Joe "The Mouse" Bonati isn't widely known among most jazz fans. The saxophonist died in 1983 at age 53 after spending his latter years playing in Las Vegas. Born in 1930 in Buffalo, N.Y., Bonati had a less-than-desirable childhood and found solace in the alto saxophone at age 14. Two years later he was playing locally professionally. [Photo above of Joe "The Mouse" Bonati]
Bonati's first recordings were made in New Orleans in 1955. For whatever reason, Bonati found tranquility in narcotics. Arrests followed and he wound up moving often, from city to city, to escape the law and find work. He managed to play with the Frank Strazzeri Quintet on Frank Evans' Frankly Jazz TV show in Los Angeles, in 1962. There were a couple of recordings with Rick Davis at Dusty's Playland in Las Vegas in 1975 and on Davis's Meditations on the Zodiac in Las Vegas in 1976. His last known recording was with the Dan Terry Big Big Band in 1981, which had a book of arrangements by Gene Roland.
Now, Fresh Sound has pulled together all of Bonati's recordings that feature him soloing for a new release: Mouse Bonati: Portrait of a Jazz Hero. The compilation is superb, with excellent sound and detailed and illuminating liner notes by Jordi Pujol, who said he was turned on to Bonati by pianist Frank Strazzeri.
Based on my additional research, Bonati first stopped playing early in 1981 following a diagnosis of throat cancer. To help Bonati with his $2,000 in hospital bills and the cost of therapy, friends in Las Vegas threw him a benefit in the spring of 1981. He had recuperated sufficiently to play aggressively on the recording of Dan Terry's band in the fall. But the cancer returned and his home town of Buffalo held a benefit for him in November 1982 at Sam Noto's Renaissance II. Bonati attended with his wife, Diane, and their family, but he did not participate. At the event, Bonati reminisced about his years in town in the late 1940s at a club run by Tony Bafo and said that in Las Vegas, he most often backed singer Billy Eckstine.
Listening to Bonati's sole leadership date in 1955, the saxophonist showed enormous talent and promise, playing alto and tenor saxophone, as well as piano on a track called Improvisation. His sextet featured Benny Clements (tp) Joe "Mouse" Bonati (as,ts/p on Improvisation), Chick Powers (ts), Edward Frank (p), Jimmy Johnson (b), Jack Martin (d, fhr, b-cl/all on Improvisation) and Earl Palmer (d). Bonati's held notes and fills were remarkably similar to Charlie Parker's aching blues feel, but there was a West Coast feel as well. And his big band solos on alto, tenor and soprano saxophones are remarkable.
Hats off to Jordi for gathering and packaging the material, including the never-before released audio of the Frank Strazzeri Quintet on Frankly Jazz, featuring Carmell Jones (tp), Joe "Mouse" Bonati (as), Frank Strazzeri (p), Bob Whitlock (b) and Nick Martinis (d). Hopefully, one day, we'll see the Frankly Jazz episode on YouTube, if it ever surfaces.
JazzWax tracks: You'll find Mouse Bonati: Portrait of a Jazz Hero (Fresh Sound) here.
JazzWax clips: Here's Mouse's House from Bonati's sole leadership date, New Sounds From New Orleans, on the Patio label...
Here's Kid's Delight, by the Frank Strazzeri Quintet. Frank Evans mentions on the air that the group would be recording for Pacific Jazz shortly. That recording session took place but was never released...
And here's Jasmine by the Dan Terry Big Big Band, with Bonati on tenor saxophone. The song was co-composed by Dan Terry and Gene Roland and arranged by Roland...
