Gene Perla was raised in New Jersey where he studied classical piano and trombone. After attending Berklee School of Music he moved to New York and began his musical career as a jazz bassist. He has performed and/or recorded with Chick Corea, Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, Woody Herman, Elvin Jones, Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra, Chuck Mangione, Joni Mitchell, Buddy Rich, Sonny Rollins, Nina Simone, Frank Sinatra, Stone Alliance, Sarah Vaughan, Nancy Wilson, and others. In the early 1970's he formed music publishing and record companies, and his group 'Stone Alliance' traveled to South America and Europe which gave him experience in management and booking. Other efforts include Broadway sound design (Tony Award for 'City of Angels'), and recording studio operations. He is currently playing his basses, producing records, running an Internet design and hosting company, is Webmaster for the Jazz Education Network, and teaching music business and other subjects at Lehigh University and The New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music. His musical performance activities continue with his 'New Light,' 'Fine Wine Trio,' 'Go Trio,' 'Axiom Jump,' 'Funk Xpress,' 'FleetWing,' and 'Gene Perla Quintet.'

A NOTE FROM GENE PERLA

Gene Perla's Personal Recorded Archive

I began collecting recordings in the late 1960s using a Uher tape machine. Many captures resulted from jam sessions at my two New York City lofts and on the road with multiple artists.

It was a simple setup: 2 microphones, 2 microphone stands, 2 microphone cables, the Uher 4400 Stereo Report reel-to-reel recorder with power supply, several 5" magnetic tape reels, and 1 AC extension cord. The Uher is capable of recording speeds of 7.5 ips, 3.75 ips, 1.875 ips, and 0.9375 ips. I used mostly the 3.75 and 1.875 speeds. Gratefully, even at the slower speeds, it did a good job. It was helpful because our jam sessions would often last non-stop for 2 hours or more. The Uher is a fabulous machine in that it was, for that time, light, portable, and easy of operate. Later, I'd transfer the Uher tapes to my Revox A77 reel-to-reel machine on either 7.5" or 15" reels. That gave me the opportunity to edit the original recordings to eliminate non-musical data. On the other hand, I've thought that being able to listen to our conversations in between playing would yield some interesting anecdotes.