Nat Gonella

Nathaniel " Nat" Charles Gonella ( born March 7, 1908 in London, † August 6, 1998 ) was a British jazz trumpeter, Mellophonist, singer and band leader of the Dixieland jazz. He led for many years the Big Band The Georgians.

Life and work

Nat Gonella first played in an amateur band, the Archie Pitt's Busby Boys, from 1927 in various small dance bands before he became a member of the band by Billy Cotton in 1929. With it, he played at Club Streetham Locarno and took first records. In 1932 he worked with Lew Stone. In the 1930s, he was with his own band, Nat Gonella & The Georgians very popular in England during the interwar period. From 1934 Gonella took records on (including with Ray Noble, but also with his student Johnny Claes ), 1939 toured Europe and the United States, where he worked in New York City the title " Jeepers Creepers " or "Just a Kid Named Joe" grossed, with guest musicians such as Buster Bailey, Benny Carter, Billy Kyle and John Kirby participated. He was regarded as the " British Louis Armstrong ".

After the Second World War, he had several bands, such as The New Georgians band, which he revived in 1959 and which he made ​​major contributions to the Dixieland revival. He got a record deal with EMI Label and appeared in revues in TV show like This is Your Life. After it was long gone quiet around him, he settled in the 1980s in the North of England Lancashire down, took on albums and played in local clubs. Digby Fairweather then published a biography; his old recordings through a renaissance in the UK. In the 1990s he lived in Hampshire, where he regularly appeared CoSport Jazz Club and sang with different, there participating artists. For 1994 in a jazz party was held in honor of his 85th birthday; the city named a place Gosport by Nat Gonella.

Gonella was in the UK a model for generations of traditional jazz musicians such as Kenny Ball, Humphrey Lyttelton and Digby Fairweather. His later vocal style was reminiscent of Louis Armstrong singing.

Nat Gonellas Georgians is not to be confused with the homonymous U.S. band The Georgians that existed in the 1920s.

Disco Graphical Notes

• The Nat Gonella Story Vol 1 - 1931 to 1946 (Philips)
• Nat Gonella and His Georgians ( Flapper, 1935-40 )
• Nat and the Boys - Jazz and Dance Music of the Thirties ( Parade )
• Naturally Gonella ( Cedar, 1940-42 )