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John Gill (7)

Born in 1951 in New York City and started playing music in 1963. He was a member of The Mustache Show Band that appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show. He also performed at The Red Garter and The Red Onion. He performed extensively with The Smith Street Society, a banjo oriented musical group; The Long Island Banjo Society; and Banjo Dan McCall's Banjokers. In 1977 he moved to San Francisco and joined The Turk Murphy Jazz Band, a traditional jazz group. He played drums, banjo and soprano saxophone. During 1984-85, while still with Murphy, recorded a pair of Stomp Off sets on drums with his Original Sunset Five. During 1986-87, he headed an expanded ten-piece band on his two other Stomp Off dates that he called his California Sunshine Boys. In 1987 he began freelancing out of San Francisco, New York, New Orleans, and Austin. He later played tenor banjo, bass saxophone and drums for Leon Redbone. In 2008 Gill relocated to New York City.