Robby Zolezzi has been a touring professional guitarist since he was 18 years previous, having taken up the instrument at 11, spurred by TV and film themes performed by Al Caiola emanating from the household turntable.

“I keep in mind my older brother enjoying his data – songs like ‘Magnificent Seven,’ ‘Spanish Harlem,’ ‘Style of Honey,’ ‘Bonanza,’ ‘Gunsmoke,’ and so many others that Al recorded,” he mentioned.

By 14, Zolezzi was enjoying in a band with older (highschool) guys, being profitable at college dances and different gigs. The expertise left little doubt in his younger thoughts that guitar could be his life path, and he turned attuned to the music scene close to his dwelling within the San Francisco Bay Space.

“I noticed Janis Joplin, The Doorways, Jefferson Airplane, Grateful Useless, Santana, The Byrds, Buffalo Springfield, Steve Miller, Visitors and Moby Grape all earlier than I used to be 17 years previous,” he mentioned.

After highschool, he earned a level in Music from San Jose State College, graduating in 1976. However effectively earlier than graduating, “Robby Z” had change into a touring guitarist who in the end loved an extended profession with quite a lot of acts together with Tommy Castro, Coco Montoya, Brad Gillis, Marshall Tucker Band, Susan Tedeschi, and others. He retired in 2012, after 12 years with Shane Dwight, enjoying 150 to 200 exhibits worldwide every year.

Alongside the best way, Zolezzi turned an ardent guitar collector with a pleasant collection of classic Gretsch devices, and a popularity that in the future in 2010 led to taking a name from a person brokering a really particular instance – a prototype made for Al Caiola.

“I keep in mind considering, ‘Wow, this guitar is actually one among a sort, made for Al once they have been making an attempt to maintain him with Gretsch.’ Clearly, I used to be excited on the probability to get it.”
And get it he did, together with signed copies of Caiola’s Midnight Dance Get together and Golden Guitar albums, and a observe saying, “To Robby: Care for my child.”

Caiola (1920-2016) began enjoying at age 16, and the next yr received an Epiphone Broadway archtop on which he put in an Amperite pickup beneath the tailpiece, then later added a DeArmond with Quantity and Tone controls. His major influences have been Django Reinhardt, Charlie Christian, George Van Eps, Artie Ryerson, Billy Bauer, and Les Paul.

As Dan Forte mentioned within the intro to his July ’04 VG interview with Caiola, the guitarist was past prolific to the purpose of being ubiquitous throughout a six-decade profession as guitarist and arranger.

Caiola saved the Broadway when he enlisted within the U.S. Marine Corps in 1941; on the time, the army didn’t acknowledge guitar as a band instrument, so he performed trumpet till the band at Quantico wanted a frontrunner; Caiola received the gig, which let him put apart the trumpet and seize his Broadway. Later, he performed it with Bob Crosby’s band, which carried out for troops within the Pacific; as that band was making ready to move dwelling in 1943, it was diverted to be a part of the invasion of Iwo Jima, the place Caiola labored heavy-equipment logistics for the touchdown get together.

Returning stateside in ’46, he spent $400 on a brand new Epiphone Emperor and enrolled at New Jersey Musical Faculty. With assist from New York studio ace Tony Mottola, he scored gigs instead earlier than being employed for the CBS orchestra (and concurrently turning into an Epiphone endorser). There, he performed on numerous business jingles and a whole bunch of radio and TV exhibits together with dwell broadcasts with Ed Sullivan, Jackie Gleason, Arthur Godfrey, and Steve Allen.

An growing studio workload compelled him to go away CBS in ’56, and within the following years, periods in jazz, nation, rock, and pop included work for Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra, Buddy Holly, and Tony Bennett. That’s his guitar on Bobby Darin’s “Splish-Splash” and “Mack the Knife,” Paul Anka’s “Put Your Head on My Shoulder,” Neil Sedaka’s “Calendar Lady,” Johnny Mathis’ “Possibilities Are,” and Del Shannon’s “Runaway.” He additionally recorded different film and TV themes together with “Gunslinger,” “The Insurgent,” and “Wagon Prepare (Wagons Ho).”

Caiola additionally shaped his personal band and started to launch albums. Although its music was marketed as easy-listening, most of it was high-energy jazz in disguise, typically with multi-guitar sections that included New York’s top-tier session cats – Mottola, Bucky Pizzarelli, Artwork Ryerson, Don Arnone, Al Casamente, Billy Bauer, and George Barnes – enjoying Caiola’s preparations. In ’59, that method carried over to albums by an RCA Data ensemble referred to as Residing Guitars, which Caiola did with out utilizing his actual title as a result of he was beneath contract with United Artists.

His profession continued to realize momentum, and in 1961 he scored hits with title themes for The Magnificent Seven (which reached #35) and his personal model of the theme from TV’s “Bonanza” (#19); Tommy Tedesco performed on the unique. In ’64, Caiola charted with the James Bond theme “From Russia with Love,” and one other periods from that interval was for Ben E. King’s “Stand by Me.”

Ultimately, he recorded greater than 50 albums as band chief and have become an influential ambassador for the guitar as an instrument, enjoying a number of guitars together with the Broadway and adopted by a string of Gretsches – a Synchromatic 400, a Duo Jet, and a Nation Membership (the latter heard on “The Magnificent Seven” and “Bonanza”). Lesser-known was a prototype Gretsch that may be heard on 1962’s Midnight Dance Get together and Golden Guitar, in addition to tracks from the compilation Bonanza! 1960-1969.

“That was my mock-up with the double cutaway and grasp Quantity on the [treble bout],” Caiola advised Forte. “It was the start of my breakup with [Gretsch because] they gave that design to Chet Atkins and made it a part of his line. Chet had the larger title, however I felt it was a slap within the face. So, I contacted Epiphone, they usually got here up with the Al Caiola mannequin.”

A dressy model of Gibson’s ES-335, Epiphone’s Al Caiola Customized Signature mannequin was produced from 1963 to ’70 with no soundholes, seven-ply binding, multi-bound tortoiseshell pickguard, block fretboard markers, mini-humbuckers, and an array of slider switches to change tone. A Normal model carried P-90s, fundamental binding, and dot inlays.

Zolezzi says the Gretsch, additionally primarily based on the 335, performs “like butter” and sounds the best way you’d count on – “Nice! Similar to it did on these data.” He used it many occasions whereas recording, “Once I wished that clean jazz sound,” and nonetheless picks it occasionally, occupied with Caiola each time. His reward for the late legend flows simply.

“There was such selection to Al’s work,” he mentioned. “He may do comfortable pop, Italian, Hawaiian, nation, jazz, the Western-TV themes, and later, he did ethnic-themed instrumental albums similar to In a Spanish Temper. He had an astounding profession.”

Caiola was 96 when he died at a nursing dwelling in Allendale, New Jersey.

Jim Carlton’s memorial to Caiola appeared within the February ’17 subject of VG and will be learn at www.vintageguitar.com/26173/guitarist-al-caiola-passes/.

This text initially appeared in VG’s November 2023 subject. All copyrights are by the writer and Classic Guitar journal. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.