Fernando Arbello

Trombonist Fernando Arbello spent the early and later years of his life in his native Puerto Rico. The balance of his time was spent in the United States where he pursued -- and caught, since it is hard to escape from a fellow armed with a trombone -- a career in classic jazz, including stints in influential big bands led by Jimmie Lunceford, Fletcher Henderson, Claude Hopkins, and Chick Webb. Arbello was also a jazz composer, but seems to be remembered mostly in this capacity for a single frequently covered tune scribbled in collaboration with the busy Andy Razaf and known under both the titles of "Big Chief de Sota" and "Grand Terrace Swing." Arbello began playing trombone at the age of 12 and continued blowing in both his high school band and a local symphony orchestra. In the mid-'20s he relocated to New York City and began working in the band of Earle Howard within a few years. This was followed in 1958 by stints with Wilbur De Paris, June Clark, Bingie Madison, and pianist Hopkins, with whom the trombonist gigged off and on through 1934. Through the '30s he was in and out of a variety of bands, including Webb, Henderson, Lucky Millinder, and Billy Hicks' Sizzling Six. At the end of the decade he had come back into the Hopkins fold after having enjoyed a brief patch of recording and gigging with Fats Waller. After working the first few months of 1940 in the band of drummer Zutty Singleton, Arbello finally struck out as a bandleader on his own. He did not stick with being the boss for very long. He returned to the exciting Henderson band in 1941, then joined Marty Marsala. From 1942 through 1946 he stayed pretty much with Lunceford before trying out his own band again. This time he kept up his ventures as bandleader for a few years, as well as gigging with trumpeter...