Harry Arnold

During the closing years of the 1950s Harry Arnold directed one of the standout large jazz ensembles of the era, a notable feat given his location in Sweden. A saxophonist by training, he first assembled dance-oriented orchestras in 1942 before shifting his focus entirely to arranging. Between 1949 and 1952 he performed on tenor and alto while also supplying charts for Thore Ehrling’s group, and throughout the first half of the decade he remained active in recording studios, composing numerous film scores. His most prominent period ran from 1956 to 1965, when he conducted the Swedish Radio Big Band, an ensemble featuring leading Swedish musicians such as Arne Domnerus, Bengt Hallberg and Ake Persson. Trumpeter Benny Bailey appeared regularly, and for part of 1958 Quincy Jones took the podium, contributing several distinctive arrangements including “The Midnight Sun Will Never Set.” Additional visitors included Ernestine Anderson, Lucky Thompson, Coleman Hawkins, Toots Thielemans, Tony Scott and, most memorably, Stan Getz. The group’s debut album reached American listeners under the title The Jazztone Mystery Band and attracted considerable notice. The orchestra reached its height toward the end of the 1950s and disbanded in 1965. Arnold kept supplying charts and assembling occasional large groups across Europe for the rest of his career, yet he was slipping into obscurity when he died in 1971 at age fifty. Several recordings of the Swedish Radio Big Band, among them notable concert performances issued on Dragon, remain available today.