Arnold Johnson

Arnold Johnson (born March 23, 1893 in Chicago , Illinois , † July 25, 1975 in St. Petersburg , Florida ) was an American pianist , arranger , composer and big band leader in the field of swing and popular music .

life and career

Johnson, born in Chicago in 1893, was already working as a pianist in a Chicago Chinese restaurant at the age of 14; he later studied music at Chicago Music College and the American Conservatory of Music; his musical career began in the band of saxophonist Rudy Wiedoeft .

In 1919 Johnson moved to New York City , where he formed his Frisco Jass Band . In 1922 he played at the Pelham Heath Inn; He left the music business briefly in the mid-1920s and worked as a broker in Florida. In the late 1920s he worked again with his own band in New York; with the formation in which u. a. Harold Arlen , Vic Berton , Bob Chester , Scrappy Lambert, Danny Polo and Pete Pumigilo participated, he joined in 1928 in two Broadway - musicals on: George White's Scandals and Greenwich Village Follies. In 1929 his band could be heard in another Broadway musical, Earl Carroll's Sketch Book, and appeared in several musical shorts. Between these engagements he played in nightclubs and as a theater orchestra in Chicago and New York. The theme song was Breakaway, he recorded for the labels Vocalion and Brunswick .

In the early 1930s, Johnson gave up the leadership of the band and worked as an artistic director and producer for radio studios. He also produced radio shows such as the popular program National Amateur Night. He was also the composer of some songs like O and Does Your Heart Beat For Me?

literature

• Leo Walker: The Big Band Almanac . Ward Ritchie Press, Pasadena 1978, ISBN 0-378-01991-0 .

swell

1. ^ Biographical data of Arnold Johnson in the IMDB

Web links

• Arnold Johnson in the Internet Movie Database (English)
• Arnold Johnson in the Bigband database