[Dixielandjazz] Nat Gonella

[Stephen G Barbone]

On Jan 18, 2010, at 5:28 PM, Jack Mitchell wrote:

> OK, Nat Gonella may not be everyone's idea of a great jazz trumpet  
> player, but he idolised Louis, and I'm sure that he brought many  
> Brits (and others - many of his discs were issued in Australia and  
> elsewhere) to get into jazz. What's wrong with that?
>
> Also he should be evaluated for what he did in the time that he did  
> it - the thirties, when jazz appreciation and knowledge were quite  
> different to what they are today.
>
> And why is he criticised for being influenced by Louis, when so many  
> others are praised for so being?  Like Jack Purvis, Humphrey  
> Lyttelton, Bob Barnard and probably every trumpeter playing OKOM  
> around the world today.
>
> Best wishes
> Jack Mitchell

Dear Jack:

I agree with you. The discussion was about whether Gonella was 1) an  
instinctive jazz musician and 2) had a band that could match all the  
American Swing Bands in the 1930s except Tommy Dorsey, Count Basie and  
Duke Ellington.

I did not criticize him for being influenced by Louis, nor do I think  
anyone else did. As far as I am concerned, all Jazz Musicians born  
prior to about 1960, give or take a decade, were directly influenced  
by Louis. And many jazz musicians regardless of when they were born  
are influenced indirectly by Louis via trumpeters like Miles, Dizzy,  
Clifford Brown and others who acknowledged their debt to Louis.

My point about his "instinctiveness" was that he sounded to me like a  
guy who assiduously charted Louis solos, learned them as best he could  
and them spit them back out in a less than swinging manner. That to  
me, is an abomination. In my ears his music is square, not swinging  
and studied, not instinctive.

The band backing Bing Crosby in 1932 which link I posted, far out  
swung anything Gonella ever did. That was directly related to the time  
in question. As did bands like Goldkette in the 1920s no less,  
Fletcher Henderson (after Louis) Chick Webb, Shaw, Goodman and a whole  
bunch of other US bands too numerous to mention.

Cheers,
Steve Barbone
www.myspace.com/barbonestreetjazzband