Conrad Joseph Gozzo (February 6, 1922 – October 8, 1964) was an American top-notch studio musician and first trumpeter, who was also a skilled (but underutilized) jazz soloist. He was a member of the NBC Hollywood staff orchestra at the time of his death.
Gozzo was born in New Britain, Connecticut, to Mildred Katz and Jimmy Gozzo. His father played trumpet, and Gozzo began learning the instrument around the age of 5. He played in his junior and senior high school bands, but left school in 1938 at the recommendation of Isham Jones to join bandleader and clarinetist Tommy Reynolds in Boston, Massachusetts.
Gozzo was quickly noted for his exceptional technical ability and style. He played under Reynolds for nine months, leaving to play with Red Norvo in November 1939; he played under Norvo until February 1941, but with a brief interlude playing with trumpeter Johnnie Davis. He had a brief tenure with the orchestra of Bob Chester, with whom he first recorded; then performed and recorded with Claude Thornhill's band. There he met vocalist Betty Claire, who he married in late 1941. Thornhill's band dissolved in October 1942.
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| Gozzo & Betty with family members. 1941 |
Gozzo briefly worked with Benny Goodman, then enlisted in the U.S. Navy in mid-November 1942, where clarinetist Artie Shaw had formed a band, the Rangers No. 501. They were first assigned to San Francisco and left for Hawaii in late December. They toured in the South Pacific, the U.K. and the mainland U.S. until being discharged in October 1945. Gozzo briefly rejoined Goodman along with fellow trumpet players from Shaw's band.
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| Shaw's band 1943. Gozzo 3rd trumpet from right |
Gozzo, lead trumpeter on the Glen Gray, Stan Kenton, and Harry James "remakes", and in Dan Terry's 1954 Columbia sessions, recorded extensively with arrangers Van Alexander, Nelson Riddle, Billy May, Ray Conniff, Jerry Fielding and Shorty Rogers, and also with performers Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra. He played first trumpet on all of the recordings of composer Henry Mancini. He performed on many major live television shows broadcast on the NBC network, including the Dinah Shore Show (1955 through 1964). Gozzo only led one record album, a long out-of-print set for Victor in 1955 (Gozz The Great) that featured him with a big band, a sextet and with strings.
He also performed on motion picture soundtracks including The Glenn Miller Story, The Benny Goodman Story, Bye Bye Birdie, Call Me Madam, Ben-Hur and Cleopatra. He played on the Ella Fitzgerald two-record set on Verve, Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Harold Arlen Songbook. Gozzo's nicknames were "Goz" and "Gopher", due to his resemblance to a gopher when viewed from the front while he was playing. He was considered by his colleagues as being an exceptionally strong trumpeter with a well-developed range and tonal quality. For most of his recording career, he played a Besson Meha trumpet with a custom Bert Herrick mouthpiece. Occasionally, he played a Chicago Benge or a LeBlanc Gozzo model trumpet.
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| LtoR: John Best, Gozzo & Maynard Ferguson |
Through the 1950s and into the 1960s, he was one of the busiest musicians on the scene, making hundreds of recordings, working in the film studios and on television. Conrad’s work load went from heavy to crushing in the late 1950s. And in addition, on every date where he appeared, he was expected to perform at an almost superhuman level. Consequently, his tensions and anxieties increased.
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| LtoR: Feger, Gibbons, Gozzo & Klein 1963 |
Unfortunately, with Gozzo’s success came some destructive behaviours. As his work load and the expectations of his employers increased, so did his intake of alcohol. In addition, his tendency to gamble spun out of control and he became a compulsive gambler. The large sums of money he made playing his trumpet very often went to paying his gambling debts. By this time he had separated from his wife Betty. His trips to Las Vegas were inevitably disastrous. His final trip there, in October of 1964, set in motion the events that would result in his death.
Fellow trumpeter Uan Rasey recalled: “Conrad went to Las Vegas and lost all his money. He had no money to pay his casino bills and transportation back to Los Angeles. Conrad was staying at the Safari Motel on Olive Street. Trumpeter Don Fagerquist went to Conrad’s room. He found him to be critically ill.”
Conrad was removed by ambulance to St. Joseph’s Hospital, 502 South Buena Vista St., Burbank, on Wednesday October 7, 1964. The next day, he died at 3:35 p.m. The cause of death was cirrhosis of the liver, complicated by diabetes mellitus. Conrad Gozzo was 42 years old. On November 15, 1964, a fundraising concert for his widow was held at the Hollywood Palladium, featuring singers Frank Sinatra, Peggy Lee and Dinah Shore. "A Trumpeter's Prayer" (1957) by Tutti Camarata originally featured Gozzo, and was performed on November 19, 1989 in New Britain for the 25th anniversary of his death. Jazz composer Sammy Nestico dedicated "Portrait of a Trumpet" to Gozzo.
(Edited from Wikipedia & Swing And Beyond)