Gonella was one of the great pioneers of Jazz in Britain,
paving the way for successive waves of Armstrong-inspired trumpeters
where contemporaries of his, such as the exquisite Norman Payne, showed
more of an affiliation with Bix Beiderbecke. Gonella was much reissued
on LP and continues to fare equally well on CD, probably even better
in fact.
Compilations range across the years, some taking in
his sideman forays in two of the greatest of dance bands, those of
Roy Fox and Lew Stone. In this Retrospective collection there is one
side by the Fox band, the famous Oh, Monah! where the cockney
trumpeter tells us that he ‘fought ‘e ‘eard a chick’n sneeze’ By the
way, apropos of nothing, I understand that Jay Wibur’s version of
this song was a favourite of Elgar’s.
Elsewhere we find that frantic, bugle-like tone employed
to fine effect on Tiger Rag with thrusting solos all round
and Gonella’s erstwhile bandleader Bob Dryden on the drums. Troublesome
Trumpet, with Gonella’s lisping vocal, still sounds good, not
least with his insistent on the beat work to the fore. Amidst these
exemplary and well known examples of Gonella’s playing we do find
some more out of the way things. Nagasaki and Black Coffee
are not all that often anthologised and in fact a number of the 1935
sides have generally escaped the restorer’s art. The Isle of Capri
is played straight then jazzed, which justifies its new title, Capri
Caprice complete with O sole Mio quotation. Given the foregoing
comments regarding Duncan Whyte it’s interesting to hear Singin’
the Blues, which Bix played so beautifully, and is slightly unusual
territory for Gonella. Ride, Red, Ride is more in his line,
a Red Allen rabble-rouser written by Lucky Millinder. There are some
Gonella originals, really vehicles for instrumental virtuosity – Crazy
Valves and Trumpetuous. I Can't Dance, I Got Ants In
My Pants is a swinger and earned Gonella a radio ban. Then there
are two of the sides he made in New York with a stellar contingent
including Benny Carter (who’d known him in London) and Buster Bailey
and Billy Kyle. He sings and plays – some nervous fluffs on You
Must Have Been A Beautiful Baby but he takes a splendid solo on
Jeepers Creepers. We end, as we must, with one of the versions
of his signature song Georgia On My Mind which is the only
wartime track here, recorded in Brighton in 1941 with his New Georgians.
The personnel details seem good to me but the bassist
on the Fox track was Don Stuteley not Studeley and he played the ocarina
as well – there was a lot of doubling and exotic trebling in that
band.
This offers a good balance of material for the Gonella
fan in smart sounding transfers
Jonathan Woolf
see also review by Tony Augarde
CD Reviews
Retrospective RTR 4146
