Al Gafa

**randalljazz** · 05-11-2009, 06:49 PM

anybody know anything about this guitarist? he's played with everybody from dizzy gillespie to carmen mccrae to johnny hartman to the monkees, but there seems to be little information about him.

thanks.

**m78w** · 05-11-2009, 08:20 PM

Never heard of him. Sadly there are a lot of players from that era that were fantastic players that have floated under the radar these days.

MW

**Fernando** · 05-11-2009, 08:48 PM

Originally Posted by randalljazz

anybody know anything about this guitarist? he's played with everybody from dizzy gillespie to carmen mccrae to johnny hartman to the monkees, but there seems to be little information about him.

thanks.

Hello Randall Jazz.
I know that is a great guitarrist (from Spain,but I don't 100% secure)that worked many time with Gillezpie.I have a Fantastic Lp from Pablo Records from him and his quintet(see PDF taht I atachment here),excuse my English.
MUCHOS SALUDOS AMIGO
Fernando

**randalljazz** · 05-12-2009, 02:53 AM

muchissimas gracias, fernando. hopefully that will be issued on cd.

**marcvs** · 08-04-2010, 02:56 AM

Hi RandallJazz,

I am glad you both (¡hola, amigo!) are interested in Al Gafa too. I happened to have once the "Leblon Beach" Pablo LP, until I divorced and my fine-singer wife "secured" it. I've sighed since for this and other 500 mostly Pablo LPs

I had not found relevant information on Al Gafa in the Internet either, but today, I happily found a link to F.L.A.C-type (lossless) files of the album, which I would like to share here: Download THE AL GAFA QUINTETO LEBLON BEACH 237 MB from files6.com

There you will find the links to compressed RAR files. F.L.A.C.s are easily restored to lossless audio files (e.g., with N.e.r.o).

Greetings from Mexico,

Marco

**randalljazz** · 08-04-2010, 06:51 AM

gracias, marco!

**MrGlenn** · 02-26-2011, 11:38 PM

I am looking for information on Al Gafa, too. I do know that he played with Dizzy, Earl May and Mickey Roker on November 15, 1975 at the Colonial Tavern in Toronto as I was in attendance and made some notes at the time. Mickey Roker is alive and well in Philadelphia and I had a very pleasant chat with him on the phone this evening. I will have to ask him about Earl the next time I speak with him. Sadly, Mickey may be the only surviving member of this quartet as Earl May passed away in 2008 and Dizzy has been gone since 1993.

**Banksia** · 02-27-2011, 11:20 AM

There was an article about him in Guitar Player Sept 1976. He would be 69 now so possibly retired.

**Beano** · 05-16-2012, 11:26 PM

I'm late to the party (as usual) --- but know a little about Al Gafa, personally. Although I haven't seen him in 20+ yrs or so, he was a good friend of my parents. NY-based and when I first got to know him, Al was guitarist at the NY Playboy Club (late 60's) playing with Kai Winding. Earl May was also part of that group, Al Foster was drummer.... they were the "house band" at the time. In addition to his noted jazz work- He did do studio work with the Monkees (used to send the albums to my brother and me, a couple of goofy kids...)and he played on Paul Simon's album Rhymin Simon ('73). He also did some live dates with Sara Vaughn, one of which was televised on PBS, and a pretty hot set as I remember.As noted in other posts, he toured quite a bit with Dizzy Gillespie
He wrote a song for Kai Winding in the late sixties, Dirty Dog. It got some airplay and although not a hit, developed sort of cult following. I think you can find it on YouTube...(although he wrote it, not sure if he actually played on the record.)
anyway, he is very fine musician and a class-act man. Last I knew (and that's been awhile) Al and his family lived in Brooklyn.

**unknownguitarplayer** · 05-18-2012, 09:14 PM

Here's an extended interview with Al:

The Al Gafa Interview..... : Free Download & Streaming : Internet Archive

**DR LYN CHRISTIE** · 01-12-2015, 03:43 AM

I was always impressed by Al Gafa's playing with Diz. I was lucky to hook up with him and play in duo in the restaurant on the top floor of the World Trade Center!! That, of course, is a fading memory now. He is still listed in Local 802 AFM, but I have not been in touch with him lately. He is a great player, indeed worthy of much more attention.
Dr Lyn Christie - bass

**sgcim** · 01-12-2015, 02:47 PM

It should be pointed out that the above poster is one of the greatest living jazz bass players, who played and recorded with such jazz greats as Ahmad Jamal, Jaki Byard, Chet Baker, Buddy Rich, Toshiko, and most relevant to this board, Tal Farlow.

I had the pleasure of playing with Lynn at the LI Jazz Festival with the Festival Big Band featuring Lynn and Don Friedman, and also in a small group at a party for Joe Dixon, the driving force behind most of the great jazz concerts on LI.
Last I heard of Al Gafa is that he's still doing gigs in NYC and still living in Brooklyn.

**pubylakeg** · 01-12-2015, 07:52 PM

Wow, this is incredible,

Dr Christie, do you think, if time permits, you would be kind enough to share some of your memories of Tal Farlow & Lenny Breau with us. I'm very familiar with your playing on the Tal CD "Trinity", and the out-takes featured on the Lorenzo DeStefano film, and the CD "Chance Meeting" from the same session.

**al gafa** · 03-01-2018, 12:23 AM

I'm still alive and playing in the New York area. I saw Mickey at Earl May's memorial service and spoke to him several times over the past eight years or so, but I have been unable to reach him at for about two years. I'm hoping for the best for him. It was an honor to have played with the musicians in that group.

Al Gafa

**al gafa** · 03-01-2018, 12:27 AM

Thanks Lynn
I'm still working whenever I can and will continue until the phone stops ringing.
Stay healthy
Al Gafa

**wintermoon** · 03-01-2018, 01:35 AM

Another fan here Mr Gafa.
I was also aware that you played w Mickey often back in the day.
Mickey was an institution here in Philly, caught him many times over the years and he would always make a good band into a great one when he played.
There was a jazz concert series the last couple yrs in the park in front of his home and he'd come out sit on the benches and listen.
He wasn't playing anymore but had a great time reminiscing w local legends, tenors Bootsie Barnes and Sam Reed, etc.
They honored Mickey @ Chris' Jazz Cafe in May of last yr, Many musicians came out to see him.

Sadly he passed a couple days after, but it was nice he finally was formerly honored in his hometown in front of his friends, family and fans.
Keep on playing Al!

**sgcim** · 03-01-2018, 05:20 PM

Al- glad to hear you're still playing around NY. Don't be afraid to let people here know when and where you're playing.
I caught you with Diz back then, and recently read the book on the Playboy Jazz Clubs that had a lot of cool info from you about the jazz scene in the club. John Wilmeth, the bass player, mentioned your gig at Windows on the World.

**al gafa** · 09-17-2018, 05:26 PM

Mickey Roker passed away in 2017. I'm the only one left from that quartet. When you play that much music with great musicians, like Mickey and Earl, it doesn't feel like they've passed away. The music is still very much alive. I miss all three of them.

**ragman1** · 09-18-2018, 07:14 AM

**md54** · 05-25-2019, 12:23 PM

I just heard this master guitarist on national radio BBC3 UK. I had to look him up immediately as this was a name I had never come across! Beautiful tone and so musical. Thanks so much Mr Gafa from a new fan in Malvern England.

**dot75** · 05-25-2019, 12:38 PM

Originally Posted by md54

I just heard this master guitarist on national radio BBC3 UK. I had to look him up immediately as this was a name I had never come across! Beautiful tone and so musical. Thanks so much Mr Gafa from a new fan in Malvern England.

Hi - what did I miss, maybe I can find it on the iPlayer, been a fan since Leblon Beach in the 70's...

**md54** · 05-25-2019, 12:46 PM

BBC radio 3. Today about 17:00 UK. Program was Jazz Record Requests (I think). Just guitar and voice duet playing Nuage I think. Yes you can get it on iplayer I expect.

**dot75** · 05-25-2019, 02:16 PM

Originally Posted by md54

BBC radio 3. Today about 17:00 UK. Program was Jazz Record Requests (I think). Just guitar and voice duet playing Nuage I think. Yes you can get it on iplayer I expect.

Ta - forgot to say he's on the forum - thought not very active...Leblon Beach is the only Album I have under his own name.

**ogtcheddyg** · 12-01-2019, 07:06 PM

Al was playing every Saturday at Rare on the corner of Carmine and a Keeler in Manhattan through 2009. He sounded amazing and was a great guy to speak with. He was still playing with people like Jay Leonhardt and subbing on Broadway dates. He told me great stories of listening to Wes and Grant up at the organ room at Basie’s club. He said GG had the lowest action he’d every experienced on a guitar and he was surprised it actually had any acoustic sound. He also said that GG was usually nodding out in the corner but always got it together to play his set (no judgements, merely relating the story). He was living way out in Brooklyn but said he was thinking about moving out of the city and living near his daughter’s family near (maybe) Poughkeepsie. When I told him how much I loved his record he was surprised and said that he’d neither heard or thought of that record in a long time - and reminisced about his pride in hearing it on the radio.

for the record, his family was from Malta.

cheers!

**gcb** · 12-01-2019, 07:47 PM

Great player. Appears in Maurice J. Summerfield's The Jazz Guitar. Its Evolution, Players and Personalities since 1900, Fourth Edition, 1998, page 154. Glad to learn he is a member of the Forum.