| Gonzell White | |
| Other Names: | Gonzelle White |
| Birth Date: | May 19, 1897 |
| Birth Place: | Chicago, Illinois, United States |
| Occupation: | Vaudeville performer |
Gonzell White (May 19, 1897 - date of death unknown), also written Gonzelle White, was an American jazz, blues, and vaudeville performer in the United States.
White was born in Chicago, Illinois, United States, in 1897.[1] [2] She performed as a blues, jazz, vaudeville, and burlesque act, and was first mentioned in reports in 1912, and specifically as a blues singer in 1914. She sang in various groups including as a duo with Edward Lankford, who was also her manager. They married in Kansas in 1920.[3]
She toured on various circuits and with various acts,[4] [5] [6] including with Lester Moore as White and Moore. The entertainer Pigmeat Markham was a member of her troupe in the mid-1920s,[3] and Gus Aiken also toured with her.[7] She performed at Proctor's Theatre in Schenectady, New York.[8] A review of her group, Gonzell White Jazzers, in the October 20 Kalamazoo Gazette, and other Michigan papers, gave favorable reviews of her headlining show that toured Michigan.[9]
The Chicago Defender ran notices and reviews about White and her group including photographs.[10] She was part of the Booker T. Washington Stock Company.[9] Billboard also reviewed Gonzelle and her group several times.[11] White toured on various circuits including in Michigan and in Cuba. In Cuba she headlined as a singer and saxophone player. Her group included Billy Young, Alfreda Thomas, Mary Jackson as a soubrette, Earl Frazier on piano, Amanzie Richardson as a comedian and dancer, Freddy Crump on drums, Jake Frazier on trombone, Gus Aiken as a soloist on coronet, Harry Smith on coronet and as a dancer, and Ed Lankford on saxophone and as manager.[9] Her group included several influential acts.[12] She featured in advertisements for Exelento Quinine Pomade (a pomade).[13]
Count Basie toured with her group in the mid-1920s.[14] [15] Basie described her as "more of an entertainer than a musician... She was a real pro with a lot of class... She was very light-skinned... the kind of small, nice-looking woman that you think of as being very cute. And, of course, she always wore fine, stylish clothes and costumes, and she also sported a diamond in one of her front teeth."[3]
Lankford died while the group was on tour in 1926.[16] White's later life is publicly unreported.