Nathaniel Charles Gonella (7 March 1908 – 6 August 1998) was an English
jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a majo ...
trumpeter, bandleader, vocalist, and
mellophonist
The mellophone is a brass instrument typically pitched in the key of F, though models in E, D, C, and G (as a bugle) have also historically existed. It has a conical bore, like that of the euphonium and flugelhorn. The mellophone is used as th ...
. He founded the big band
The Georgians, during the
British dance band
British dance band is a genre of popular jazz and dance music that developed in British dance halls and hotel ballrooms during the 1920s and 1930s, often called a Golden Age of British music, prior to the Second World War.
Thousands of mil ...
era.
Early life and career
Gonella was born in
Islington
Islington () is a district in the north of Greater London, England, and part of the London Borough of Islington. It is a mainly residential district of Inner London, extending from Islington's High Street to Highbury Fields, encompassing the ...
,
North London
North London is the northern part of London, England, north of the River Thames. It extends from Clerkenwell and Finsbury, on the edge of the City of London financial district, to Greater London's boundary with Hertfordshire.
The term ''nor ...
, where he attended St Mary's Guardian School, an institution for underprivileged children, where he started playing cornet.
After a short spell as a furrier's apprentice, his professional career began in 1924 when he joined
Archie Pitt's Busby Boy's Band, a small pit orchestra and touring review band. During his four years with the band, he discovered the music of
Louis Armstrong and dixieland jazz. He transcribed Armstrong's solos and learned them by heart. Beginning in 1928, Gonella spent a year in Bob Bryden's Louisville Band before working with Archie Alexander and
Billy Cotton. Cotton's band allowed him to record his first solos and to explore
scat singing
In vocal jazz, scat singing is vocal improvisation with wordless vocables, nonsense syllables or without words at all. In scat singing, the singer improvises melodies and rhythms using the voice as an instrument rather than a speaking medium. ...
.
The 1930s

He played briefly with
Roy Fox
Roy Fox (October 25, 1901 – March 20, 1982) was an American-born British dance bandleader who was popular in Britain during the British dance band era.
Early life and career
Roy Fox was born in Denver, Colorado, United States. He and his ...
in 1931 and remained in the band when
Lew Stone, Fox's former pianist, took over leadership the following year. With Stone's band he established his reputation. When Louis Armstrong visited London in 1932, Gonella met him by begging the staff at the
Boosey and Hawkes music shop to allow him to deliver Armstrong's trumpet, which had been left at the shop for cleaning. Armstrong appreciated his willingness to help, and the two became friends.
In 1933 Gonella published ''Modern Style Trumpet Playing – A Comprehensive Course''. He made uncredited appearances with Lew Stone and
Al Bowlly
Albert Allick Bowlly (7 January 1898 – 17 April 1941) was a Mozambican-born South African– British vocalist and jazz guitarist, who was popular during the 1930s in Britain. He recorded more than 1,000 songs.
His most popular songs include ...
in the films ''
Bitter Sweet'' and ''
The King's Cup''.
Gonella's reputation grew when he formed The Georgians in 1935. The band took its name from a popular version of the song "
Georgia on My Mind
"Georgia on My Mind" is a 1930 song written by Hoagy Carmichael and Stuart Gorrell and first recorded that same year by Hoagy Carmichael. However, the song has been most often associated with soul singer Ray Charles, who was a native of the ...
" that he recorded for Lew Stone in 1932 and which became the trumpeter's signature tune. The Georgians began as a band within Stone's shows before setting up as an independent unit. He became a headline act on the variety circuit before the outbreak of
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
.
The 1940s and 1950s

He joined the army in 1941, and was recruited into the
Stars in Battledress campaign, touring allied camps in Europe and North Africa. In February 1945 he played in RTR band for troops at an army camp near Bournemouth, either Bovington or Lulworth.
npublished diary John Robson EdwardsWhilst in Europe and North Africa Gonella served as the personal servant or "
batman
Batman is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger, and debuted in the 27th issue of the comic book '' Detective Comics'' on March 30, 1939 ...
" to Major Alexander Karet and once the war had ended was offered the position as personal Butler to the Major, but he politely declined the offer, so that he could be free to pursue his musical career.
He reformed his band after the war, but the economic and musical climate was changing rapidly at that time. He flirted briefly with
bebop
Bebop or bop is a style of jazz developed in the early-to-mid-1940s in the United States. The style features compositions characterized by a fast tempo, complex chord progressions with rapid chord changes and numerous changes of key, instrum ...
, acknowledged that it was not for him, and returned to the variety stage during the 1950s, touring with the likes of the comedian
Max Miller.
The 1960s and 1970s
The revival in
traditional jazz in the late Fifties allowed him to reform his Georgians in 1960. In February 1960 he featured on the UK television show ''
This Is Your Life This Is Your Life may refer to:
Television
* ''This Is Your Life'' (American franchise), an American radio and television documentary biography series hosted by Ralph Edwards
* ''This Is Your Life'' (Australian TV series), the Australian versio ...
'', an appearance which later inspired an album ''The Nat Gonella Story'', modelled on Louis Armstrong's ''A Musical Autobiography''. He also appeared on the BBC radio programme ''
Desert Island Discs
''Desert Island Discs'' is a radio programme broadcast on BBC Radio 4. It was first broadcast on the BBC Forces Programme on 29 January 1942.
Each week a guest, called a " castaway" during the programme, is asked to choose eight recordings (us ...
'' in August 1966.
All of this attention re-established Gonella, at least until the advent of
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the most influential band of all time and were integral to the developm ...
brought the trad jazz boom to a halt. He moved to
Lancashire
Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a Historic counties of England, historic county, Ceremonial County, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significa ...
in 1962, and toured regularly on the
Northern club circuit
Northern may refer to the following:
Geography
* North, a point in direction
* Northern Europe, the northern part or region of Europe
* Northern Highland, a region of Wisconsin, United States
* Northern Province, Sri Lanka
* Northern Range, a ...
until his alleged retirement on his 65th birthday, on 7 March 1973.
Post-retirement
That retirement did not last long. Drummer Ted Easton persuaded him to come to play to his (Easton's) club in the Netherlands during the mid-1970s, and a new recording of a song he had first cut with
Roy Fox
Roy Fox (October 25, 1901 – March 20, 1982) was an American-born British dance bandleader who was popular in Britain during the British dance band era.
Early life and career
Roy Fox was born in Denver, Colorado, United States. He and his ...
in 1931, "Oh, Monah", became a big hit in the Netherlands.
It was to be his final flourish on trumpet, but he continued to sing after moving to
Gosport
Gosport ( ) is a town and non-metropolitan borough on the south coast of Hampshire, South East England. At the 2011 Census, its population was 82,662. Gosport is situated on a peninsula on the western side of Portsmouth Harbour, opposite ...
, Hampshire, in 1977 – where a square was renamed in his honour in 1994, and was always happy to stand up and do so in a local pubs or at the Gosport Jazz Club.
Digby Fairweather's
New Georgians paid tribute to Gonella's musical heritage in 1984, and Fairweather and fellow trumpeter
Humphrey Lyttelton
Humphrey Richard Adeane Lyttelton (23 May 1921 – 25 April 2008), also known as Humph, was an English jazz musician and broadcaster from the Lyttelton family.
Having taught himself the trumpet at school, Lyttelton became a professional ...
co-hosted a television tribute, ''Fifty Years of Nat Gonella'', the following year, in which Gonella himself was an enthusiastic participant.
He continued to sing occasionally with various bands, and made the headlines again in 1997 when a sampled excerpt of his trumpet playing from a recording he made in 1932 was used in
White Town
Jyoti Prakash Mishra (born 30 July 1966), better known by his stage name White Town, is a British-Indian singer and musician. He is best known for his 1997 hit song "Your Woman".
Early life
Jyoti Prakash Mishra was born in Rourkela on 30 July ...
's number one pop hit, "
Your Woman".
Nat Gonella died at the Gosport War Memorial Hospital, Hampshire on 6 August 1998, aged 90.
Gonella was a down-to-earth and unassuming character, and remained so throughout his life. On BBC Radio 4,
Barry Humphries
John Barry Humphries (born 17 February 1934) is an Australian comedian, actor, author and satirist. He is best known for writing and playing his on-stage and television alter egos Dame Edna Everage and Sir Les Patterson. He is also a film pro ...
said that "Oh Mona" was one of two tracks that had most appealed to him in his life. Humphrey Lyttelton is among those who have testified to the fact that fame and success sat easily on Gonella's shoulders, and reports that he would show genuine astonishment when Lyttelton would confess, as well as other prominent musicians, to Gonella having been his first jazz hero.
Further reading
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References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Gonella, Nat
1908 births
1998 deaths
English jazz bandleaders
English jazz singers
English jazz trumpeters
Male trumpeters
Singers from London
20th-century English singers
British Army personnel of World War II
Dance band bandleaders
Dance band trumpet players
Dixieland revivalist trumpeters
Dixieland trumpeters
20th-century trumpeters
20th-century British male musicians
British male jazz musicians