Art Hickman Helps Launch the Roaring Twenties

Art Hickman

Source: Discogs

Born on 13 June 1886 in Oakland, CA, drummer and pianist, Art Hickman, was among the first to expand the small hotel dance band, typically a quintet or sextet, into a full dance orchestra, this when swank hotels began to became a major destination of the musically inclined on Saturday nights. Hickman began his professional career as a band director at the St. Francis Hotel (335 Powell Street) in San Francisco in October 1914 [Gracyk] when he was drummer of a trio which there performed for tea dances. Such was new for St. Francis as well, not having featured music before. Upon expanding to supper dances in January 1915, Hickman gathered together a sextet including himself on drums manned by Walt Roesner (trumpet), Fred Kaufmann (trombone), Frank Ellis (piano), Frank De Stefano (banjo) and Marc Mojica (banjo). An unidentified configuration played the World's Fair in San Francisco in 1915. Hickman would gradually come to fill his orchestra with as many as 21 members. Two of those were saxophonists, Bert Ralton in about 1917-18 and Clyde Doerr in 1919, one of the ways Hickman altered the more traditional cast of the popular dance band.

Hickman also composed or collaborated on numerous titles. In 1917 he and Harry Williams wrote 'Rose Room' for performance at the Rose Room in the St. Francis Hotel. 'Rose Room' was issued in 1918 by Prince's Military Band. Sam Ash took Hickman's collaboration on 'Tears' with Ben Black to #6 on the popularity charts in May of 1919. The Hickman Orchestra placed 'Rose Room' at #5 in May of 1920. Hickman's Orchestra took 'Hold Me' to #1 in June of 1920, another tune written with Black.

The larger portion of Hickman's recordings were band instrumentals without vocals. DAHR traces Hickman with his Orchestra to as early as 15 September 1919 per 'Rose of Mandalay' (Herbert Claare) the first matrix of several that day (78653 toward Columbia A2917). Gracyk describes how travel arrangements by train were made for Hickman's band from San Francisco to New York City toward their first session that day. Recording twenty-one titles in the next two weeks, the orchestra also performed evenings at the Biltmore Hotel. This was big business: Hickman himself earned in the vicinity of $35,000. He also first met Florenz Ziegfeld on this his initial trip to New York City for whom he performed rooftop above the New Amsterdam Theatre for a week. Though Ziegfeld offered him $2500 a week to remain in NYC, Hickman preferred the atmosphere including musical of San Francisco to the tub of dough he might have earned in New York. Hickman returned, nevertheless, to perform in the 1920 and 1926 editions of the Ziegfeld Follies. In 1921 Hickman sent a select group from his orchestra called the New York London 5 to perform in England as well as record for His Master's Voice. The New York London 5 consisted of George Fishberg (trumpet) Harry Grancy (trumpet), Jack Howard (alto sax), Arthur Pittman (trombone) and George Klein (piano). Hickman didn't participate in those events.

Hickman had opened the Roaring Twenties with a couple tunes that reached #2 in January of 1920: 'Peggy' (Charles Daniels as Neil Moret / Harry Williams) and 'Sweet and Low' (Charles Johnson). Eleven of Hickman's releases found their way to the Top Ten. Chart toppers began with 'Hold Me' (above) followed by 'Love Nest' at #1 in October 1920. 'Tell Me, Little Gypsy' (Irving Berlin) jumped to #2 the same month. Hickman's enormous popularity on the charts, though, was brief. MusicVF documents his last title to ring a bell at all as 'Darling' (Chris Schonberg / Louis Silvers) arriving to #2 in March of 1921.

Depending on what one calls jazz, though isolated passages of such might be found in Hickman's renderings, he was pretty upfront that his wasn't a jazz operation, distancing himself from both that style and labeling. Samples above are straightforward foxtrots of even tempo, including Handy's blues, with no distinguished solos. Tom Lord takes Hickman for his word, not including him in his jazzography at all. Like Paul Whiteman, however, Hickman's was among the first to transition from a hotel dance band toward a hotel "sweet" band which main thrust was popular dance but made a little space to breathe for the inevitable influence of jazz, albeit toned down to be danceable. Good later examples of sweet bands accommodating a little jazz are the swing orchestras of Benny Goodman or Sammy Kaye. Hickman didn't travel far in that direction, though, for he was hospitalized in San Francisco with Banti's syndrome in 1929 and died on 16 January 1930.