Arthur Whetsel
Arthur Whetsel | |
|---|---|
Dixieland | |
| Occupation | musician |
| Instrument(s) | trumpet cornet |
| Years active | 1922–1938 |
Arthur Parker Whetsel (February 22, 1905[1][2] – May 1, 1940) was an early "sweet" trumpeter for Duke Ellington's Washingtonians.[3]
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, and Lucy W. Parker, a schoolteacher originally from Marion County, Alabama. 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.[4]
Arthur Whetsel grew up in
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
Whetsel's behavior became erratic in 1938, and after an incident where he "went haywire" during a gig at Rutgers University, he was replaced by trumpeter Wallace Jones.[7] Diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor, he was confined to the Central Islip State Hospital (later the Central Islip Psychiatric Center) in Suffolk County, New York, where he died in May 1940.[8]
He is buried in
References
- ^ U.S. Passport Application for Arthur Parker Whetsel, December 6, 1924 at ancestry.com: http://interactive.ancestry.com/1174/USM1490_2678-0177/288118
- ^ "United States Passport Applications, 1795-1925", FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QVJG-G5NF : Sat Mar 09 06:09:48 UTC 2024), Entry for Arthur Parker Whetsel, 1924.
- ^ The Rough Guide to Jazz Carr, Ian; Fairweather, Digby; Priestley, Brian; Alexander, Charles Google books
- ^ "Lewis C. Sheafe: Apostle to Black America," at http://www.lcsheafe.net/
- ^ "Arthur Whetsol Buried," (Pittsburgh) Courier, May 11, 1940, 21.
- ^ "Swing » Jazz Blues Club". Archived from the original on 2014-03-08. Retrieved 2014-03-07.
- ^ "Talk o'Town," (Pittsburgh) Courier, March 5, 1938, 9
- ^ 1940 Federal census for Town of Islip, Suffolk County, New York [Suffolk County Enumeration District 52, Sheet 129-B]
