Sylvester Ahola
Trumpet player Sylvester “Hooley” Ahola was born in Gloucester, MA on May 24, 1902.
His parents were from Finland. His first professional engagement, in 1921, was with Frank E. Ward’s Orchestra in Massachusetts. In 1926, Ahola joined the Paul Specht orchestra in New York and traveled with the band to England. In 1927 he had brief engagements with the California Ramblers, Bert Lown, and Peter van Steeden. In the Fall of 1927, Ahola joined the short-lived Adrian Rollini’s New Yorkers. The cornet player in the band was Bix Beiderbecke.
When the New Yorkers dissolved, Ahola sailed to England where he first joined the Savoy Orpheans. In October 1928 he became a member of the Bert Ambrose orchestra and stayed with the band until August 1931, when he returned to New York. He spent several years with the Peter van Steeden orchestra. He was a member of the NBC staff orchestra until he retired in 1940. Ahola died in February 1995.
Reference:. “Sylvester Ahola, Gloucester Gabriel” by Dick Hill, Scarecrow Press, Institute of Jazz Studies, Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey (Metuchen, N.J,) , 1993.
“Country Bred and Chicken Fed” and “So Long North”
In October 1983, record collector and researcher Nick Dellow visited Hooley at his home near Gloucester, MA, at which time he took this photograph (note: listen to the mp3 to appreciate the significance of the white whales!)
Sylvester Ahola talks about and plays on his Victrola, the Edison Diamond Disc of “Country Bred and Chicken Fed” and “So Long North” by Dale Wimbrow, with a backing band that features trumpet solos and breaks by Hooley.
Part 1 – NOT WORKING
http://bixography.com/Ahola/HooleyatEdisonPartOne.mp3
Part 2
Details about the recordings.
Wimbrow (the Del-Mar-Va Songster) and his Rubeville Tuners
- Peter Dale Wimbrow – ukulele;
- Vocal acc. by Sylvester “Hooley” Ahola – trumpet;
- Phil Wall – piano;
- Johnny Morris – drums – effects.
Recording date and place: New York, Thursday, December 2, 1926. Edison 51894
- Country Bred and Chicken Fed – 11346 (take A)
- So Long North – 11347 (take B)
Note: Ahola plays across mellophone lead pipe for train effects on 11347.
Transfer by Nick of his own copy of this Edison Diamond Disc, on which “Country Bred” is a different take – NOT WORKING
http://bixography.com/Ahola/CountryBredChickenFed.mp3
Transfer by Nick of his own copy of “So Long North” – NOT WORKING