Arnold Black

Arnold Black (1923-2000) was a composer and violinist who scored an early Sesame Street insert, about Jack and the B stalk. He later composed music for the "Troubles the Cat" segments on Big Bag.

As a violinist, Black with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and National Symphony Orchestra. He recorded classical pieces with the New York Pro Musica, but also accompanied Louis Armstrong, Roberta Flack, and Judy Collins and played on the soundtrack to The Wiz. As a composer, Black scored a few plays on and off Broadway in the 1950s and early '60s, including Ulysses in Nighttown (with Zero Mostel).

In film and television, Black composed music for 3-2-1 Contact segments and orchestrated the classical Schubert theme for the Nickelodeon series Little Bear. He worked on the animated specials Simple Gifts and A Soldier's Tale for R. O. Blechman, and scored the 1998 film Illuminata (directed by John Turturro).