Sylvester Ahola (May 24, 1902 – February 13, 1995), a.k.a. Hooley, was a

classic jazz Inner City Records was a jazz record company and label founded by Irv Kratka in 1976 in New York City. The company was a division of Music Minus One and also owned the label Classic Jazz. It started with reissues, then moved on to new recordin ...

trumpeter The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz musical ensemble, ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest Register (music), register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitche ...

and cornetist born in

Gloucester Gloucester ( ) is a cathedral city, non-metropolitan district and the county town of Gloucestershire in the South West England, South West of England. Gloucester lies on the River Severn, between the Cotswolds to the east and the Forest of Dean ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

. His parents, Sophia and John Ahola, were born in Finland. He became most popular in

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

rather than the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, and he first began performing with Frank Ward and His Orchestra. In 1925 he started playing with

Paul Specht Paul Specht (March 24, 1895 – April 11, 1954) was an American dance bandleader popular in the 1920s. Biography Born in Sinking Spring, Pennsylvania, Specht was a violinist, having been taught by his father Charles G. Specht, a violinist, org ...

and His Orchestra, with whom he did a two-month-long tour of England that following year. For the next couple of years he performed with bands like

The California Ramblers The California Ramblers were an American jazz group that recorded hundreds of songs for many different record labels throughout the 1920s. Four members of the band –Red Nichols, Jimmy Dorsey, Tommy Dorsey, and Adrian Rollini - went on to front b ...

and

Adrian Rollini Adrian Francis Rollini (June 28, 1903 – May 15, 1956) was an Americans, American jazz instrumentalist, multi-instrumentalist who primarily played the bass saxophone, piano, and vibraphone. He is also known for playing novelty instruments such ...

and his band. In 1927 he moved to England and landed a job playing with the

Savoy Orpheans The Savoy Orpheans is a British dance band currently led by Alex Mendham. They were resident at the Savoy Hotel, London. The band was formed by Debroy Somers, an ex-army bandmaster, in 1923. Both the Orpheans and the Savoy Havana Band were under ...

and then gigged with

Bert Firman Bert Firman (born Herbert Feuerman; 3 February 1906 – 9 April 1999) was an English bandleader of the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s. He was born in London. His mother was of Polish stock and his father was a professional musician who had settl ...

and

Bert Ambrose Benjamin Baruch Ambrose (11 September 1896 – 11 June 1971), known professionally as Ambrose, was an English bandleader and violinist. Ambrose became the leader of a highly acclaimed British dance band, Ambrose & His Orchestra, in the 1930s. ...

. The British Musicians' Union, unhappy to see a foreigner land so many jobs and attain so much success, effectively prohibited him from playing with anyone other than Bert Ambrose. This forced him to eventually leave in 1931 and return to

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

, where he never again achieved the level of success he had enjoyed during his time in England.

References

American jazz trumpeters American male trumpeters American jazz cornetists People from Gloucester, Massachusetts American people of Finnish descent 1902 births 1995 deaths Dance band trumpet players 20th-century American trumpeters Jazz musicians from Massachusetts 20th-century American male musicians American male jazz musicians {{US-jazz-trumpeter-stub