Arden-Ohman Orchestra

Background and history

After World War I, Victor Arden (March 8, 1893–July 31, 1962) traveled to New York City, where he recorded piano rolls for QRS Music Technologies. He met pianist Phil Ohman (October 7, 1896–August 8, 1954), who started working at QRS in early 1919, and the two formed a duo that became the Arden-Ohman Orchestra, making rolls together and individually. Ohman left QRS for a role in the Paul Whiteman Orchestra but later departed Whiteman's group upon realizing that his duets with Arden were more fulfilling.

The pair played in clubs on 52nd Street and other midtown Manhattan locations. They were featured in Samuel Roxy Rothafel's radio broadcasts from the Capitol Theatre, which began in 1923, and performed at the banquet for the 1924 Eastern Sales Conference. Following those performances, they were discovered by Broadway employer George Gershwin and signed to Columbia Records and Victor Records. As a pit orchestra, they worked on Broadway shows including Lady, Be Good (1924), Tip-Toes (1926), and Spring Is Here (1929), and recorded songs such as "I Love a Parade", "Morning Glories", and "I'm in Love with You".

They also performed arrangements of Walter Donaldson's "At Sundown" (1927), "Lover, Come Back to Me" (1929), and Scott Joplin's "Maple Leaf Rag" in 1930. After the orchestra dissolved in 1933, Arden formed another duo with pianist Phil Wall called Arden & Arden.