Arthur Parker Whetsel (February 22, 1905 – May 1, 1940) was an early "sweet" trumpeter for Duke Ellington's Washingtonians.

Biography

Arthur Whetsel was born in Punta Gorda, Florida, one of two children of the Reverend Oscar N. Whetsel, an elder in the Seventh-day Adventist Church, originally of

Piqua, Ohio Piqua ( ) is a city in Miami County, southwest Ohio, United States, 27 miles north of Dayton. The population was 20,522 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Dayton Metropolitan Statistical Area. It was founded as the village of Washington in ...

, and Lucy W. Parker, a schoolteacher originally from

Marion County, Alabama Marion County is a county of the U.S. state of Alabama. As of the 2020 census the population was 29,341. The county seat is Hamilton. The county was created by an act of the Alabama Territorial General Assembly on February 13, 1818. The coun ...

. After Oscar Whetsel's death in 1906, his widow married the Reverend Lewis Charles Sheafe (1859–1938), who was the leading African American minister in the Seventh-day Adventist Church during the early twentieth century. Arthur Whetsel grew up in

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

, where he started playing the cornet at the age of eight. In his teens, his family moved to

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

, where, after playing in a number of bands and stage shows, he became one of the members of Duke Ellington's first band, The Washingtonians; and was present, on July 26, 1923, in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

when The Washingtonians, billed as Snowden's Novelty Orchestra with

Elmer Snowden Elmer Chester Snowden (October 9, 1900 – May 14, 1973) was an American banjo player of the jazz age. He also played guitar and, in the early stages of his career, all the reed instruments. He contributed greatly to jazz in its early days as b ...

on banjo and

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of Single-reed instrument, single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed (mouthpi ...

, Ellington on

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keybo ...

, Whetsel on

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard ...

, Sonny Greer on drums and vocals and

Otto Hardwick Otto James "Toby" Hardwicke (May 31, 1904 – August 5, 1970) was an American saxophone player associated with Duke Ellington. Biography Hardwick began on string bass at the age of 14, then moved to C melody saxophone and finally settled o ...

on clarinet made a "trial recording" at the

Victor Talking Machine Company The Victor Talking Machine Company was an American recording company and phonograph manufacturer that operated independently from 1901 until 1929, when it was acquired by the Radio Corporation of America and subsequently operated as a subsidi ...

; it was Ellington's first visit to a recording studio. Leaving the band in 1923 to study medicine, he returned in 1928 to perform on a number of Ellington's most recognizable pieces during Ellington's stint at the

Cotton Club The Cotton Club was a New York City nightclub from 1923 to 1940. It was located on 142nd Street and Lenox Avenue (1923–1936), then briefly in the midtown Theater District (1936–1940).Elizabeth Winter"Cotton Club of Harlem (1923- )" Blac ...

, including "Black Beauty", "Black and Tan", and " Mood Indigo". His sound provided a contrast with Bubber Miley, Ellington's other trumpeter during the period. He had a unique broad open tone of ample depth and sonority despite the elegant, soft quality of his muted play. Whetsel's behavior became erratic in 1938, and after an incident where he "went haywire" during a gig at

Rutgers University Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's College, and was ...

, he was replaced by trumpeter

Wallace Jones Wallace Clayton "Wah Wah" Jones (July 14, 1926 – July 27, 2014) was an American professional basketball player. He played in the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 1949 to 1952 with the Indianapolis Olympians. Biography Jones was born ...

. Diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor, he was confined to the Central Islip State Hospital (later the

Central Islip Psychiatric Center The Central Islip Psychiatric Center, formerly State Hospital for the Insane, was a state psychiatric hospital in Central Islip, New York, United States from 1889 until 1996. The center was one of the four major hospital "farms" in central Long ...

) in Suffolk County, New York, where he died in May 1940.1940 Federal census for Town of Islip, Suffolk County, New York uffolk County Enumeration District 52, Sheet 129-B/ref> He is buried in Woodlawn Cemetery in

the Bronx, New York The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New York ...

References

External links

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Arthur Whetsol on AllMusic
{{DEFAULTSORT:Whetsel, Arthur 1905 births 1940 deaths Dixieland jazz musicians American jazz trumpeters American male trumpeters Duke Ellington Orchestra members Musicians from Washington, D.C. 20th-century American musicians American male jazz musicians 20th-century American male musicians