Phil Ohman

Victor Arden and Phil Ohman

Phil Ohman (* 7. October 1896 in New Britain , Connecticut as Philmore Wellington Ohman , † 8. August 1954 in Santa Monica ) was an American jazz -Pianist, bandleader and film composer.

Live and act

Phil Ohman was tutored in high school by Edward Laubin, who suggested that he should be educated in Europe. Instead he was trained by the organist Alexander Russell for two years. In 1915 he went to New York City , where he played pianos for Wanamakers' sales. From 1919 he took up piano rolls for QRS . In 1922 and 1923 he was a pianist in Paul Whiteman's band . He became known in the mid-1920s when he led a dance band in New York with arranger and pianist Victor Arden , which also made a number of records for Victor , Edison, Brunswick and Columbia . With Arden he also recorded a large number of piano rolls and records in the 1920s and 1930s; the two also appeared together on Broadway and on radio shows; they were also stage pianists in many of George Gershwin's musicals .

In 1934 Arden and Ohman separated; Ohman moved with his own band to the west coast of the USA , where he not only performed with his band, but also worked as a composer for film and radio; together with Johnny Mercer and Macy O. Teetor he wrote the song Lost (1936). He and his band had a long engagement at the Mocambo in Hollywood, which in the late 1930s saw audiences from the film industry in particular. He worked as a band leader until the 1950s.

Ohman wrote the score for the films Million Dollar Weekend (1948), Dick Tracy vs. Cueball (1946), The Roundup (1941), Raid the Olive Branch (1940) and The Renegade Trail (1939).

Web links

• Phil Ohman in the Internet Movie Database (English)

swell

• Leo Walker: The Big Band Almanac . Ward Ritchie Press, Pasadena. 1978