attendance not being helped by Giorgio, in a typical malapropism, accidentally writing "Rhythm & Bulls" on the advertising sign outside the venue. Nevertheless the talents of the Rolling Stones, and a promotional scheme that gave complimentary admission to any patron that brought two friends, soon led to healthy crowds. Also, in order to liven up the proceedings, he convinced the Stones, whose repertoire was stretched by the demands of two 45-minute sets, to incorporate a 20 minute rave-up version of Bo Diddley
's Crawdad as the finale of their show.
In fact Giorgio had taken on much of the responsibility for managing and promoting the Rolling Stones. Looking to get press on the band, he prevailed on The Richmond and Twickenham Times, a conservative local paper owned by TV presenter Richard Dimbleby
, to send a reporter to the Station Hotel. Eventually a reporter, Barry Gay, undertook to write an article and visited with a photographer.
Giorgio also considered he could exploit his reputation as a jazz writer and film-maker to generate interest in the band and entice the jazz critics to visit the Sunday Richmond sessions. He announced that he would make a short promotional film of these "illustrious unknowns". The news spread and influential writers - first Norman Joplin, and then Peter Jones - showed up, but no copy resulted. Peter Jones did, however, return bringing his friend Andrew Loog Oldham
.
Not having the facilities to film the band live at the club, he took them into the RG Jones recording studio in Wimbledon
, one of the few independent studios in London at the time. Two songs were recorded and extra footage shot.
As Giorgio was editing he got a call from Gay, who was writing his article, asking how to name the club. Giorgio, on the spur of the moment, inspired by Do The Crawdad - the high point of The Stones' show, came up with another malapropism "The Crawdaddy".
Somewhat to his surprise a full page feature duly appeared in the Richmond and Twickenham Times. Giorgio showed the article to acquaintance Patrick Doncaster, the music critic of the Daily Mirror, the largest circulation British daily newspaper. Doncaster was persuaded to, in turn, visit the club, and a half-page feature duly appeared in the next day's Mirror. The powers that be at Ind Coope Breweries, owners of the Station Hotel, were aghast at the degenerate behaviour displayed in the article and the club was evicted forthwith.
Almost immediately Giorgio had to return to Switzerland for three weeks as his father had died. His colleague photographer Hamish Grimes went to Pendleton, who provided an introduction to Commander Wheeler, director of the Richmond Athletic Association. They had grounds, just a block away from the Station Hotel, where the National Jazz Festival was held. An arrangement was made for the club to move to a room, almost triple the capacity of the Station Hotel, below the grandstand.
, and form a record label Marmalade Records
. He also signed Julie Driscoll
and Brian Auger
& The Trinity and produced early recordings by Jeff Beck
, Jimmy Page
(both of whom played with the Yardbirds), Rod Stewart
, and John McLaughlin
(the album "Extrapolation"), Alexis Korner
. Graham Bond
and the Soft Machine
.
He brought British rock musicians to record with American blues musicians including the Yardbirds featuring Eric Clapton
with Sonny Boy Williamson
, who was Giorgio's roommate for a period in Britain. Giorgio claims that Sonny Boy jammed with Rahsaan Roland Kirk
in all keys on a single blues harmonica made to play in one key.
In the 1970s he became involved with progressive jazz rock bands such as Gong
, Henry Cow
and Magma
. In the 80s he was pioneer of digital video winning awards for his work using the Video Toaster
.
Through the 1970s to the 2010s from his recording and rehearsal studio in the Chelsea neighborhood of New York City, Giorgio has continued to nurture and mentor musicians. Following his relationship with the band Material, in the early 80's he produced "Tonka Wonka Mondays" at the Bitter End
, featuring three bands a night who were unnamed "mystery guests", and then had professional music critics dissect their performances during the break: at the end of each evening, a better known featured guest would play their material backed up by "The House Band' led by composer / arranger Dave Soldier
and featuring trumpeter Roy Campbell
: featured guests included Wayne Kramer
, Billy Bang
, Frank Lowe
,and Dennis Charles. Girogio was also a regular dj at the club Tramps, introducing fans to an array of styles, including new African and experimental jazz music.
With the producer Joe Papp and early b-boy hiphop stars including Futura 2000
, Mr. Freeze
, Lori Eastside and composers Dave Soldier and Mark Mazur of Kid Creole and the Coconuts
he attempted to produce the first hip-hop musical, Persons, at the Public Theater
in 1982.
He was instrumental in bringing the important Czech group, the Plastic People of the Universe, to the international public eye by producing a benefit concert for the band's lyricist Egon Bondy
at The Kitchen
on January 29, 1989, featuring their exiled saxophonist Vratislav Brabenec
and New York musicians including Ed Pastorini, the Soldier String Quartet, Craig Harris
, Borbetomagus
, Elliott Sharp
and Gary Lucas
, who played the Plastic People's repertoire. News of the concert in Prague is said to have helped to inspire the Velvet Revolution
, a movement strongly influenced by experimental American rock and jazz music.
Giorgio was involved as guide, producer, and supporter to numerous adventurous New York bands including D Generation
,1001 Crustaceans, and Band of Susans
.
The band became known as the "Zu Band" until Gomelsky hooked them up with former Gong frontman Daevid Allen for a performance at his Zu Manifestival at the Zu Club on 8 October 1978, for which they became "New York Gong". Allen and the band amicably parted company when they "discovered they couldn't stand the European way of life" during a tour of France.
The band then took the name Material, and their debut recording was 1979's instrumental post-punk industrial funk Temporary Music 1 EP for Gomelsky's Zu Records.
Impresario
An impresario is a person who organizes and often finances concerts, plays or operas; analogous to a film producer in filmmaking, television production and an angel investor in business...
, music manager, songwriter (as Oscar Rasputin) and record producer. He owned the Crawdaddy Club
Crawdaddy Club
The Crawdaddy Club was a 1960s music venue in Richmond, Surrey, England. Several other seminal British blues and rhythm and blues acts also played there....
where The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones are an English rock band, formed in London in April 1962 by Brian Jones , Ian Stewart , Mick Jagger , and Keith Richards . Bassist Bill Wyman and drummer Charlie Watts completed the early line-up...
were house band, and he was involved with their early management. He hired The Yardbirds
The Yardbirds
- Current :* Chris Dreja - rhythm guitar, backing vocals * Jim McCarty - drums, backing vocals * Ben King - lead guitar * David Smale - bass, backing vocals...
as a replacement and managed them. He was also their producer from the beginning through 1966. In 1967, he started Marmalade Records
Marmalade Records
Marmalade Records was a short-lived British independent record label . Started by Swiss-resident Georgian pop impresario and ex-manager of both the Rolling Stones and the Yardbirds Giorgio Gomelsky in 1967, it released records by artists including Julie Driscoll and Brian Auger and The Trinity,...
(distributed by Polydor), which featured "Julie Driscoll
Julie Driscoll
Julie Tippetts is an English singer and actress, known for her 1960s versions of Bob Dylan's "This Wheel's on Fire", and Donovan's "Season of the Witch", both with Brian Auger & The Trinity...
, Brian Auger
Brian Auger
Brian Auger is a jazz and rock keyboardist, who has specialized in playing the Hammond organ.A jazz pianist, bandleader, session musician and Hammond B3 player, Auger has played or toured with artists such as Rod Stewart, Tony Williams, Jimi Hendrix, Sonny Boy Williamson, Led Zeppelin, Eric Burdon...
and The Trinity", The Blossom Toes, and early recordings by Graham Gouldman
Graham Gouldman
Graham Keith Gouldman is an English songwriter and musician who is a long-time member of British band 10cc.-Early life and 1960s pop career: 1946–1968:Gouldman was born in Broughton, Salford, England...
, Kevin Godley
Kevin Godley
Kevin Godley is a British musician and music video director.He was born in a family of Jewish descent, and went to North Cestrian Grammar School in Altrincham....
and Lol Creme
Lol Crème
Lol Creme is an English musician and music video director, best known for his work in 10cc. He sings, plays guitar and keyboards.-Biography:...
, who became 10cc
10cc
10cc are an English art rock band who achieved their greatest commercial success in the 1970s. The band initially consisted of four musicians -- Graham Gouldman, Eric Stewart, Kevin Godley, and Lol Creme -- who had written and recorded together for some three years, before assuming the "10cc" name...
. The label closed in 1969.
Giorgio was also instrumental in the careers of The Soft Machine
Soft Machine
Soft Machine were an English rock band from Canterbury, named after the book The Soft Machine by William S. Burroughs. They were one of the central bands in the Canterbury scene, and helped pioneer the progressive rock genre...
, Daevid Allen
Daevid Allen
Daevid Allen , sometimes credited as Divided Alien, an Australian poet, guitarist, singer, composer and performance artist is co-founder of psychedelic rock groups Soft Machine and Gong .-Biography:In 1960, inspired by the Beat Generation writers he had discovered...
and Gong
Gong (band)
Gong is a Franco-British progressive/psychedelic rock band formed by Australian musician Daevid Allen. Their music has also been described as space rock. Other notable band members include Allan Holdsworth, Tim Blake, Didier Malherbe, Pip Pyle, Gilli Smyth, Steve Hillage, Francis Moze, Mike Howlett...
, and Magma
Magma (band)
Magma is a French progressive rock band founded in Paris in 1969 by classically trained drummer Christian Vander, who claimed as his inspiration a "vision of humanity's spiritual and ecological future" that profoundly disturbed him. In the course of their first album, the band tells the story of a...
.
He now lives in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
.
Early years
Giorgio Gomelsky was born in GeorgiaGeorgia (country)
Georgia is a sovereign state in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded to the west by the Black Sea, to the north by Russia, to the southwest by Turkey, to the south by Armenia, and to the southeast by Azerbaijan. The capital of...
. His father was a medical doctor, and his mother was from Monte Carlo
Monte Carlo
Monte Carlo is an administrative area of the Principality of Monaco....
. The family left in 1938 and via Syria, Egypt, and Italy, in 1944 settled in Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
, the country where his father had trained.
Giorgio discovered jazz at the age of 10, while living in Italy. One Sunday he was caught out by the 4pm German curfew, so he stayed in the house of friends. Exploring their attic he discovered a gramophone and some jazz records. As a symbol of defiance he and his friends took to occasionally briefly blasting the music out of the window. Fortunately they were never caught. After the liberation, eventually black GI's arrived and furthered his jazz education.
He attended a Benedictine
Order of Saint Benedict
The Order of Saint Benedict is a Roman Catholic religious order of independent monastic communities that observe the Rule of St. Benedict. Within the order, each individual community maintains its own autonomy, while the organization as a whole exists to represent their mutual interests...
school in Ascona
Ascona
Ascona is a municipality in the district of Locarno in the canton of Ticino in Switzerland.It is located on the shore of Lake Maggiore.The town is a popular tourist destination, and holds a yearly jazz festival, the Ascona Jazz Festival....
, near Locarno
Locarno
Locarno is the capital of the Locarno district, located on the northern tip of Lake Maggiore in the Swiss canton of Ticino, close to Ascona at the foot of the Alps. It has a population of about 15,000...
, Switzerland. With the war over, he was able to pool resources with friends to start a record collection. By 1946 the American Forces Network
American Forces Network
The American Forces Network is the brand name used by the United States Armed Forces American Forces Radio and Television Service for its entertainment and command internal information networks worldwide...
had been established and Giorgio was exposed to be-bop via the Cool City program on VOA.
Voice of America
Voice of America is the official external broadcast institution of the United States federal government. It is one of five civilian U.S. international broadcasters working under the umbrella of the Broadcasting Board of Governors . VOA provides a wide range of programming for broadcast on radio...
(In 1964, his father having died and left him some money, Giorgio would returned to Ascona and stage a jazz festival in a local airfield.) .
He attended a progressive private school, the School of Humanity run by Paul Gehheb, in the mountains of Switzerland. While on vacation, with friends, he travelled around Europe by bicycle. In post-war Germany, they found a thriving cellar-jazz scene in towns like Düsseldorf
Düsseldorf
Düsseldorf is the capital city of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and centre of the Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region.Düsseldorf is an important international business and financial centre and renowned for its fashion and trade fairs. Located centrally within the European Megalopolis, the...
. They visited Milan, and pedaled all the way to Paris to see Charlie Parker
Charlie Parker
Charles Parker, Jr. , famously called Bird or Yardbird, was an American jazz saxophonist and composer....
perform at the Salon de Jazz.
His mother was a hat designer. Her father had worked for the Société des Bains de Mer
Monte Carlo Casino
The Monte Carlo Casino is a gambling and entertainment complex located in Monte Carlo, Monaco. It includes a casino, the Grand Théâtre de Monte Carlo, and the office of Les Ballets de Monte Carlo....
(the casino operator) in Monte Carlo, a popular resort for the British, and so she spoke English and became an anglophile, with a particular love of English literature. Thus her employer, Claude St. Cyr of Paris, sent her to run his atelier in London. She would send her Swiss schoolboy son the English music paper Melody Maker
Melody Maker
Melody Maker, published in the United Kingdom, was, according to its publisher IPC Media, the world's oldest weekly music newspaper. It was founded in 1926 as a magazine targeted at musicians; in 2000 it was merged into "long-standing rival" New Musical Express.-1950s–1960s:Originally the Melody...
on a weekly basis, from which Giorgio learned English and also became familiar with the British jazz scene.
There was still at this time limited opportunity to hear new jazz in Europe. Apart from Willis Conover
Willis Conover
Willis Clark Conover, Jr. was a jazz producer and broadcaster on the Voice of America for over forty years. He produced jazz concerts at the White House, the Newport Jazz Festival, and for movies and television. By arranging concerts where people of all races were welcome, he is credited with...
on VOA. there was an Italian jazz radio show; Flavio Ambrosetti's show on Swiss Radio ran just 20 minutes a week; there was Charles Delaunay jazz show on Europe 1
Europe 1
Europe 1, formerly known as Europe n° 1, is a privately owned radio network created in 1955. It is one of the leading French radio broadcasters and heard throughout France...
in Paris; and Charlie Fox on the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
; and maybe a couple of German shows. There was a scene in Copenhagen. Aficionados in many cities set up jazz appreciation societies, and Giorgio and friends set one up in Locarno. A trio was formed, Roland Schramlei on bass, Bert Armbruster on piano, and Giorgio on drums. Resources were so limited that, only possessing a ride cymbal, Giorgio would have to hire a drum kit every time they had an engagement.
The main jazz magazine was Les Cahiers du Jazz from Paris, and there was also one in Italy. In both countries the magazines organized the local Jazz Societies into Federations which could then stage concert tours. Giorgio followed their model and formed a Swiss federation that staged concerts. In 1954, having been denied permission to stage a concert during the Zurich Festival by the city fathers, the Federation staged a daring protest on a Sunday. The resulting publicity persuaded the City to reverse its decision, and thus the Zurich Jazz Festival was born (and exists to this day).
Having become a Swiss citizen, Giorgio had to perform National Service, undergoing basic training with Swiss Air Force
Swiss Air Force
The Swiss Air Force is the air component of the Swiss Armed Forces, established on July 31, 1914, as part of the Army and as of January 1966 an independent service.In peacetime, Dübendorf is the operational Air Force HQ...
, where he flew Bucher biplane
Biplane
A biplane is a fixed-wing aircraft with two superimposed main wings. The Wright brothers' Wright Flyer used a biplane design, as did most aircraft in the early years of aviation. While a biplane wing structure has a structural advantage, it produces more drag than a similar monoplane wing...
s. Although a proficient pilot he deliberately failed promotion tests and, after rejection, was then free to leave the country.
Filmmaking in England
The weekly readings of the Melody Maker, and the lack of further documentation, convinced Giorgio that his vocation would be to film the burgeoning UK jazz scene. He had seen the 1948 film Jammin' The BluesJammin' the Blues
Jammin' the Blues is a 1944 short film in which several prominent jazz musicians got together for a rare filmed jam session. It featured Lester Young, Red Callender, Harry Edison, Marlowe Morris, Sid Catlett, Barney Kessel, Jo Jones, John Simmons, Illinois Jacquet, Marie Bryant, Archie Savage and...
and had formed forward-thinking stylistic ideas including synchronised fast cutting. He succeeded in obtaining a 500 UKP commission from a young Italian TV station and departed for England.
In London he established a relationship with the National Jazz Federation, run by Harold Pendleton, who also managed Britain's top jazz star of the time Chris Barber
Chris Barber
Donald Christopher 'Chris' Barber is best known as a jazz trombonist. As well as scoring a UK top twenty trad jazz hit he helped the careers of many musicians, notably the blues singer Ottilie Patterson, who was at one time his wife, and vocalist/banjoist Lonnie Donegan, whose appearances with...
. Despite Giorgio's inclination to shoot the avant-garde Johnny Dankworth
John Dankworth
Sir John Phillip William Dankworth, CBE , known in his early career as Johnny Dankworth, was an English jazz composer, saxophonist and clarinetist...
, Pendleton prevailed on him to shoot Chris Barber. The resulting piece, comprising four songs, intercut establishing and audience reaction shots from the Royal Festival Hall
Royal Festival Hall
The Royal Festival Hall is a 2,900-seat concert, dance and talks venue within Southbank Centre in London. It is situated on the South Bank of the River Thames, not far from Hungerford Bridge. It is a Grade I listed building - the first post-war building to become so protected...
with a separate studio session footage. The studio footage, shot in one day, used cutting-edge technology like large Mitchell cameras with 'elephant' suspended mics that restricted camera movements in the small studio, preventing Giorgio from getting all the angles he had hoped for.
This first film was sufficiently well-received that two years later Giorgio filmed Chris Barber for a second time - now a 3 camera shoot in b&w Cinemascope
CinemaScope
CinemaScope was an anamorphic lens series used for shooting wide screen movies from 1953 to 1967. Its creation in 1953, by the president of 20th Century-Fox, marked the beginning of the modern anamorphic format in both principal photography and movie projection.The anamorphic lenses theoretically...
.
Harold Pendleton had started the National Jazz Festival
National Jazz and Blues Festival
The National Jazz and Blues Festival was the precursor to the Reading Rock Festival and was the brainchild of Harold Pendleton, the manager of the prestigious Marquee Club in Soho....
and Giorgio had participated as a volunteer helper at the first one in 1959. He was able to secure the rights to film the 1960 festival, A producer/backer was found - Frank Green, the owner of a facility on Wardour Street
Wardour Street
Wardour Street is a street in Soho, London. It is a one-way street south to north from Leicester Square, up through Chinatown, across Shaftesbury Avenue to Oxford Street.-History:...
where Giorgio had edited his earlier films. Filming was with 4 b/w cameras. Sound was recorded on the Leevers-Rich synchro-pulse system, allowing separate recording of audio on magnetic tape. The intercom between the cameras was the Royal Artillery
Royal Artillery
The Royal Regiment of Artillery, commonly referred to as the Royal Artillery , is the artillery arm of the British Army. Despite its name, it comprises a number of regiments.-History:...
's system which, designed to be heard over cannon fire, was so loud that at times it would get picked up by the stage mics! Giorgio edited two pilots from the footage, including a piece of the new Alexis Korner Blues Incorporated
Alexis Korner
Alexis Korner was a blues musician and radio broadcaster, who has sometimes been referred to as "a Founding Father of British Blues"...
with Charlie Watts
Charlie Watts
Charles Robert "Charlie" Watts is an English drummer, best known as a member of The Rolling Stones. He is also the leader of a jazz band, a record producer, commercial artist, and horse breeder.-Early life:...
on drums, but Green was unable to find a buyer.
British Rhythm & Blues
Chris Barber's trad-jazz band had launched the skiffleSkiffle
Skiffle is a type of popular music with jazz, blues, folk, roots and country influences, usually using homemade or improvised instruments. Originating as a term in the United States in the first half of the twentieth century, it became popular again in the UK in the 1950s, where it was mainly...
craze, and their hit 'Rock Island Line' had made the band's banjo player Lonnie Donegan
Lonnie Donegan
Anthony James "Lonnie" Donegan MBE was a skiffle musician, with more than 20 UK Top 30 hits to his name. He is known as the "King of Skiffle" and is often cited as a large influence on the generation of British musicians who became famous in the 1960s...
a star. As skiffle became passé, Chris, whose sets were structured around the history of jazz, began to feature blues
Blues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
in its place, utilizing his school friend vocalist/guitarist Alexis Korner, and harmonica player Cyril Davies
Cyril Davies
Cyril Davies was one of the first British blues harmonica players and blues musician.-Biography:Born at St Mildred's, 15 Hawthorn Drive, Willowbank, Denham, Buckinghamshire, near London, he was the son of William Albert Davies, a labourer, and his wife Margaret Mary...
.
While the Barber blues set was strictly country style, Korner was set on expanding the sound to incorporate the more modern electric Chicago sound and an improvisational jazz approach. He formed his own group Alexis Korner Blues Incorporated and recruited musicians like drummer Charlie Watts and saxophonist Dick Heckstall-Smith.. Giorgio, then writing for Jazz News, became inspired by this to the extent of becoming evangelical. He coined the term BRB - British Rhythm and Blues, wrote articles, and bent the ear of anyone who would listen.
Alex and Cyril had a club in a pub upstairs room on Wardour St where blues aficionados would gather on Wednesdays but they needed a larger venue for the noisy big band. With some difficulty, and support from Barber, Giorgio persuaded Pendleton to run a weekly Blues Night on Thursdays at his newly opened neighbouring club The Marquee. Korner's new band, and others, were duly booked. However the audiences were still limited to a small group of enthusiasts and the future was uncertain.
A Jamaican Blue Beat
Blue Beat
Blue Beat Records was a record label that released Jamaican rhythm and blues and ska music in the United Kingdom in the 1960s. It led to the creation of the term bluebeat as a generic term to describe all styles of early Jamaican music from R&B to Ska, Rocksteady and early Reggae, including music...
club just off Portobello Road (immortalized in the move Scandal) was one of the hottest spots in London at the time. On a visit Giorgio had a chance encounter with its most notorious clients - Christine Keeler
Christine Keeler
Christine Margaret Keeler is an English former model and showgirl. Her involvement with a British government minister discredited the Conservative government of Harold Macmillan in 1963, in what is known as the Profumo Affair....
& Mandy Rice-Davies
Mandy Rice-Davies
Mandy Rice-Davies , is a Welsh former model and showgirl best known for her role in the Profumo affair and her association with Christine Keeler, which discredited the Conservative government of British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan in 1963.-Early life:She was born Marilyn Rice-Davies in...
. He invited them to visit the Marquee Blues Night and they showed up the following week. The publicity generated was enough to give the night sufficient cachet
Prestige (sociology)
Prestige is a word commonly used to describe reputation or esteem, though it has three somewhat related meanings that, to some degree, may be contradictory. Which meaning applies depends on the historical context and the person using the word....
to become fashionable and successful.
Giorgio wanted to build on the success of The Marquee Blues night with more shows but Pendleton wasn't interested. He began to organize the bands, suggesting that they work co-operatively
Cooperative
A cooperative is a business organization owned and operated by a group of individuals for their mutual benefit...
to obtain bookings and do other business, just as the Jazz Societies had earlier federated. Giorgio persuaded the Portobello Jamaican club to host a couple of blues bands, but the patrons were not impressed.
Giorgio then discovered an alternative venue - the Cy Laurie Piccadilly Club
Cy Laurie
Cyril "Cy" Laurie was an English jazz clarinetist and bandleader.Laure was an autodidact on clarinet. He put together his own band in 1947; George Melly debuted in this ensemble in 1948...
in Ham Yard. Formerly a major London hotspot, it was now on its uppers. He was able to secure a Saturday night for a fee of $5 and proceeded to stage the first festival of British Blues
British blues
British blues is a form of music derived from American blues that originated in the late 1950s and which reached its height of mainstream popularity in the 1960s, when it developed a distinctive and influential style dominated by electric guitar and made international stars of several proponents of...
. Bands appearing included Alexis Korner's Blues Incorporated, Blues By Six (which included Nicky Hopkins
Nicky Hopkins
Nicholas Christian "Nicky" Hopkins was an English pianist and organist.He recorded and performed on noted British and American popular music recordings of the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s as a session musician....
), the Rolling Stones. Although attendance was slight, as a promotional device Giorgio prevailed on a number of friends to stand in line outside to attract the attention of passers by, and give the impression of a larger crowd. Pendleton was not at all happy with this local competition for his club.
The Crawdaddy Club
Giorgio was certain that the vitality of the genre depended on attracting new young fans, and that attracting young fans depended on involving young musicians. Giorgio believed that residencies were the key to building an audience for the new bands and, in an example of the lateral thinking instilled him in the Switzerland mountain school, hit on the idea of eschewing central London and weekday nights altogether - to become so far removed that Pendleton could have no grounds for complaint. Thus the Richmond Blues Association was formed and he secured a series of Sunday nights at the Station Hotel in Richmond, a suburb of West London. What Giorgio knew, from his earlier be-bop interests, was that the nearby Kingston Art School was a fertile hotbed of musical enthusiasm, and also there already was an established blues club in the basement of the ABC CafeEaling Jazz Club
The Ealing Jazz Club at 42 A The Broadway, Ealing W5, opened in January 1959. Situated in a basement below an Aerated Bread Company tea shop, opposite Ealing Broadway station...
in nearby Ealing. Another group having dropped out The Rolling Stones were given the first residency. The first night only attracted three people, attendance not being helped by Giorgio, in a typical malapropism, accidentally writing "Rhythm & Bulls" on the advertising sign outside the venue. Nevertheless the talents of the Rolling Stones, and a promotional scheme that gave complimentary admission to any patron that brought two friends, soon led to healthy crowds. Also, in order to liven up the proceedings, he convinced the Stones, whose repertoire was stretched by the demands of two 45-minute sets, to incorporate a 20 minute rave-up version of Bo Diddley
Bo Diddley
Ellas Otha Bates , known by his stage name Bo Diddley, was an American rhythm and blues vocalist, guitarist, songwriter , and inventor...
's Crawdad as the finale of their show.
In fact Giorgio had taken on much of the responsibility for managing and promoting the Rolling Stones. Looking to get press on the band, he prevailed on The Richmond and Twickenham Times, a conservative local paper owned by TV presenter Richard Dimbleby
Richard Dimbleby
Richard Dimbleby CBE was an English journalist and broadcaster widely acknowledged as one of the greatest figures in British broadcasting history.-Early life:...
, to send a reporter to the Station Hotel. Eventually a reporter, Barry Gay, undertook to write an article and visited with a photographer.
Giorgio also considered he could exploit his reputation as a jazz writer and film-maker to generate interest in the band and entice the jazz critics to visit the Sunday Richmond sessions. He announced that he would make a short promotional film of these "illustrious unknowns". The news spread and influential writers - first Norman Joplin, and then Peter Jones - showed up, but no copy resulted. Peter Jones did, however, return bringing his friend Andrew Loog Oldham
Andrew Loog Oldham
Andrew Loog Oldham is an English producer, talent manager, impresario and author. He was manager and producer of The Rolling Stones from 1963, and was noted for his flamboyant style.-Biography:...
.
Not having the facilities to film the band live at the club, he took them into the RG Jones recording studio in Wimbledon
Wimbledon, London
Wimbledon is a district in the south west area of London, England, located south of Wandsworth, and east of Kingston upon Thames. It is situated within Greater London. It is home to the Wimbledon Tennis Championships and New Wimbledon Theatre, and contains Wimbledon Common, one of the largest areas...
, one of the few independent studios in London at the time. Two songs were recorded and extra footage shot.
As Giorgio was editing he got a call from Gay, who was writing his article, asking how to name the club. Giorgio, on the spur of the moment, inspired by Do The Crawdad - the high point of The Stones' show, came up with another malapropism "The Crawdaddy".
Somewhat to his surprise a full page feature duly appeared in the Richmond and Twickenham Times. Giorgio showed the article to acquaintance Patrick Doncaster, the music critic of the Daily Mirror, the largest circulation British daily newspaper. Doncaster was persuaded to, in turn, visit the club, and a half-page feature duly appeared in the next day's Mirror. The powers that be at Ind Coope Breweries, owners of the Station Hotel, were aghast at the degenerate behaviour displayed in the article and the club was evicted forthwith.
Almost immediately Giorgio had to return to Switzerland for three weeks as his father had died. His colleague photographer Hamish Grimes went to Pendleton, who provided an introduction to Commander Wheeler, director of the Richmond Athletic Association. They had grounds, just a block away from the Station Hotel, where the National Jazz Festival was held. An arrangement was made for the club to move to a room, almost triple the capacity of the Station Hotel, below the grandstand.
Later career
In the 1960s Giorgio went on to manage and produce the The YardbirdsThe Yardbirds
- Current :* Chris Dreja - rhythm guitar, backing vocals * Jim McCarty - drums, backing vocals * Ben King - lead guitar * David Smale - bass, backing vocals...
, and form a record label Marmalade Records
Marmalade Records
Marmalade Records was a short-lived British independent record label . Started by Swiss-resident Georgian pop impresario and ex-manager of both the Rolling Stones and the Yardbirds Giorgio Gomelsky in 1967, it released records by artists including Julie Driscoll and Brian Auger and The Trinity,...
. He also signed Julie Driscoll
Julie Driscoll
Julie Tippetts is an English singer and actress, known for her 1960s versions of Bob Dylan's "This Wheel's on Fire", and Donovan's "Season of the Witch", both with Brian Auger & The Trinity...
and Brian Auger
Brian Auger
Brian Auger is a jazz and rock keyboardist, who has specialized in playing the Hammond organ.A jazz pianist, bandleader, session musician and Hammond B3 player, Auger has played or toured with artists such as Rod Stewart, Tony Williams, Jimi Hendrix, Sonny Boy Williamson, Led Zeppelin, Eric Burdon...
& The Trinity and produced early recordings by Jeff Beck
Jeff Beck
Geoffrey Arnold "Jeff" Beck is an English rock guitarist. He is one of three noted guitarists to have played with The Yardbirds...
, Jimmy Page
Jimmy Page
James Patrick "Jimmy" Page, OBE is an English multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, and record producer. He began his career as a studio session guitarist in London and was subsequently a member of The Yardbirds from 1966 to 1968, after which he founded the English rock band Led Zeppelin.Jimmy Page...
(both of whom played with the Yardbirds), Rod Stewart
Rod Stewart
Roderick David "Rod" Stewart, CBE is a British singer-songwriter and musician, born and raised in North London, England and currently residing in Epping. He is of Scottish and English ancestry....
, and John McLaughlin
John McLaughlin (musician)
John McLaughlin , also known as Mahavishnu John McLaughlin, is an English guitarist, bandleader and composer...
(the album "Extrapolation"), Alexis Korner
Alexis Korner
Alexis Korner was a blues musician and radio broadcaster, who has sometimes been referred to as "a Founding Father of British Blues"...
. Graham Bond
Graham Bond
Graham John Clifton Bond was an English musician, considered a founding father of the English rhythm and blues boom of the 1960s....
and the Soft Machine
Soft Machine
Soft Machine were an English rock band from Canterbury, named after the book The Soft Machine by William S. Burroughs. They were one of the central bands in the Canterbury scene, and helped pioneer the progressive rock genre...
.
He brought British rock musicians to record with American blues musicians including the Yardbirds featuring Eric Clapton
Eric Clapton
Eric Patrick Clapton, CBE, is an English guitarist and singer-songwriter. Clapton is the only three-time inductee to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: once as a solo artist, and separately as a member of The Yardbirds and Cream. Clapton has been referred to as one of the most important and...
with Sonny Boy Williamson
Sonny Boy Williamson
Sonny Boy Williamson may refer to either of two 20th-century American blues harmonica players, who both recorded in Chicago:*Sonny Boy Williamson I , John Lee Curtis Williamson, "The Original Sonny Boy Williamson", born in Tennessee and associated with Bluebird Records *Sonny Boy Williamson II ,...
, who was Giorgio's roommate for a period in Britain. Giorgio claims that Sonny Boy jammed with Rahsaan Roland Kirk
Rahsaan Roland Kirk
Rahsaan Roland Kirk was an American jazz multi-instrumentalist who played tenor saxophone, flute and many other instruments...
in all keys on a single blues harmonica made to play in one key.
In the 1970s he became involved with progressive jazz rock bands such as Gong
Gong
A gong is an East and South East Asian musical percussion instrument that takes the form of a flat metal disc which is hit with a mallet....
, Henry Cow
Henry Cow
Henry Cow were an English avant-rock group, founded at Cambridge University in 1968 by multi-instrumentalists Fred Frith and Tim Hodgkinson. Henry Cow's personnel fluctuated over their decade together, but drummer Chris Cutler and bassoonist/oboist Lindsay Cooper were important long-term members...
and Magma
Magma
Magma is a mixture of molten rock, volatiles and solids that is found beneath the surface of the Earth, and is expected to exist on other terrestrial planets. Besides molten rock, magma may also contain suspended crystals and dissolved gas and sometimes also gas bubbles. Magma often collects in...
. In the 80s he was pioneer of digital video winning awards for his work using the Video Toaster
Video Toaster
The NewTek Video Toaster is a combination of hardware and software for the editing and production of standard-definition and high-definition video in NTSC, PAL, and resolution independent formats on Commodore Amiga computers and subsequently on computers running the Windows operating system...
.
Through the 1970s to the 2010s from his recording and rehearsal studio in the Chelsea neighborhood of New York City, Giorgio has continued to nurture and mentor musicians. Following his relationship with the band Material, in the early 80's he produced "Tonka Wonka Mondays" at the Bitter End
Bitter End
Bitter End was the second single released off 'Love/Hate' on 8 October 2007 by Manchester band Nine Black Alps.-Song:The song shows a very different side to Nine Black Alps...
, featuring three bands a night who were unnamed "mystery guests", and then had professional music critics dissect their performances during the break: at the end of each evening, a better known featured guest would play their material backed up by "The House Band' led by composer / arranger Dave Soldier
Dave Soldier
Dave Soldier is an American composer and performer residing in New York.- Musical works :Some of his work is based on unusual collaborations. In the Thai Elephant Orchestra he built giant musical instruments on which he trained a group of elephants to improvise...
and featuring trumpeter Roy Campbell
Roy Campbell
Roy Campbell is the name of:* Roy Campbell , South African poet* Roy Campbell, Jr., jazz musician* Colonel Roy Campbell, character in the Metal Gear series of video games...
: featured guests included Wayne Kramer
Wayne Kramer
Wayne Kramer may refer to:*Wayne Kramer , American guitarist*Wayne Kramer , South African film writer and director...
, Billy Bang
Billy Bang
Billy Bang was an American free jazz violinist and composer.-Biography:...
, Frank Lowe
Frank Lowe
Frank Lowe was an American avant-garde jazz saxophonist and composer.Born and brought up in Memphis, Tennessee, Lowe took up the tenor saxophone and then moved to San Francisco...
,and Dennis Charles. Girogio was also a regular dj at the club Tramps, introducing fans to an array of styles, including new African and experimental jazz music.
With the producer Joe Papp and early b-boy hiphop stars including Futura 2000
Futura 2000
Futura 2000 is a graffiti artist. He started to paint illegally on New York's subway in the early seventies, working with other artists such as ALI. In the early eighties he showed with Patti Astor at the Fun Gallery, along with Keith Haring, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Richard Hambleton and Kenny Scharf...
, Mr. Freeze
Mr. Freeze
Mr. Freeze, real name Dr. Victor Fries , is a DC Comics supervillain, an enemy of Batman. Created by Bob Kane, he first appeared in Batman #121 ....
, Lori Eastside and composers Dave Soldier and Mark Mazur of Kid Creole and the Coconuts
Kid Creole and the Coconuts
Kid Creole and the Coconuts is an American musical group created and led by August Darnell. Its music incorporates a variety of styles and influences, in particular "American and Latin American, South American, Caribbean, Trinidadian, Calloway" and conceptually inspired by the big band era...
he attempted to produce the first hip-hop musical, Persons, at the Public Theater
Public Theater
The Public Theater is a New York City arts organization founded as The Shakespeare Workshop in 1954 by Joseph Papp, with the intention of showcasing the works of up-and-coming playwrights and performers. It is headquartered at 425 Lafayette Street in the former Astor Library in the East Village...
in 1982.
He was instrumental in bringing the important Czech group, the Plastic People of the Universe, to the international public eye by producing a benefit concert for the band's lyricist Egon Bondy
Egon Bondy
Egon Bondy, born Zbyněk Fišer, was a Czech philosopher, writer, and poet, one of the main personalities of the Prague underground.In the late 1940s, Bondy was active in a surrealistic group...
at The Kitchen
The Kitchen
The Kitchen is a non-profit, multi-disciplinary art and performance space located at at 512 West 19th Street, between Tenth and Eleventh Avenues in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City...
on January 29, 1989, featuring their exiled saxophonist Vratislav Brabenec
Vratislav Brabenec
Vratislav Brabenec is a Czech musician and author, and a member of The Plastic People of the Universe.-Life:Vratislav Brabenec was born in Prague into the family of a postal worker. He studied gardening at the Agricultural Secondary School in Mělník, and he practised gardening for several years...
and New York musicians including Ed Pastorini, the Soldier String Quartet, Craig Harris
Craig Harris
Craig Harris is the name of:*Craig S. Harris , American Jazz trombonist and composer*Craig Harris *Craig Harris , Executive Editor at IGN*Craig Harris - Characters :...
, Borbetomagus
Borbetomagus
Borbetomagus are a free improvisation/noise music group. They are cited by critics as pioneers of aggressive improvised noise music.- Biography :...
, Elliott Sharp
Elliott Sharp
Elliott Sharp is an American multi-instrumentalist, composer, and performer.A central figure in the avant-garde and experimental music scene in New York City since the late 1970s, Sharp has released over eighty-five recordings ranging from blues, jazz, and orchestral music to noise, no wave rock,...
and Gary Lucas
Gary Lucas
Gary Lucas is an American guitarist, a Grammy-nominated songwriter, a soundtrack composer for film and television, and an international recording artist with over a dozen solo albums to date. He has been described as "one of the best and most original guitarists in America" ; a "legendary leftfield...
, who played the Plastic People's repertoire. News of the concert in Prague is said to have helped to inspire the Velvet Revolution
Velvet Revolution
The Velvet Revolution or Gentle Revolution was a non-violent revolution in Czechoslovakia that took place from November 17 – December 29, 1989...
, a movement strongly influenced by experimental American rock and jazz music.
Giorgio was involved as guide, producer, and supporter to numerous adventurous New York bands including D Generation
D Generation
D Generation are an American glam punk band formed in 1991 in New York City. The band broke up in 1999, but will reunite in 2011 for shows. During its history the band released three albums, to much critical acclaim...
,1001 Crustaceans, and Band of Susans
Band of Susans
Band of Susans was a noise rock band formed in New York City in 1986. It originally consisted of Robert Poss , Susan Stenger , Ron Spitzer , with Susan Lyall , Susan Tallman , and Alva Rogers . However, the band would undergo several permutations over the years, usually involving guitarists...
.
Material
In 1978, having received a substantial royalty payment for his work with The Yardbirds, Gomelsky relocated to New York in an attempt to open up the American market to the European progressive jazz-rock bands he was working with. He established the Zu Club in Manhattan and after meeting 24 year old bass player Bill Laswell, encouraged him to form a band, which began rehearsing in the club's basement.The band became known as the "Zu Band" until Gomelsky hooked them up with former Gong frontman Daevid Allen for a performance at his Zu Manifestival at the Zu Club on 8 October 1978, for which they became "New York Gong". Allen and the band amicably parted company when they "discovered they couldn't stand the European way of life" during a tour of France.
The band then took the name Material, and their debut recording was 1979's instrumental post-punk industrial funk Temporary Music 1 EP for Gomelsky's Zu Records.
Production work
- The Soft Machine's first demos were recorded by Giorgio.
- Gong's Flying Teapot and Angel's Egg (both 1973) were created under Giorgio's auspices.
- Aphrodite's ChildAphrodite's ChildAphrodite's Child was a Greek progressive rock band formed in 1967, by Vangelis Papathanassiou , Demis Roussos , Loukas Sideras , and Anargyros "Silver" Koulouris . Their band's name was derived from the title of a track from another Mercury act, Dick Campbell, from his Sings Where It's At album...
666 (credited as "passing by") - VangelisVangelisEvangelos Odysseas Papathanassiou is a Greek composer of electronic, progressive, ambient, jazz, pop rock and orchestral music, under the artist name Vangelis...
Hypothesis and The Dragon (1971) (unfinished - released later)
External links
- Eurock Interview posted July 2003.
- Discog Giorgio Gomelsky Discography