Discipline: Music Composition

Nuncio Mondello

Discipline: Music Composition
Region: New York, NY
MacDowell Fellowships: 1970
Nuncio Mondello (1911-1992) was an American swing jazz alto saxophonist and composer who played with Mal Hallett from 1927–1933 and with Irving Aaronson's Commanders, Joe Haymes, and Buddy Rogers. In 1934–35 he was a member of the Benny Goodman Orchestra; he returned to play with Goodman in 1939–40. In the interim he worked with Haymes, Ray Noble, and Phil Harris. He did extensive work as a studio sideman, with Chick Bullock, Bunny Berigan, Miff Mole, Claude Thornhill, Larry Clinton, Teddy Wilson, Louis Armstrong (1938–39), Lionel Hampton, and the Metronome All-Stars. He recorded as a leader between 1937 and 1939, doing two sessions with a big band, one with a nonet, and one with a trio. Mondello served in the military during World War II. He continued doing session work and remained active into the 1970s. He and Goodman reunited to record in 1967. He was also a flutist. For many years he studied with Harold Bennett and compiled a book of Bennett's finger exercises. He studied composition with Paul Creston for 13 years, and the two remained lifelong friends.

Studios

Phi Beta

Nuncio Mondello worked in the Phi Beta studio.

Funded by the Phi Beta Fraternity, a national professional fraternity of music and speech founded in 1912, Phi Beta Studio was built between 1929–1931 of granite quarried on the MacDowell grounds. The small studio is a simple in design, but displays a pleasing combination of materials with its granite walls and colorful slate roofing. Inside is…

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