From St. James' to the Pioneer Corps
Nat made a small fortune with his Georgians, but was coolly received by the magazines then covering jazz; the Melody Maker, Rhythm, Swing Music and Hot News, and the home-produced magazines devoted to the gospel of 'pure' New Orleans jazz published in the mid forties, who dismissed Nat as a mere Armstrong imitator. (Ironically, they had no complaint with the new breed of Armstrong-influenced trumpeters, including Humphrey Lyttelton.).

The 1939-45 conflict saw a drastic change in his fortunes, not the least of which was that he, a musician of his calibre, was called up into the Pioneer Corps, the dogsbodies of the Army, constructing latrines one of their jobs. On demobilisation, he found a totally different musical climate. The writing was on the wall for the big dance bands, in the face of competition from the emerging dichotomy of small revivalist and be-bop bands. He had lost his fortune.

Stills taken from a video we made of Nat's 88th Birthday Party at the Thorngate Theatre

Nat's Be-Bop Band
Mistakenly, Nat jumped on the bebop bandwagon, enlisting bassist Lennie Bush and alto-saxophonist Johnny Rogers, both founder members (with Ronnie Scott), of the seminal Club Eleven, drummer Phil Seamen (later, with Ronnie's nine-piece), tenor saxophonist Kenny Graham, and guitarist Roy Plummer. Later, another rising star in British modern jazz, Harry Klein, replaced Rogers. That band was a financial disaster. In those bitterly divided times, those who recalled Nat's Armstrong-inspired trumpet were appalled, and followers of be-bop, no less insular than their traddy counterparts, were mistrustful of Nat's apparent conversion to the new faith.

Dance hall proprietors from pre-war days asked Nat, why this change of policy. 'It's the new thing', said Nat, and they replied, 'Take it away and don't come back with it'. Nat later described be-bop as 'gas-oven music' and complained that the odour of smoke in the dressing room was unlike that of Ardath, De Reske or Players No 1. He was referring to marijuana, known to the young be-bop tearaways as 'naughty-type African Woodbines', not legally obtainable. Phil Seamen and Kenny Graham are dead, but I spoke to Johnny Rogers, Lennie Bush and Harry Klein, about Nat.

At his funeral, some 10,000 people lined the streets of Gosport to pay their last respects. The mourners including Humphrey Lyttelton and Mrs Joyce Stone, widow of Lew. Yes, the critics were often right about Nat's clipped military phrasing that harked back to the orphanage boys' band, under the tutelage of William Clarke of Kneller Hall. Nat's tone was often coarse and his phrasing erratic but, at his best, he was a genuine swinger with a considerable range, evidenced by his recordings made in New York in 1939 with John Kirby's band, (with Benny Carter).
This piece has been extracted from an article by JIM GODBOLT. To read more please click here. )