Casper Reardon
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Casper Reardon | |
| Born | April 15, 1907 |
|---|---|
| Died | March 9, 1941 (aged 33) New York City, USA |
Casper Reardon (born April 15, 1907; died March 9, 1941) was a classical and later jazz harpist. He studied classical harp at the Curtis Institute of Music going on to play for the Philadelphia Orchestra and the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. Later he did jazz as well.
Harp had been used in dance music for occasional flourishes before Reardon, but he is considered "a first" for using harp as a "jazz instrument" for solos and performances. By 1936 he was described as the "World's Hottest Harpist."[1] and in the following year he played "Cousin Caspar" in the film You're a Sweetheart.[2] The year after that, 1938, he played harp for the Broadway musical I Married an Angel.[3] As a jazz musician he can be heard on albums by Jack Teagarden and Paul Whiteman.
He was likely the only male jazz musician of any significance to be known for playing the harp.
