Wingy Manone

Wingy Manone (13 February 1900 – 9 July 1982) was an American jazz trumpeter, composer, singer, and bandleader. His major recordings included "Tar Paper Stomp", "Nickel in the Slot", "Downright Disgusted Blues", "There'll Come a Time (Wait and See)", and "Tailgate Ramble".

Manone (pronounced "ma-KNOWN") was born Joseph Matthews Mannone in New Orleans, Louisiana. He lost an arm in a streetcar accident, which resulted in his nickname of "Wingy". He used a prosthesis, handling it so naturally and unnoticeably that his disability was not apparent to the public.
After playing trumpet and cornet professionally with various bands in his home town, he began to travel across America in the 1920s, working in Chicago, New York City, Texas, Mobile, Alabama, California, St. Louis, Missouri and other locations; he continued to travel widely throughout the United States and Canada for decades.
Manone was an esteemed musician who was frequently recruited for recording sessions. He plays on some early Benny Goodman records, for example, and fronted various pickup groups under pseudonyms like "The Cellar Boys." His style was similar to that of fellow New Orleans trumpeter Louis Prima: hot jazz with trumpet leads, punctuated by good-natured spoken patter in a pleasantly gravelly voice.

His hit records included "Tar Paper Stomp" (an original riff composition of 1929 that was later used as the basis for Glenn Miller's "In the Mood"), and a hot 1934 version of a sweet ballad of the time "The Isle of Capri", which was said to have annoyed the songwriters despite the royalties revenue it earned them.
Manone's group, like other bands, often recorded alternate versions of songs during the same sessions; Manone's vocals would be used for the American, Canadian, and British releases, and strictly instrumental versions would be intended for the international, non-English-speaking markets. Thus there is more than one version of many Wingy Manone hits. Among his better records are "San Antonio Stomp" (1934), "Send Me" (1936), and the novelty hit "The Broken Record" (1936). He and his band did regular recording and radio work through the 1930s, and appeared with Bing Crosby in the movie Rhythm on the River in 1940.
In 1943 he recorded several tunes as "Wingy Manone and His Cats"; that same year he performed in Soundies movie musicals. One of his Soundies reprised his recent hit "Rhythm on the River."
Wingy Manone's autobiography, Trumpet on the Wing, was published in 1948.

From the 1950s he was based mostly in California and Las Vegas, Nevada, although he also toured through the United States, Canada, and parts of Europe to appear at jazz festivals.
In 1957, he attempted to break the teenage rock & roll market with his version of Party Doll, the Buddy Knox hit. His version on Decca 30211 made #56 on Billboard's Pop chart and it received a UK release on Brunswick 05655.
Wingy Manone's compositions include "Tar Paper Stomp" (1930), "There'll Come a Time (Wait and See)" with Miff Mole, "Tailgate Ramble" with Johnny Mercer, "Stop the War (The Cats are Killin' Themselves)" (1941) on Bluebird, "Trying to Stop My Crying", "Downright Disgusted Blues" with Bud Freeman, "Swing Out" with Ben Pollack, "Send Me", "Nickel in the Slot" with Irving Mills, "Jumpy Nerves", "Mannone Blues", "Easy Like", "Strange Blues", "Swingin' at the Hickory House", "No Calling Card", "Where's the Waiter", "Walkin' the Streets (Till My Baby Comes Home)", and "Fare Thee Well".
He is survived by his son, Joseph Matthew Manone II and his three grandsons; Jimmy Manone who are both musicians, as well as Joseph Matthew Manone III and Jon Scott (Manone) Harris.

In 2008, his composition "There'll Come a Time (Wait and See)" with Miff Mole was used in the soundtrack to the Academy Award-nominated movie The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, based on the short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald from Tales of the Jazz Age. The movie was nominated for thirteen Oscars in 2009.



Wingy Manone fue un cornetista, trompetista, cantante, director de orquesta y compositor norteamericano de jazz tradicional y swing, nacido en Nueva Orleans, Luisiana, el 13 de febrero de 1900, y fallecido en Las Vegas, Nevada, el 9 de julio de 1982.

Según algunos autores,1 el sobrenombre de "Wingy" le viene de la pérdida de uno de sus brazos, a los nueve años de edad, en un accidente de tranvía. No obstante este grave percance, Manone logró dominar perfectamente su instrumento, en un estilo alejado de lo usual entre los trompetas blancos (cuyo modelo era Bix Beiderbecke) y muy apegado a la tradición hot.2 Sus primeros trabajos fueron con bandas de los riverboats del río Mississippi, entre 1920 y 1923. Después estuvo trabajando con diversas bandas blancas de Nueva Orleans o St. Louis (Crescent City Jazzers, Acadian Serenaders...), antes de emigrar a Chicago y tomar contacto con los músicos de la ciudad (Jimmy McPartland, Muggsy Spanier, etc), grabando varios discos entre 1927 y 1929, y realizando giras por los Estados Unidos. A partir de 1934 se instala en Nueva York y dirige su propia banda, grabando para Brunswick y RCA, incluyendo sesiones con Benny Goodman y Red Nichols, y haciendo diversas giras.
En 1940 se traslada a Hollywood para trabajar en los estudios de cine y televisión, además de colaborar regularmente con Bing Crosby, hasta 1955, año en que se traslada a Las Vegas. En lo sucesivo realizará solamente giras y actuaciones en festivales, con carácter esporádico.

Ha intervenido como actor en varias películas ("Rhythm of the river", 1940, y "Hi-ya sailor", 1943), y se publicó una autobiografía, en 1948.3 En 2001, un tema suyo incluido en la película El curioso caso de Benjamin Button, fue nominado a los Oscars.