Sharkey Bonano

New Orleans-born Sharkey Bonano spent the opening years of the 1920s performing in local ensembles led by Chink Martin and Freddie Newman and several additional bandleaders. He later relocated to New York, where an audition for the Wolverines proved unsuccessful. By 1924 he had secured a position alongside pianist Jimmy Durante. The following year he came back to his hometown to front a band of his own. In 1927 Bonano became a member of the renowned Jean Goldkette Orchestra at a time when the roster included Bix Beiderbecke and Frankie Trumbauer. Between 1928 and 1930 he directed the Melody Masters, his own unit that featured Leon Prima. After a California engagement with Original Dixieland Jazz Band clarinetist Larry Shields, he returned once more to New Orleans and remained there through 1936. That year he first collaborated with Ben Pollack, then organized the New York-based Sharks of Rhythm, the ensemble on which many of his strongest recordings were made. During the same period he also appeared occasionally with the ODJB. Following military service in the 1940s, Bonano worked in and around New Orleans, where his exuberant musical style attracted a wide audience. Beginning in 1949 he again led his own groups and continued to perform in New Orleans, Chicago, and New York until the 1960s, when declining health prompted his retirement.