1930s Swing in UK: Nat Gonella and His Georgians - Black Coffee, 1935

Nat Gonella and His Georgians, Vocal refrain by Nat Gonella - Black Coffee, Fox-Trot (Sigler - Goodhart - Hoffman) Odeon 1935

NOTE: Nathaniel Charles (Nat) GONELLA (b. 1908 in London -- d.1998 in Gosport, Hampshire, UK) English trumpeter, bandleader, vocalist and perhaps most notable as director of the big band he founded, The Georgians. His vocal style was reminiscent of Louis Armstrong, while as band leader and trumpeter, Gonella has been an influence on other British jazz trumpeters (Lyttelton, Fairweather).

Born in a deprived area of East London, he took up cornet while attending an institution for underprivileged children, in Islington. In 1924 after a short spell as a furrier's apprentice, he joined Archie Pitt's Busby Boy's Band. He remained with the band until 1928, and it was during this period that he became acquainted with the early recordings of Louis Armstrong, and the New Orleans jazz . He transcribed Armstrong's solos and learned them by heart.

In 1929 he joined the Billy Cotton's band with which -- as trumpeter and vocalist - he attended the concert stages and radio performances, he also got acquainted with the phonograph business. In 1931 he played with Roy Fox and in the following year, he joined Lew Stone's orchestra, where he firmly established his reputation.

He managed to meet his idol when Armstrong visited London in 1932, by begging the staff at Boosey and Hawkes's music shop to allow him to return Armstrong's trumpet, left at the shop for cleaning, to his hotel room. The American was amused to find such an ardent devotee and the two men became good friends. In 1935, Nat established his own band The Georgians, their name taken from Gonella's highly-popular version of "Georgia On My Mind", which he recorded for Lew Stone in 1932. The Georgians quickly became a headline big band, and Gonella himself became a notorious artist with his own artistic circle in the Swing era in London. With outbreak of the war, Gonella joined the army and was recruited into the Stars in Battledress campaign, touring allied camps in Europe and North Africa. After war, he reformed his band and flirted with bebop, until in the Fifties the revival of the traditional jazz style gave him opportunity to perform again on a wider scale, with The Georgians. When the advent of The Beatles brought the trad jazz boom to a halt, Gonella moved to Lancashire and tooured until his retirement, in 1973.

"Black Coffee" (by Sigler, Goodhart, Hoffman) is an excellent hot swing tune which has in YT two more excellent versions: one by Carroll Gibbons and a forgotten British-Australian jazz singer, Marjorie Stedeford http://youtu.be/QuEvH6AObgo and another one, by an American trumpeter and singer Wingy Manone http://youtu.be/smvKn1IdzOc

See also my new hot dance uploading at Dailymotion http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xmkrh5_art-hickman-s-orchestra-cherry-cherok...

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[madebyJake12]

Thanx love the videos music and pictures! They bring me to a different time! Could you by chance post some more roaring 20s music? That would be great! Well anyway love the vids!

[dzheger]

Hot and swinging. But what happened to the English cup o'tea?

[barbcard]

Thanks for this lively welcome home. After Thanksgiving in NYC I'm actually glad to be back in relatively serene D.C. (I speak not of politics, of course, but home sweet home--until I get the urge to leave again asap). Love, B.

[MsDobrita]

Great voice e el piano e trompet e saxofon woll...

[MaisSimples]

Great voice! His voice was often eclipsed by his achievements as a band leader and trumpeter, wich are a gift to us...

[iainr222]

Love it......a real toe-tapper !

[slLLyhumans]

Well done !

[BixBix81]

Witam! Dziekuje za BLACK COFFEE. Mam wersje z Wingy Mannone i Carroll Gibons z Savoy Hotel Orpheans.Nat Gonella jest naprawde najlepsza. Serdecznie Dziekuje Bixbix8

[fredjmp]

You really are my colleague. Let's get complicated surgery that I have mentioned before, because I've never seen so much musical inspiration! Thats all right!

[fredjmp]

Hi Grzegorz , wonderful as always!!