Back to top<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n Gosport was fortunate to have been the home since the early 1970s of the legendary trumpet player, Nat Gonella, and he was a member at the club for most of that time, until his death in 1998. For further information on Nat and this period in his life see the attached extract from the 2005 biography by Ron Brown and Digby Fairweather – Nat Gonella: A Life in Jazz. And read the Nat Gonell biography as a Word document<\/a><\/span> or in Portable Document Format<\/a><\/span>. Copyright \u00a9 of these photographs is owned by Jim Bevington or Malcolm Swire or Jan Almond and they may not be reproduced or copied without their express permission.\u00a0 To request permission, please go to the form on the Contact<\/a><\/strong> page.\u00a0 To discourage unauthorised use, the quality of the photos has been reduced from the originals, but the originals are still available.\u00a0 The photos were not necessarily taken at the gig mentioned above.
Nat Biography extract<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.gosportjazz.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Nats-Trumpet-a-2-1024x571.jpg\")
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.gosportjazz.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/DSC06934a-2.gif\")
A Nat Gonella commemorative gig is held in March of every year, near to the date of his birthday. There was also a charitable fund in his memory, set up in 1998 by Pat & Tony Wing, with Maurice Kemp as Trustee. This Nat Gonella Fund raised from local organisations, including the Jazz Club, over \u00a39,000 and spent it helping to improve the lives of children in need in Gosport in the time up to March 2020.
Not so well known is that Nat also played the Clarinet and the Club was fortunate enough to be able to obtain this instrument in December 2014 together with proof of his one-time ownership of it. See the photos below. The Clarinet has been donated to Gosport Discovery Centre and has been displayed there since December 2015.
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Nat\u2019s Clarinet played by Chris Pearce
(Andy Leggett\/Chris Pearce Quintet) <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.gosportjazz.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Jan-15-02a-4-944x1024.jpg\")
.. and by Bernie Murtha
(Louisiana Jazzmen) <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
For the Club\u2019s Policy and Disclaimer on Privacy and Copyright see the attached Statement in\u00a0<\/span>Word<\/a>\u00a0or<\/span>\u00a0PDF<\/a> Format.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n