Arthur Briggs

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Arthur Briggs (b. April 9, 1899; † July 15, 1991 in Paris) was a black American Jazz trumpeter and orchestra leader who performed in Europe.

Briggs played with Will Marion Cook at the end of the 1910s. In the early 1920s, he emigrated to Europe. In 1927, he founded the "Savoy Syncopator's Orchestra" in Berlin, one of the earlier recordings of jazz made in Europe. In 1928 Briggs broke up this group to join Noble Sissle's orchestra.

"Arthur Briggs liked to say that he was American but he was resident in USA for just two years before first visiting Europe in 1919. The truth is that he was born in Grenada, the Caribbean island that was invaded by America in 1979. He held a British passport which would explain his arrest in 1940 before USA entered the war."

Some felt he was ahead of the famous jazz trumpeters of his time.

Briggs was related to tubist Pete Briggs.