Introduction
Arlan Thomas "Tommy" Gott (2 March 1895—3 January 1965) was an American Jazz trumpeter, Cornetist, and Band leader. The True-Tone journal described Gott's performance as "A powerful, lilting lip, scales high F with no effort, gets a flowing tone and excels in the lace tonal embroidery with which Whiteman embellishes all themes."
Between 1920 and 1945, Gott was involved in 189 recording sessions.
Early life
Gott was born on March 2, 1895, in Waveland, Indiana. Playing in his father's band and several other music ensembles throughout the MidWest, he had already achieved a fair mastery of the trumpet by the age of 8.
Career
During the First World War, Gott joined the army as a solo trumpeter in the military bands. After the war, he played in vaudeville throughout Europe, and in Gaby Deslys and her American Military Revue in Paris.
In the early 1920s, Gott played with Vincent Lopez and Paul Whiteman (Soloist in "I'll Build A Stairway to Paradise" recording in 1922). He left Whiteman to join Charles Dornberger for the 1923 "George White Scandals" recording. He also performed on "I Wish I Could Shimmy Like My Sister Kate" for the Okeh Syncopators (Okeh Records, 4694). The song hit # 15 on the US charts in February 1923.
Gott then joined Arthur Lange's orchestra. On Sep 7, 1923, Lange had a recording session for Cameo and recorded two numbers: "Just A Girl That Men Forget" (waltz)and "I Love You". The fellow trumpeter Earl Oliver accompanied Gott on the recording. Lange's group was bought by Roger Wolfe Kahn. The first recording of Kahn took place on March 10, 1925, for Victor Records. Gott and Earl Oliver were the trumpeters in this session.
From the mid-1920s, Gott worked with Sam Lanin, Ben Selvin, Jack Shilkret, Roger Wolfe Kahn, Irving Mills, Jack Teagarden, Jimmy McPartland, Tommy Dorsey, Annette Hanshaw as well as with his own band (with Dudley Fosdick).
In 1929, Gott recorded under his own name (Tommy Gott and His Rose Room Orchestra) for Okeh Records, with contributing saxophonist Tony Parenti. During this time he also played with the California Ramblers, Ted Wallace, Bernie Cummins and Jack Teagarden and accompanied vocalists like Bessie Smith, Mamie Smith, and Ethel Waters (track "There'll be some changes made").
In the mid-1940s, Gott lived on the west coast. His last recordings in jazz were created in 1945 by Paul Whiteman for Capitol Records.
Death
Gott died at the age of 69 on January 3, 1965, in San Joaquin County, California.