Arodin (Arnondrin), Sidney (J.)

Arodin (Arnondrin), Sidney (J.), jazz clarinetist/writer; b. Westwego, La., March 29, 1901; d. New Orleans, Feb. 6, 1948. Arodin took up clarinet at the age of 15 and was working regularly within a year. He played on riverboats with drummer Johnny Stein and others, and worked with Freddie Newman at the Ringside in the early 1920s. He went to N.Y. in 1922 with The Original New Orleans Jazz Band, and left them in the summer of 1925. (During this period it seems that Arodin worked for several months in Jimmy Durante’s band.) Arodin worked with The New Orleans Rhythm Masters (1926) in San Antonio, Tex.; with The New Orleans Harmony Kings (1927); and recorded with Wingy Manone in N.Y. (December 1927). Returning to New Orleans in 1928, Arodin played with The Halfway House Orch., Sharkey Bonano, Monk Hazel, Johnny Miller, and others. Arodin toured with trombonist Sunny Clapp and His Band of Sunshine (1929), and with Chink Martin in The New Orleans Swing Kings (1930). He recorded with the Jones-Collins Astoria Hot Eight, although he didn’t perform regularly with Jones or Collins. Arodin gigged in Kansas City, Mo., in the summer of 1933, then moved to N.Y. with Louis Prima’s band in August 1934. He worked with Wingy Manone in 1935, then returned to New Orleans, where he led his own band, including a residency at the Puppy House in 1939–40. Seriously ill in 1941, he never fully recovered and for the rest of his life suffered long periods of illness in New Orleans and Westwego, and made only occasional public appearances. Arodin recovered sufficiently to play for a while on the riverboats, but was taken ill again in St. Louis, returned to New Orleans, and died shortly afterwards. Arodin composed the melody of the popular song “Lazy River”

—John Chilton, Who’s Who of Jazz/Lewis Porter