Casper Reardon
 VITAL STATS  

Mohawk Valley connection:
Born in Little Falls, NY

Claim to fame:
The first significant jazz harpist.

Did you know?
Casper became known as the "Swing Harpist."

Quote:
"One cannot hope to draw a color line in music or any other art."

Suggest a celebrity | Little Falls community


Photo from harpcolumn.com

Quick BIO

In 1907, Casper Reardon was born in Little Falls, NY to a vaudeville family. At five years old, he was trouping with his family and at eight years old, was given his first harp.

Reardon's musical talent won him a scholarship to study at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. Upon graduation in 1926, he put his harp talent to use for the Cincinnati Symphony and also became the head of the Harp Department at the Cincinnati Conservatory.

Reardon was introduced to jazz and worked at adapting it to the percussive harp, creating his own method of playing. His music made him a radio success. After Reardon recorded an uncredited harp solo for a Jack Teagarden album, he recorded several albums as "Casper Reardon & His Orchestra."

Reardon appeared in the 1937 movie You're a Sweetheart as "Cousin Caspar." Among several other accomplishments was his performance for President Franklin D. Roosevelt. In 1941, Reardon took ill and died. He was in his early thirties.

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