Arthur Whetsol

Arthur Whetsel
Birth name	Arthur Parker Whetsel
Also known as	Art Whetsol
Born	February 22, 1905 Punta Gorda, Florida
Died	May 1, 1940 Central Islip, New York
Genres	Jazz, Dixieland
Occupation(s)	musician
Instruments	trumpet cornet
Years active	1922-1938
Associated acts	Duke Ellington

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

Art 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.

Art Whetsel grew up in Los Angeles, California, where he started playing the cornet at the age of eight. In his teens, his family moved to Washington, D.C. 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 when The Washingtonians, billed as "Snowden's Novelty Orchestra" with Elmer Snowden on banjo and saxophone, Ellington on piano, Whetsel on trumpet, Sonny Greer on drums and vocals and Toby Hardwick on clarinet made a "trial recording" at the Victor Talking Machine Company; 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, 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.

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