- The Premier Italian American Newspaper Since 1931 -

Bloomfield Federation of Music Gala to Honor Paul Alongi

The Bloomfield Federation of Music will hold its 75th Anniversary Gala on May 2 at the Chandelier in Belleville, New Jersey.

Paul Alongi Sr. will be honored for his 44 years of service as president and tenor sax player of the Bloomfield Civic Band and former president and longtime trustee of the Federation. He was inducted into the Bloomfield Music Hall of Fame in 1998.

Mr. Alongi’s musical career has spanned a period of seventy plus years beginning at age seven playing clarinet. When he attended Barringer High School in Newark, Paul was handed a tenor sax and that launched his music career. He went on to lead the famed Barringer Blue Jackets Jazz Band and earned All-City honors for sax and clarinet.

After high school, Paul founded the popular Sonny Long Band that was very prominent during the fifties and sixties. The band backed celebrity vocalists and groups such as The Four Aces, Al Martino, Jerry Vale, Dion and the Belmonts, Connie Francis and many others. He and his lifelong friend, Dom Ferrara, (now deceased), founded the Garden State Concert Band that remained very active for thirty years. Paul presently plays with the Bloomfield Civic Band, Morris Plains Community Band and the Swingtones Jazz Band.

Mr. Alongi is well known for his many civic and community affiliations, most notably as past National President of UNICO and former president of the Bloomfield Board of Education. He is presently employed as vice president of First Indemnity of America Insurance Company and First Managed Care Options.