I began assembling this website with my brother Francis J. Golia (b. August 10, 1945) shortly after he was diagnosed with myelodysplastic syndrome in 2018. I was fortunate to spend time with him, discussing his life as a musician, educator and composer, in the months before he passed away on February 2, 2019. While originally conceived as a reference for like-minded artists, the site now stands as a tribute to my brother, and to the nearly extinct generation of musicians to which he belongs.
Raised in working-class families with musical proclivities, these musicians graduated high school but never made it through college or a conservatory owing to financial responsibilities towards their families. Exposed to the cultural traditions of their immigrant or African-American parents, they were members of their high school bands, weaned on the big band sound of the Swing Era, steeped in the jazz tradition and coming into their own at a time when jazz was undergoing deep change thanks to the work of pioneers like Cecil Taylor, John Coltrane and Ornette Coleman on the one hand, and the onslaught of pop and rock on the other.
Artists like my brother considered music a vocation, a life to which they had been called. Although they may have lacked degrees, they sought instruction along their particular lines of interest at points throughout their lives. They held day jobs, in addition to performing at night wherever and whenever they could, sometimes an a moment’s notice, at family events like weddings and bar mitzvahs, at community dance halls, nightclubs, hotels and resorts, in Frank’s case, up and down the east coast, the Poconos and Catskills, the casinos of Atlantic City. They had ‘fake books’, with the sheet music for scores of popular songs rendered as melody and chord changes with lyrics; most of their gigs involved the replication of a repertoire of standards and popular songs, hundreds of them. They also gave private lessons or taught in local schools and colleges to pass the music along.
They practiced daily and were expert listeners. Everything new interested them; they attended every live performance they could, in the clubs and lofts of New York, shared recordings and talked about them with one another; they read Down Beat and other music magazines, debating the remarks of reviewers and critics among themselves. Some, like my brother, yearning to sound their own voice, ventured into new territory, forming experimental groups that were rarely booked, writing songs to perform at their usual gigs, or as in my brother’s case studying composition and orchestration, producing works that were publicly performed.
Despite their devotion, and whatever influence they may have had on their contemporaries, audiences or students, many of these musicians remain unknown, because, as my brother put it, they failed to “make it on the books” as either composers, bandleaders or studio musicians, Yet, if as Ralph Emerson stated, “all history is biography then you must agree that without a sense of the lives of these many artists working from the wings, the history of American music is incomplete.
This site, while celebrating my brother’s life in music, aims to serve as a repository for the stories of his contemporaries who through their work helped shape America’s soundscape throughout the second half of the twentieth century. Alongside the well-known musicians cited in these pages, links are provided to the lesser-known but nonetheless significant ones. Audio clips of Frank’s work are available on the “composition” page. Anyone wishing to post here may contact Maria Golia at marigolia8@gmail.com
Francis J. Golia in Pipersville, Pa., August 10, 2007. Photo:David Golia.
Header image of Frank c. 1960, in Trenton New Jersey.
Please accept my condolences on the passing of Frank. I remember him well and am saddened by this news.
We used to meet at the late Olga Gorelli’s house when we planned for concerts in Trenton.
I never forget the time that Frank described how he had approached and then met with the mayor of Trenton. Frank described CGNJ’s work to the mayor, proposed projects, etc. I asked Frank how long had he known the mayor. Frank said he had never met him before! We were all amazed at Frank’s initiative and humor!
Frank was an early participant in our “Music of the Spheres” (MOTS) programs at the State Museum Planetarium in Trenton. There we combined his electronic music with selected visual images by area artists as well as in-house effects on the planetarium dome. We continue MOTS programs to this day in Hawai’i.
Congratulations on the publication of your Ornette Coleman: The Territory and the Adventure.
Thanks Robert, also for your email saying “the spirit of Frank lives on in Music of the Spheres programs” still ongoing, in Hawai’i (see ‘compositions’ page). He would have liked that.
I studied drums with Frank in the mid-1990s on and off for a couple of years. I’ve been playing drums for over 50 years, but Frank was my most influential teacher in two ways. One, he took a personal interest. We talked about problems I was having with my band, with the business, and very pragmatically how to fix those problems. Second, he diagnosed and helped me correct lifelong defects in my grip and posture – stuff much better known teachers had ignored – that were limiting my drumming. That had an immediate, hugely positive effect on my playing and confidence. He got me into Afro-Cuban music and pushed me to do everything – including all the crazy latin figures – with either hand and either foot, which took my 4-way independence to a different level. He was just amazing. These were hour-long lessons at his little place which if memory serves was in South Trenton, but more often they lasted 90 minutes or two hours. He would find a new approach to something, or get on the synth and let me play while he improvised and I improvised back. I’d studied with well-known people in New York and elsewhere, people like Terry Silverlight, Kenwood Dennard and in my early 20s with Eddie Blackwell. But Frank went deeper. I couldn’t have done the things I did for the last 25 years without Frank’s insights. And his friendship. Now that I read this wonderful, literate biography of Frank, I’m 100X more impressed, because Frank never gave me this kind of background on himself, we focused on me. Clearly, he was a musician of stature and a free spirit, and ahead of his time pretty much ALL the time. I so wish I’d stayed in touch with him, but somewhere I lost track of him. On and off over the years I tried to re-locate him, searching on Google and asking around. Today, I saw a reference on-line to a Francis Golia, which led me to this page. I am terribly saddened to hear of Frank’s passing. What a generous, brilliant, lovely man. Rest in peace, Frank. Dan Zegart
Thanks Dan. Your account and sentiments are valuable not only on a personal level but with regards to the site’s basic premise – that we all leave traces of influence behind, however unaware we may be, bits of ourselves that (ideally) assist others in their lives. Frank would have been so pleased to hear of your appreciation. I certainly was!
Francis was an all around great person.. I was his caretaker for the past three years. I can recall him saying “go to school you won’t make any money doing this” for his encouraging words he’s part of the reason I will be graduating college this fall. Francis is gone but never forgotten, I am forever grateful to have known him.
MUSIC MAKERS MATTER 
Dear Maria,
Please accept my condolences on the passing of Frank. I remember him well and am saddened by this news.
We used to meet at the late Olga Gorelli’s house when we planned for concerts in Trenton.
I never forget the time that Frank described how he had approached and then met with the mayor of Trenton. Frank described CGNJ’s work to the mayor, proposed projects, etc. I asked Frank how long had he known the mayor. Frank said he had never met him before! We were all amazed at Frank’s initiative and humor!
Frank was an early participant in our “Music of the Spheres” (MOTS) programs at the State Museum Planetarium in Trenton. There we combined his electronic music with selected visual images by area artists as well as in-house effects on the planetarium dome. We continue MOTS programs to this day in Hawai’i.
Congratulations on the publication of your Ornette Coleman: The Territory and the Adventure.
Best wishes,
Robert
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Thanks Robert, also for your email saying “the spirit of Frank lives on in Music of the Spheres programs” still ongoing, in Hawai’i (see ‘compositions’ page). He would have liked that.
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May Francis soul rest in peace. God stregthen the family and friends. We shall forever miss you- Francis.
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I studied drums with Frank in the mid-1990s on and off for a couple of years. I’ve been playing drums for over 50 years, but Frank was my most influential teacher in two ways. One, he took a personal interest. We talked about problems I was having with my band, with the business, and very pragmatically how to fix those problems. Second, he diagnosed and helped me correct lifelong defects in my grip and posture – stuff much better known teachers had ignored – that were limiting my drumming. That had an immediate, hugely positive effect on my playing and confidence. He got me into Afro-Cuban music and pushed me to do everything – including all the crazy latin figures – with either hand and either foot, which took my 4-way independence to a different level. He was just amazing. These were hour-long lessons at his little place which if memory serves was in South Trenton, but more often they lasted 90 minutes or two hours. He would find a new approach to something, or get on the synth and let me play while he improvised and I improvised back. I’d studied with well-known people in New York and elsewhere, people like Terry Silverlight, Kenwood Dennard and in my early 20s with Eddie Blackwell. But Frank went deeper. I couldn’t have done the things I did for the last 25 years without Frank’s insights. And his friendship. Now that I read this wonderful, literate biography of Frank, I’m 100X more impressed, because Frank never gave me this kind of background on himself, we focused on me. Clearly, he was a musician of stature and a free spirit, and ahead of his time pretty much ALL the time. I so wish I’d stayed in touch with him, but somewhere I lost track of him. On and off over the years I tried to re-locate him, searching on Google and asking around. Today, I saw a reference on-line to a Francis Golia, which led me to this page. I am terribly saddened to hear of Frank’s passing. What a generous, brilliant, lovely man. Rest in peace, Frank. Dan Zegart
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Thanks Dan. Your account and sentiments are valuable not only on a personal level but with regards to the site’s basic premise – that we all leave traces of influence behind, however unaware we may be, bits of ourselves that (ideally) assist others in their lives. Frank would have been so pleased to hear of your appreciation. I certainly was!
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Francis was an all around great person.. I was his caretaker for the past three years. I can recall him saying “go to school you won’t make any money doing this” for his encouraging words he’s part of the reason I will be graduating college this fall. Francis is gone but never forgotten, I am forever grateful to have known him.
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