BORN 1896 • DIED-
Young Art had always been a bit of a scrapper, and his mother worried that he would end up making her old before her time. But after he discovered music, specifically the trumpet, he spent all his time working “odd jobs” around the neighborhood (including running numbers) to raise enough money to buy one for himself.
After he enlisted during the Great War, he found himself in the Hellfighters’ jazz band, led by Jim Reese Europe. His new mentor helped him rise to the rank of musician first-class during their service together on the battlefields of France. (The Hellfighters are widely held to have introduced jazz to Europe.)
Back in New York after the war, Mills worked in a variety of clubs and speakeasies as a musician and was enjoying a small degree of fame before Hilton Adams‘ arrest. He struggled to get the better gigs he knew he deserved, and after being caught “in possession” of a bottle of bootleg whisky (the arresting officer was Walter Robson), he struggled to make ends meet.
Mills, like the other Harlem Hellfigthers, knew Hilton Adams was innocent, but succumbed to the pressure of Robson to stay out of things.
The Friends of Prospero
Peru: Episode VIII • Peru: Episode VII • Peru: Episode VI • Peru: Episode V • Peru: Episode IV • Peru: Episode III • Peru: Episode II • Peru: Episode I
The Two-Headed Serpent
Coming soon…
