Nat Gonella. Well, I'm not exactly listening to Nat Gonella but it was the name on the first 78 of several 78s in three bound volumes at the local second hand furniture shop. A quick look suggests that some of the others are less dance band and more jazz and they seem to be in quite good condition. It was too hot to think about them properly. But any initial thoughts?
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Personally Nat was too much before my time to have been of interest, but it is understood, I believe, that no less than Louis Armstrong rated him highly - after all, he did sound rather like Satchmo! - considering him Britain's finest jazz trumpeter.Originally posted by Lat-Literal View PostComment
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Do you think they would be a good purchase? I have no idea how much they are charging. I don't know what I am asking really. I'm not looking to making money but they seem good.Originally posted by Serial_Apologist View Post
(I wouldn't be looking to make money even if I was living in a gutter - I just find all that sort of stuff far too cheap; that's why I am on this forum)
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I have one or two tracks that include Nat Gonella which go a small way towards having a representative collection of British jazz from all historical periods, so that if a visitor asks I can say, "well, I have this with him on, if you'd really like to hear it" - but if it's from a period that has your interest, go for it is all I can say!Originally posted by Lat-Literal View PostDo you think they would be a good purchase? I have no idea how much they are charging. I don't know what I am asking really. I'm not looking to making money but they seem good.
(I wouldn't be looking to make money even if I was living in a gutter - I just find all that sort of stuff far too cheap; that's why I am on this forum)
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Thank you.Originally posted by Serial_Apologist View PostI have one or two tracks that include Nat Gonella which go a small way towards having a representative collection of British jazz from all historical periods, so that if a visitor asks I can say, "well, I have this with him on, if you'd really like to hear it" - but if it's from a period that has your interest, go for it is all I can say!
I might see how much they want for them.
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Nice to see Nat Gonella referenced on this thread. He was a constant feature on the local jazz scene when I was growing up although I never saw him. I have his biography at home which came out around the time he was in semi-retirement albeit only singing and not playing trumpet.
Picking up on SA's comments, Gonella was much vaunted by Armstrong and I believe that he was also offered a job with Tommy Dorsey's orchestra when he toured the States. There are some recordings with American musicians such as Benny Carter and John Kirby which he also made over there but I have never heard them. The stuff with The Georgians is quite interesting because they were one of the few genuine jazz groups in the UK in the mid-thirties. I think they have vocals on and I recollect a pretty good tenor player in the band. I believe the bassist was Tiny Winters who was once interviewed on the local jazz radio station in the 1980s which I found very interesting at the time. Gonella always seemed a musician who flitted between jazz and Dance bands when there probably was not too much of a difference as there is today. He was a major talent at that time and highly regarded by other Americans such as Fats Waller. There are some recordings he made in the 1930s which are pretty impressive in the swing style of the day.
What is odd if that my memories of him are a bit more skewed. He was a permanent fixture of the Gosport Jazz Club which was something of a bastion for Trad in the 70's and 80's where he was something of an icon. Picking up on the comment about Gonella being of an earlier generation, my piano teacher knew him through musical circles but since his playing drew inspiration principally from Bud, Monk, Garner and Evans, he didn't take Gonella's "Traditional style" too seriously. My teacher had also had to do his tenure with dance bands yet Gonella seemed to him to be of an earlier generation and a bit old hat. When I asked him about Gonella once, he dismissed him with a brush of the hand and then told me a story that I cannot repeat on this board which, although very funny in a Brian Rix kind of way, effectively summed up his personal perspective that he didn't take Gonella too seriously. Oddly, the biography is also peppered with references to artists / singers / entertainers from outside jazz who impressed Gonella but whose names now mean nothing.
I always think of Gonella as one of Britain's jazz might-have -beens. I think had he stayed in the US instead of just doing a short term tour, we would be held in high esteem and his stock would have been greater. To me, he is something of the Tubby Hayes of the 1930s although reflecting the popular nature of jazz at the time. Probably a musician in need of re-appraisal ?Comment
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‘Blackjack’
Donald Byrd with Sonny Red, Hank Mobley, Cedar Walton, Walter Booker & Billy Higgins
Blue Note (1967)Comment
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Dexter Gordon's overlooked 1976 album 'Biting The Apple'(STEEPLECHASE) with Barry Harris(piano); Sam Jones(bass) & Al Foster(drums).
Here's Kenny Dorham's 'Blue Bossa':
JRComment
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That's a hell of a lot better album, and a Dexter New York return, than the much lauded "Homecoming".
BN.Comment
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‘Open Sesame’
Freddie Hubbard with Tina Brooks, McCoy Tyner, Sam Jones & Clifford Jarvis
Blue Note (1960)Comment
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A return thought by some to have ignited the 1980s hard bop revival.Originally posted by BLUESNIK'S REVOX View PostComment
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I rushed to buy it, a double vinyl on CBS, and never took to it. A lot to do with the bass, that was the era of popping dragging amplification. I even recorded it to tape with the bass rolled right off. Still one of my least favourite Gordon's. Even with Woody Shaw.
But, a nice story, when Dexter moved back to the states, the label got him some rare major publicly (for then) around this, and arranged for him to be interviewed for Network TV at the Village Vanguard. All went smoothly until the guy working behind the bar put on the "Bird plays Cole Porter" LP loud over the house PA. The TV crew nervously said, "We just need some final establishing shots of you outside the club, Mr Gordon, then we're done". Dexter, "When this is OVER, and Not before, this is BIRD!" Crew standing around while the entire album is religiously replayed for Dexter.Comment
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‘Back to the Tracks’
Tina Brooks with Jackie McLean, Blue Mitchell, Kenny Drew, Paul Chambers & Art Taylor
Blue Note (1960)Comment
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Mike Stern - Standards (and other songs)
…. which was just pushed through my letter box.
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‘Our Man in Paris’
Dexter Gordon with Bud Powell, Pierre Michelot & Kenny Clarke
Blue Note (1963)Comment
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