Conrad Gozzo – A survey of the Life of the Legendary Lead Trumpet Player
Jeff Helgesen, reporter
Del Lyren’s presentation on the life of the great lead trumpet player Conrad Gozzo provided a detailed look at Gozzo’s career, 
from his early childhood in New Brighton, Connecticut through his untimely death in 1964. Lyren’s presentation included a visual presentation, several recorded examples of Gozzo’s work, and some entertaining stories culled from personal letters and interviews.
From Gozzo’s early success at age eight, winning a local contest for his performance of the challenging Bride of the Waves solo, Lyren discussed Gozzo’s first professional experiences with the Carter Brothers Orchestra, Isham Jones, Tommy Reynolds, Red Norvo, Claude Thornhill, Benny Goodman, Artie Shaw’s Navy Ranger Band, and Woody Herman’s first herd, all before Gozzo had reached the age of 25.
A radio interview was presented in which Woody Herman described his experience with Gozzo; Herman commented on Gozzo’s huge sound, while noting that he still played with warmth, fluidity, and delicacy. Herman, like many of the other artists cited in the presentation, held Gozzo up as the finest lead trumpet player they had ever performed with. The presentation included a marvelous musical example from this period, Herman’s Back Talk.
In tracing Gozzo’s work after moving to Burbank, California, the presentation covered some of the unfortunate aspects of his life, aspects that would shorten his life and leave him penniless at the time of his death, namely drinking and gambling.
Additional recorded examples included two selections from Gozzo’s only recording as a leader, “Goz the Great:” La Rosita and Remember. Also covered was the popular recording Tutti’s Trumpets (for which Gozzo is most commonly remembered for his performance of A Trumpeter’s Prayer), and the recordings of Frank Sinatra, from which Lyren presented the recorded example South of the Border.
In closing, Lyren discussed Gozzo’s final years, and closed by playing Gozzo’s performance of A Trumpeter’s Prayer while presenting additional personal notes from celebrities attesting to Gozzo’s proficiency as the seminal lead trumpet player of the twentieth century.
