Casper Reardon

{{Short description|American classical and jazz harpist}}

{{Infobox musical artist

| name = Casper Reardon

| image =

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| birth_date = {{birth date|1907|4|15}}

| birth_place = Little Falls, New York, U.S.

| death_date = {{death date and age|1941|3|9|1907|4|15}}

| death_place = New York City, U.S.

| genre = Classical music, jazz

| occupation = Musician

| instrument = Harp

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Casper Reardon (April 15, 1907 – March 9, 1941){{cite book|title=The Guinness Encyclopedia of Popular Music|editor=Colin Larkin|publisher=Guinness Publishing|date=1992|edition=First|isbn=0-85112-939-0|page=2053/4}} was an American classical and jazz harpist. He studied classical harp at the Curtis Institute of Music and went on to play for the Philadelphia Orchestra and the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. Later on, he played jazz.

The harp had been used in dance music for occasional flourishes before Reardon, but he is considered a first for using harp as a jazz instrument for solos and performances. By 1936, he was described as the "World's Hottest Harpist".{{cite magazine|url=https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,757103,00.html |title=Jazz on the Verge|date=December 7, 1936 |magazine=Time|access-date=September 8, 2021}} During the following year he played "Cousin Caspar" in the film, You're a Sweetheart.{{IMDb name|0714094|Casper Reardon}} In 1938, he played harp for the Broadway musical, I Married an Angel.{{Cite web|url=http://www.ibdb.com/production.asp?ID=12349|title=I Married an Angel – Broadway Musical – Original |website=IBDb.com|access-date=6 October 2021}}

As a jazz musician he can be heard on albums by Jack Teagarden and Paul Whiteman. He recorded a handful of records for Liberty Music Shop Records and Schirmer Records.

He died in March 1941, in New York, at the age of 33 from kidney failure.