Harry Arnold (August 7, 1920 – February 11, 1971) was a Swedish jazz saxophonist, bandleader and composer.
An overlooked and now obscure figure in jazz, Harry Arnold led an incredibly tight, talented, and swinging big band in the 1950s. Arnold knocked American critics on their collective ears with what was to become known as the Jazztone Mystery Orchestra named after the record label they were first signed with in the U.S.
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| Harry Arnold's Orchestra 1943 |
He was born Harry Arnold Persson in Hälsingborg, Sweden. His first instrument was a violin which was purchased by his father, but when he was 16, he bought himself a saxophone instead. Of course, he did not intend to become a musician as he was a decorator and was employed at one of the city's department stores. aBy the time he was 20 he was engaged in 1941 by Allan Wolter and ended up at the dance palace Amiralen in Malmö. The following year he took over Hans Byttner's orchestra, which was then suddenly renamed Harry Arnold's orchestra. He did not pretend that Harry's surname was Persson. Harry Arnold sounded better – and a bit more original – than Harry Persson, he thought.
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| Harry & His Admiralty Orchestra circa 1950 |
Not only was Arnold an exceptional saxophonist. He could write refined arrangements and compositions as well. He claimed to have learned the technique of arranging through analyzing the works of everyone from Ravel to Basie. His Admiral Orchestra quickly became extremely popular both with the dancing part of the audience and among the jazz diggers. And the rumour about the talented Scanian naturally spread.
In 1949 he was recruited - as a saxophonist, singer and arranger - to Stockholm by none other than Thore Ehrling, the country's most popular big band leader at the time. But Harry longed for home, to the Admiralty and Skåne, and soon began commuting between Malmö and the capital. At home, he again led his Admiralty Orchestra and in Stockholm he devoted himself, among other things, to writing film music and working for the new record company Metronome.
After a few years of flitting back and forth, Harry became a Stockholmer for good and was employed as music director at Europafilm, consultant at Metronome and employee at Radiotjänst. So, one day in early 1956, radio producer Olle Helander asked him if he could possibly imagine leading an elite big band, which would both tour a bit and, perhaps just as importantly, appear regularly on the radio.
Harry accepted, and together with Helander he collected the cream of our country's jazz musicians and started an orchestra, which is still considered the best that ever existed in Sweden and which won great international fame. It included, among others, trumpeters Bengt-Arne Wallin and Benny Bailey, trombonist Åke Persson, saxophonists Arne Domnérus and Carl-Henrik Norin and drummer Nils-Bertil Dahlander. Guest arrangers such as, for example, Quincy Jones and guest soloists such as Coleman Hawkins, Lucky Thompson and Toots Thielemans certainly contributed to the orchestra's popularity during the ten years of its existence.
Author George Simon recounted Claes Dahlgren, Sweden’s Jazz ambassador, walking into Simon’s office and in a very modest and disarming manner leaving some tapes of the band on Simon’s desk with a polite, “give a listen if you have the time.” Simon and his colleagues were so knocked out by the tapes they played them to others to get second opinions afraid their ears were deceiving them.
Harry Arnold and his big band was subsequently signed to Jazztone. Simon said of the band, “its brilliant ensembles, its abundance of exciting modern soloists, its biting, swinging beat, and it’s superb polish – all these things really thrilled us.” A few other quotes made by famous jazzmen, upon first hearing the band, having only been told it was the Jazztone “Mystery” Band include; arranger Ernie Wilkins “This band would be a gasser to write for! What musicianship!” Bandleader Elliot Lawrence, "The band sounds like a modern swinging Tommy Dorsey.” Don Cerulli, New York editor of Down Beat magazine, “Actually the band is Elliot Lawrence.” Willis Canover from the Voice Of America network, “This is a hell of a swinging band.”
Arnold's big band peaked in the late '50s and broke up in 1965. In addition to leading his orchestra, Harry Arnold also managed to write music for more than 50 films. But disillusioned with the music industry, he eventually dropped out and devoted his last years to completely different activities and was on his way to being forgotten when he passed away on February 11, 1971 in Stockholm, Sweden at the age of 50.
(Edited from Swing Music Forum, All Music & Dig Jazz)