NAT GONELLA

English jazz trumpeter, bandleader, vocalist and mellophonist. Born March 7, 1908 in Islington, London, England. Died August 6, 1998 in Gosport, England. from discogs Nat (Nathaniel Charles) Gonella was one of the first British musicians to establish a major reputation as a jazz soloist. He became a household name in the decades between his emergence as a star in the 1930s and the end of the so-called Trad Boom in the early 1960s, and remained active in music until the end of his life. He straddled the perceived divide between art and commerce, becoming a hugely popular draw as well as occupying a pioneering role in the development of jazz in the UK. His influence on a subsequent generation of British musicians, including Humphrey Lyttelton, Kenny Ball and Digby Fairweather, cannot be understated. His own style was based firmly in that of Louis Armstrong, beginning at a time when the New Orleans trumpeter was read more...