Koblentz, Arnold (5th April 1926-11th October 1995)

Multi-reed musician born in Ohio who practically made a living performing on Ella Fitzgerald’s Verve recordings: He appears on The Best of the Songbooks: The Ballads, Best of the Verve Songbooks: Love Songs, The Complete Ella Fitzgerald Song Books, Dearly Beloved, Ella Fitgerald Sings the Rodgers & Hart Song Book (Vols. 1 & 2), First Lady of Spring, Get Happy!, Hello Love, Jukebox Ella: The Complete Verve Singles, Vol. 1, Like Someone in Love, and Verve’s Choice: The Best of Ella Fitzgerald.

He is usually credited with playing oboe, although he sometimes does double duty on English horn, and switched to clarinet on Elmer Bernstein’s soundtrack to The Man with the Golden Arm. It was not the last time they would collaborate: He also appears on the soundtracks of Hawaii and Stripes. Other soundtracks he has performed on include Ben-Hur, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Charly, The Color Purple, and 1982 re-working of Fantasia.

Arnold celebrated Christmas in 1959 with Dean Martin on A Winter Romance. Four years later, he toasted the Big Apple with Mel Torme on Songs of New York. In 1979, he flexed his versatility on Walter Murphy’s Discosymphony and Frank Sinatra’s boxed set, Trilogy. You can also hear him on Duane Eddy’s The RCA Years: 1962-1964, The Mel Torme Collection: 1944-1985, and Send in the Clowns: The Very Best of Sarah Vaughan.

He passed away in October 1995 when he was 69 years old.

Here’s Ella Fitzgerald singing “Isn’t It Romantic” which Arnold performs on…

Sources:

Koblentz, Arnold (5th April 1926-11th October 1995)

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