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{{short description|American born bandleader in France}} |
{{short description|American born bandleader in France}} |
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{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2018}} |
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2018}} |
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{{Infobox musical artist |
{{Infobox musical artist |
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| name = Billy Arnold |
| name = Billy Arnold |
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| image = |
| image = Billy arnold.jpg |
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| caption = Billy Arnold's band, probably in England around 1920 |
| caption = Billy Arnold's band, probably in England around 1920 |
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| birth_name = Arnold William Guldeman |
| birth_name = Arnold William Guldeman |
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| birth_date = January 23, 1894 |
| birth_date = January 23, 1894 |
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| birth_place = [[Paterson, New Jersey]] |
| birth_place = [[Paterson, New Jersey]], U.S. |
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| death_date = |
| death_date = {{death date and age|1962|1|8|1894|1|23}} |
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| death_place = |
| death_place = Paterson, New Jersey, U.S. |
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| instrument = |
| instrument = Piano |
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| genre = [[Jazz]] |
| genre = [[Jazz]] |
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| occupation = |
| occupation = Bandleader, piano player |
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| years_active = |
| years_active = 1917–1962 |
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| |
| past_member_of = [[Jack Hylton]], [[Dolly Sisters]], [[Original Dixieland Jazz Band]], [[Darius Milhaud]] |
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}} |
}} |
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| ⚫ | '''Billy Arnold''' (January 23, 1894 – January 8, 1962) led an early jazz band in first London and then Paris in the 1920. He was one of the first people to bring American jazz style to Europe. His band had a strong impact on classical composer [[Darius Milhaud]] and initially on [[Django Reinhardt]]. |
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Newspaper clippings suggest he worked in Manhattan playing music for silent films.<ref>''The Paterson News'' 29 Nov 1945,page 59</ref> |
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Arnold was born in Paterson, New Jersey in 1894, as Arnold William Guldeman. His family had emigrated from Switzerland shortly before his birth. The 1910 census shows William Arnold working as a "shirt cutter”, at age 16. When he registered for the draft in 1917 he gave his occupation as “theater musical director.”<ref>United States, Selective Service System. Selective Service Registration Cards, World War II: Fourth Registration. Records of the Selective Service System, Record Group Number 147. National Archives and Records Administration.</ref> Newspaper clippings suggest he worked in Manhattan playing music for silent films.<ref>''The Paterson News'' 29 Nov 1945,page 59</ref> He served in the Army in WWI, and was promoted to private, then corporal, but never left the country.<ref>United States, Veterans Administration Master Index, 1917-1940. Salt Lake City, Utah: FamilySearch, 2019. </ref> |
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Under the professional name |
Under the professional name "Billy Arnold" he went to London 1919, apparently with other musicians he knew from New York. He made some records in London as Billy Arnold's Novelty band, which included his brother Henry, who had been living in London. Recordings of the band, which can be found via a web search, show the strong influence of the Original Dixieland Jazz Band. While in London, in 1919, The Arnold Band played at a victory ball for General [[John J. Pershing|John Pershing]].<ref>''Paterson Morning Call'', December 22, 1944 p. 22</ref> |
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[[File:Billy_Arnold_and_his_parisians.jpg|thumb|Billy Arnold and his Parisians, mid 1920s]] |
[[File:Billy_Arnold_and_his_parisians.jpg|thumb|Billy Arnold and his Parisians, mid 1920s]] |
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[[File:Billy Arnold and band, far right, at 1919 ball in Honor of Pershing.jpg|thumb|Billy Arnold and band, far right, at 1919 ball in Honor of Pershing]] |
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The composer [[Darius Milhaud]] heard the band in London, and encouraged Arnold to go to Paris, where he introduced him in avant garde music circles. The |
The composer [[Darius Milhaud]] heard the band in London, and encouraged Arnold to go to Paris, where he introduced him in avant garde music circles. The French pianist and composer [[Jean Wiener]] gave a concert in which he paired Arnold band with a mechanical piano playing Stravinsky's "Rite of Spring."<ref>Cook, Nicholas, and Anthony Pople. The Cambridge History of Twentieth-Century Music, 2014 p 168-169.</ref> [[Milhaud]] mentioned him in a 1924 article, "the Jazz Band and Negro Music," in the ''Living Age''. Milhaud wrote: |
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"It is necessary to hear a serious jazz band such as Billy Arnold's or Paul Whiteman's. There nothing is left to chance, everything is balance and proportion, revealing the touch of the true musician, perfect master of all the possibilities of every instrument. One must hear a soiree by the Billy Arnold band in the Casino at Cannes or Deauville. Sometimes four saxophones are leading, sometimes the violin, the clarinet, the trumpet, or the trombone. Or again one may hear an infinite variety of instrumental combinations, uniting one after another with the piano and the percussion instruments, each with its own meaning, its own logic, its own timbre — each with an expression peculiar to itself."<ref>''The Living Age'' October 18, 1924.</ref> |
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Arnold's band worked steadily in Paris and in the resort towns of Cannes and Deauville, but he was deported in 1924 by French government, probably at the urging of the French musician's union.<ref>''New York Times'' May 31, 1924 p. 1; ''Detroit Free Press'' (Detroit, Michigan</ref> He went back to Paris again shortly after. Arnold later operated a booking agency, "Billy Arnold's Trans-Variety Theatrical Agency," in Paris, specializing in presenting American acts.<ref>''Paterson Morning Call'', December 22, 1944 p. 22</ref> |
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[[File:Colin-arnold.jpg|thumb]] |
[[File:Colin-arnold.jpg|thumb]] |
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The young [[Django Reinhardt]] was much taken with the Arnold band, probably the first jazz he had ever heard.<ref>Dregni, Michael. ''Django : the Life and Music of a Gypsy Legend'' . Oxford ;: Oxford University Press, 2004. 37-42</ref> A poster painted by [[Paul Colin (artist)|Paul Colin]] announced the Arnold band as the |
The young [[Django Reinhardt]] was much taken with the Arnold band, probably the first jazz he had ever heard.<ref>Dregni, Michael. ''Django : the Life and Music of a Gypsy Legend'' . Oxford ;: Oxford University Press, 2004. 37-42</ref> A poster painted by [[Paul Colin (artist)|Paul Colin]] announced the Arnold band as the "Kings of Jazz." While in Paris he married Minnie Isabella Shanks, an English-born dancer. |
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[[File:Billy_arnold_gallica_ceints_de_bakelite.jpg|thumb|Billy Arnold, From The French magazine ''La Rampe'', March 1st 1926]] |
[[File:Billy_arnold_gallica_ceints_de_bakelite.jpg|thumb|Billy Arnold, From The French magazine ''La Rampe'', March 1st 1926]] |
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Arnold's band performed with the [[Dolly Sisters]], who were then internationally famous and were courted by King of Denmark among others.<ref>''The Paterson News'' 29 Nov 1945, Page 59</ref> They traveled in elite circles: The Dolly Sisters in 1926 organized a gala fund raising concert and chose Arnold to organize the music. Performers included [[Josephine Baker]] and Broadway star [[Harry Pilcer]].<ref>''St. Louis Globe-Democrat'' Sep 2 1926, Page 2</ref> In 1932 the Billy Arnold band was playing at the Casino in Cannes when a lion, part of an act at the Casino, "broke out of her cage and went for a stroll near the tea tables." Guests, including Lord and Lady Mountbatten and Lady Oxford and Asquith, began to panic. "Billy Arnold...sent his musicians into action again. They played frantically and the blaring strains of "Happy Days" rose above the shouts of the crowd....the lion's roars sounded above the wild playing of the orchestra and brought its trainer on the run." The trainer and his assistant managed to recapture the lion.<ref>''Paterson Morning Call,'' March 31 Mar 1932, Page 2</ref> |
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[[File:Billyarnoldlion.jpg|thumb|Account of the escaped lion which confronted the Arnold band in Cannes]] |
[[File:Billyarnoldlion.jpg|thumb|Account of the escaped lion which confronted the Arnold band in Cannes]] |
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American jazz bands were popular but met with resentment. In 1933 Arnold's wife, Minnie Shanks was arrested on the beach in Nice for indecent exposure, despite wearing a relatively modest bathing suit. "American jazz musicians are hated by their rivals because the visiting public insists on them instead of natives." wrote the San Francisco Examiner. "The government has passed laws strictly limiting the number of foreigners who may play in any one band or orchestra, and various local tricks and devices have been added to handicap the American player. In spite of everything, the Americans still get the best jobs. So the practical-minded chief of police reasoned that it would be a good idea if his "horrible examples" [of indecent exposure] were Americans, and what better choice than the wife of "Billy" Arnold, jazz-band director of the Hollywood Night Club, one of the few places that is making money in spite of the depression? It might make him so angry that he would leave France and his job would perhaps fall to some deserving Frenchman."<ref>''San Francisco Examiner'' September 17 1933 p. 81</ref> |
American jazz bands were popular but met with resentment. In addition to the earlier deportation of Arnold and other American musicians, in 1933 Arnold's wife, Minnie Shanks, was arrested on the beach in Nice for indecent exposure, despite wearing a relatively modest bathing suit. "American jazz musicians are hated by their rivals because the visiting public insists on them instead of natives." wrote the San Francisco Examiner. "The government has passed laws strictly limiting the number of foreigners who may play in any one band or orchestra, and various local tricks and devices have been added to handicap the American player. In spite of everything, the Americans still get the best jobs. So the practical-minded chief of police reasoned that it would be a good idea if his "horrible examples" [of indecent exposure] were Americans, and what better choice than the wife of "Billy" Arnold, jazz-band director of the Hollywood Night Club, one of the few places that is making money in spite of the depression? It might make him so angry that he would leave France and his job would perhaps fall to some deserving Frenchman."<ref>''San Francisco Examiner'' September 17, 1933 p. 81</ref> |
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== Return |
== Return to the United States == |
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Arnold and his wife and daughter returned to the US for good in 1934. He ran a tavern in Glenns Falls, NJ before WWII, then in 1944 opened |
Arnold and his wife and their daughter Bobbie Zene Guldeman returned to the US for good in 1934. He ran a tavern in Glenns Falls, NJ before WWII, then in 1944 opened "Billy Arnold's Rendezvous" on rt. 4 near Paramus NJ, which he ran until his death in 1962.<ref>''The Paterson Morning Call,'' Jan 9 1962 p. 1</ref> |
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== References == |
== References == |
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{{Reflist}} |
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Arnold, Billy}} |
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[[Category:1894 births]] |
[[Category:1894 births]] |
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[[Category:1962 deaths]] |
[[Category:1962 deaths]] |
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[[Category: |
[[Category:Musicians from Paterson, New Jersey]] |
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[[Category: |
[[Category:American jazz musicians]] |
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[[Category:American expatriates in the United Kingdom]] |
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[[Category:American expatriates in France]] |
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Latest revision as of 04:43, 7 June 2024
Billy Arnold | |
|---|---|
 Billy Arnold's band, probably in England around 1920 | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Arnold William Guldeman |
| Born | January 23, 1894 Paterson, New Jersey, U.S. |
| Died | January 8, 1962 (aged 67) Paterson, New Jersey, U.S. |
| Genres | Jazz |
| Occupation(s) | Bandleader, piano player |
| Instrument | Piano |
| Years active | 1917–1962 |
| Formerly of | Jack Hylton, Dolly Sisters, Original Dixieland Jazz Band, Darius Milhaud |
Billy Arnold (January 23, 1894 – January 8, 1962) led an early jazz band in first London and then Paris in the 1920. He was one of the first people to bring American jazz style to Europe. His band had a strong impact on classical composer Darius Milhaud and initially on Django Reinhardt.
Early life
[edit]Newspaper clippings suggest he worked in Manhattan playing music for silent films.[1]
Career abroad
[edit]Under the professional name "Billy Arnold" he went to London 1919, apparently with other musicians he knew from New York. He made some records in London as Billy Arnold's Novelty band, which included his brother Henry, who had been living in London. Recordings of the band, which can be found via a web search, show the strong influence of the Original Dixieland Jazz Band. While in London, in 1919, The Arnold Band played at a victory ball for General John Pershing.[2]
The composer Darius Milhaud heard the band in London, and encouraged Arnold to go to Paris, where he introduced him in avant garde music circles. The French pianist and composer Jean Wiener gave a concert in which he paired Arnold band with a mechanical piano playing Stravinsky's "Rite of Spring."[3] Milhaud mentioned him in a 1924 article, "the Jazz Band and Negro Music," in the Living Age. Milhaud wrote:
"It is necessary to hear a serious jazz band such as Billy Arnold's or Paul Whiteman's. There nothing is left to chance, everything is balance and proportion, revealing the touch of the true musician, perfect master of all the possibilities of every instrument. One must hear a soiree by the Billy Arnold band in the Casino at Cannes or Deauville. Sometimes four saxophones are leading, sometimes the violin, the clarinet, the trumpet, or the trombone. Or again one may hear an infinite variety of instrumental combinations, uniting one after another with the piano and the percussion instruments, each with its own meaning, its own logic, its own timbre — each with an expression peculiar to itself."[4]
Arnold's band worked steadily in Paris and in the resort towns of Cannes and Deauville, but he was deported in 1924 by French government, probably at the urging of the French musician's union.[5] He went back to Paris again shortly after. Arnold later operated a booking agency, "Billy Arnold's Trans-Variety Theatrical Agency," in Paris, specializing in presenting American acts.[6]
The young Django Reinhardt was much taken with the Arnold band, probably the first jazz he had ever heard.[7] A poster painted by Paul Colin announced the Arnold band as the "Kings of Jazz." While in Paris he married Minnie Isabella Shanks, an English-born dancer.
Arnold's band performed with the Dolly Sisters, who were then internationally famous and were courted by King of Denmark among others.[8] They traveled in elite circles: The Dolly Sisters in 1926 organized a gala fund raising concert and chose Arnold to organize the music. Performers included Josephine Baker and Broadway star Harry Pilcer.[9] In 1932 the Billy Arnold band was playing at the Casino in Cannes when a lion, part of an act at the Casino, "broke out of her cage and went for a stroll near the tea tables." Guests, including Lord and Lady Mountbatten and Lady Oxford and Asquith, began to panic. "Billy Arnold...sent his musicians into action again. They played frantically and the blaring strains of "Happy Days" rose above the shouts of the crowd....the lion's roars sounded above the wild playing of the orchestra and brought its trainer on the run." The trainer and his assistant managed to recapture the lion.[10]
American jazz bands were popular but met with resentment. In addition to the earlier deportation of Arnold and other American musicians, in 1933 Arnold's wife, Minnie Shanks, was arrested on the beach in Nice for indecent exposure, despite wearing a relatively modest bathing suit. "American jazz musicians are hated by their rivals because the visiting public insists on them instead of natives." wrote the San Francisco Examiner. "The government has passed laws strictly limiting the number of foreigners who may play in any one band or orchestra, and various local tricks and devices have been added to handicap the American player. In spite of everything, the Americans still get the best jobs. So the practical-minded chief of police reasoned that it would be a good idea if his "horrible examples" [of indecent exposure] were Americans, and what better choice than the wife of "Billy" Arnold, jazz-band director of the Hollywood Night Club, one of the few places that is making money in spite of the depression? It might make him so angry that he would leave France and his job would perhaps fall to some deserving Frenchman."[11]
Return to the United States
[edit]Arnold and his wife and their daughter Bobbie Zene Guldeman returned to the US for good in 1934. He ran a tavern in Glenns Falls, NJ before WWII, then in 1944 opened "Billy Arnold's Rendezvous" on rt. 4 near Paramus NJ, which he ran until his death in 1962.[12]
References
[edit]- ^ The Paterson News 29 Nov 1945,page 59
- ^ Paterson Morning Call, December 22, 1944 p. 22
- ^ Cook, Nicholas, and Anthony Pople. The Cambridge History of Twentieth-Century Music, 2014 p 168-169.
- ^ The Living Age October 18, 1924.
- ^ New York Times May 31, 1924 p. 1; Detroit Free Press (Detroit, Michigan
- ^ Paterson Morning Call, December 22, 1944 p. 22
- ^ Dregni, Michael. Django : the Life and Music of a Gypsy Legend . Oxford ;: Oxford University Press, 2004. 37-42
- ^ The Paterson News 29 Nov 1945, Page 59
- ^ St. Louis Globe-Democrat Sep 2 1926, Page 2
- ^ Paterson Morning Call, March 31 Mar 1932, Page 2
- ^ San Francisco Examiner September 17, 1933 p. 81
- ^ The Paterson Morning Call, Jan 9 1962 p. 1