[Dixielandjazz] Nat Gonella

[Marek Boym]

Hello,
On the beat was what swing musicians did in the thirties.  Not in
1932, when Bing's version of "Some of These Days" was recorded.
Chisholm - sure.  But not only.  There were some pretty good reed
players, and trombonists as well.  And I'm not quite sure when Kenny
Baker's career started, but he, too, came from the dance band era, and
was wonderful.

As to recordings - I have some rarher dire Chisholm recordings,
alongside some really wonderful ones.

By the '60's Nat Gonella was past his prime.

Cheers


On 18/01/2010, john petters <jdpetters at btinternet.com> wrote:
> Hi Marek,
> I'm with Steve on this.
>
> I've always regarded Nat as pretty square.
>
> It is  particularly noticable if you play the two versions side by side.
> Bing is far ahead of Nat in terms of phrasing. Nat's singing and playing  is
> pretty much on the beat.
>
> The band sound like a good Briish band (who is the drummer - is it Joe
> Daniels?) and miles behind any of the good American bands of the time.
>
> Maybe the most creative Brit in those days was George Chisholm, who could
> certainly swing and appears on the Fats Waller London sessions.
>
> BTW, Nat sang with my band about 20 years ago, either at Gosport (with Yank
> Lawson) or Eastleigh, during the Wild Bill / Art Hodes tour. He'd long
> stopped playing trumpet.
>
> I did hear some of his stuff from about 1960 and his trumpet playing had
> lossened up by then.
>
> BTW A big row on the BBC Radio 3 Message board with heated discussion over
> whether Bing Crosby should have featured in their 'Jazz Library' series. A
> lot of the modernists on there took very entrenched views.
> Have a read:
>
> http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/mbradio3/F2620065?thread=7175983
>
> Cheers
>
>
> John Petters
> Amateur Radio Station G3YPZ
> www.traditional-jazz.com
>