About the Authors
Joe Agro was born and raised in The Islands- Manhattan, Staten and Long - where he worked his way through school playing the saxophone around The City. Having studied engineering...view moreAbout the Authors
Joe Agro was born and raised in The Islands- Manhattan, Staten and Long - where he worked his way through school playing the saxophone around The City. Having studied engineering and business he worked day jobs for awhile and raised a family. In 1989, after not playing for nearly thirty years, he started playing music again.
He moved to the Bay Area in 1994, and later retired from his business career. He now devotes most of his working time to music: playing saxophones; managing bands, including the Bossmen and the Starduster Orchestra; running jazz festivals and other entertainment events; writing articles for music publications; working for the Monterey Jazz Festival, as Music Director for Radio Sausalito; and, of late, contributing to this book along with his friends, Harold and Gil.
Gil Jacobs, a devout jazz and swing music
lover, was introduced to Harold Jones by his good friend, Joe Agro. After working a full complement of day jobs, mostly in the computer industry, over some fifty years, Gil saw the error of his ways and retired to enjoy life as he wanted to know it. He had previously authored several books on dice games and his writing finger, the same one he types with, was getting itchy so he was happy to have the opportunity to co-author the Singer’s Drummer.
Getting to know Harold and hearing stories
about his many famous and now legendary contemporaries was a real joy and a wonderful experience for him. Gil says, “Interviewing Harold was almost as much fun as watching him perform with Tony Bennett. Watching Harold play with the Bossmen ain’t chopped liver either!”view less