Joseph Gustaf "Sharkey" Bonano (April 9, 1904 – March 27, 1972), also known as Sharkey Banana or Sharkey Bananas, was an American

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 m ...

trumpeter, band leader, and vocalist. His musical abilities were sometimes overlooked because of his love of being an entertainer; he would often sing silly lyrics in a high raspy voice and break into dance on stage.

Biography

Bonano was born in the

Milneburg Milneburg was a town on the southern shore of Lake Pontchartrain in Louisiana that was absorbed into the city of New Orleans. A neighborhood to the south of this area is still sometimes known by this name; the former location of Milneburg is now i ...

neighborhood of New Orleans near

Lake Pontchartrain Lake Pontchartrain ( ) is an estuary located in southeastern Louisiana in the United States. It covers an area of with an average depth of . Some shipping channels are kept deeper through dredging. It is roughly oval in shape, about from w ...

. In the 1920s he was in the New Orleans bands of Freddie Newman and Chink Martin. After moving to New York City, he found work as a member of the

Wolverines The wolverine (), (''Gulo gulo''; ''Gulo'' is Latin for " glutton"), also referred to as the glutton, carcajou, or quickhatch (from East Cree, ''kwiihkwahaacheew''), is the largest land-dwelling species of the family Mustelidae. It is a muscu ...

and with

Jimmy Durante James Francis Durante ( , ; February 10, 1893 – January 29, 1980) was an American comedian, actor, singer, vaudevillian, and pianist. His distinctive gravelly speech, Lower East Side accent, comic language-butchery, jazz-influenced son ...

. He worked next to

Frankie Trumbauer Orie Frank Trumbauer (May 30, 1901 – June 11, 1956) was an American jazz saxophonist of the 1920s and 1930s. His main instrument was the C-melody saxophone, a now-uncommon instrument between an alto and tenor saxophone in size and pitch. He a ...

and

Bix Beiderbecke Leon Bismark "Bix" Beiderbecke (March 10, 1903 – August 6, 1931) was an American jazz cornetist, pianist and composer. Beiderbecke was one of the most influential jazz soloists of the 1920s, a cornet player noted for an inventive lyrical app ...

as a member the

Jean Goldkette John Jean Goldkette (March 18, 1893 – March 24, 1962) was a jazz pianist and bandleader. Life Goldkette was reportedly born on March 18, 1893 in Valenciennes, France,Russel B. Nye (1976). Music in the Twenties: The Jean Goldkette Orchestra ...

orchestra. At the end of the 1920s, he led a band which included

Louis Prima Louis Leo Prima (December 7, 1910 – August 24, 1978) was an American singer, songwriter, bandleader, and trumpeter. While rooted in New Orleans jazz, swing music, and jump blues, Prima touched on various genres throughout his career: he forme ...

. During the 1930s he formed the Sharks of Rhythm and played in the

Original Dixieland Jass Band The Original Dixieland Jass Band (ODJB) was a Dixieland jazz band that made the first jazz recordings in early 1917. Their " Livery Stable Blues" became the first jazz record ever issued. The group composed and recorded many jazz standards, the ...

. His sidemen during this period included Santo Pecora and Thurman Teague. After World War II he toured Europe, Asia, and South America, played residencies in Chicago and New York, and then was a regular on

Bourbon Street Bourbon Street (french: Rue Bourbon, es, Calle de Borbón) is a historic street in the heart of the French Quarter of New Orleans. Extending thirteen blocks from Canal Street to Esplanade Avenue, Bourbon Street is famous for its many bars an ...

in the New Orleans

French Quarter The French Quarter, also known as the , is the oldest neighborhood in the city of New Orleans. After New Orleans (french: La Nouvelle-Orléans) was founded in 1718 by Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville, the city developed around the ("Old Sq ...

. In 1949, he appeared at the Roosevelt Hotel's Blue Room and the Famous Door Bar. Bonano died on March 27, 1972 at the age of 67.

Discography

* ''Sharkey's Southern Comfort'' (1950) * ''Kings of Dixieland'' ( Capitol, 1950) * ''A Night in Old New Orleans'' (Capitol, 1950) * ''Sharkey Bonano'' (

Circle A circle is a shape consisting of all points in a plane that are at a given distance from a given point, the centre. Equivalently, it is the curve traced out by a point that moves in a plane so that its distance from a given point is cons ...

, 1951) * ''Sounds of New Orleans, Vol. 4: Live at the Perez Club'' ( Storyville, 1952) * ''Midnight on Bourbon Street'' (1952 * ''Sharkey Bonano'' ( Southland, 1954) * ''Recorded in New Orleans, Vol. 1'' (

Good Time Jazz Good Time Jazz Records was an American jazz record company and label. It was founded in 1949 by Lester Koenig to record the Firehouse Five Plus Two and earned a reputation for Dixieland jazz. The label produced new releases and reissues, includi ...

, 1956) * ''Sharkey Bonano w/ Santo Pecora and George Girard'' (Southland, 1956) * ''In a New Orleans Jam Session'' (Southland, 1958) * ''Dixieland at the Roundtable'' (

Roulette Roulette is a casino game named after the French word meaning ''little wheel'' which was likely developed from the Italian game Biribi''.'' In the game, a player may choose to place a bet on a single number, various groupings of numbers, the ...

, 1960) * ''Sharkey Bonano at the Municipal Auditorium 1949'' ( GHB, 2010) * ''Sharkey Bonano and His Sharks of Rhythm'' (Jazz Classics) * ''Sharkey & His Kings of Dixieland'' (GHB, 1995)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bonano, Sharkey 1904 births 1972 deaths 20th-century American musicians 20th-century trumpeters American jazz bandleaders American jazz trumpeters American male trumpeters Dixieland trumpeters Jazz musicians from New Orleans Capitol Records artists 20th-century American male musicians American male jazz musicians Good Time Jazz Records artists Southland Records artists