Frompin' in the Great Plains Listening and Dancing to the Jazz Orchestras of Alphonso Trent 1925~44

University of Nebraska - Lincoln DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln

Great Plains Quarterly Great Plains Studies, Center for

1996

FROMPIN' IN THE GREAT PLAINS LISTENING AND DANCING TO THE JAZZ ORCHESTRAS OF ALPHONSO TRENT 1925~44

Marc Rice University of Louisville

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Rice, Marc, "FROMPIN' IN THE GREAT PLAINS LISTENING AND DANCING TO THE JAZZ ORCHESTRAS OF ALPHONSO TRENT 1925~44" (1996). Great Plains Quarterly. 1091. https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/greatplainsquarterly/1091

This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Great Plains Studies, Center for at DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. It has been accepted for inclusion in Great Plains Quarterly by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. FROMPIN' IN THE GREAT PLAINS LISTENING AND DANCING TO THE JAZZ ORCHESTRAS OF ALPHONSO TRENT 1925~44

MARC RICE

During the 1920s and 1930s, dozens of Afri­ development, creating a style of music dis­ can American dance bands of various sizes tinct from that of New York, New Orleans, or crisscrossed the Midwest and Southwest Chicago. This midwest jazz style did not die United States. These organizations are called with the demise of the early bands, for the "territory bands" by jazz historians because they careers of the Count Basie Orchestra and typically maintained a city such as Oklahoma Charlie Parker were their legacy. City, Kansas City, Omaha, or Tulsa as a home This paper focuses on one of the most popu­ base, from which they mounted tours of the lar and influential of the territory band lead­ surrounding towns. The territory bands had ers, Alphonso Trent. From 1925 to the mid their best years just prior to the Great Depres­ 1940s, his groups were acknowledged by lis­ sion, but most were devastated by the 1930s teners and by other musicians as among the and disbanded. Most of these bands included very best of the jazz bands performing in the jazz in their repertoire and were vital to its Southwest and Great Plains. In the cities and towns that they visited, their performances were always a special event, particularly in the African American communities. Trent's or­ chestras played an important role as musicians and entertainers of African Americans in the Great Plains States in the 1920s and 1930s. Although Trent did lead his first orchestra Marc Rice is a musicologist with a focus on jazz composition. A teaching assistant at the University of through the Midwest and Northeast, most of Louisville, he is writing his dissertation on the Bennie his career was set in and around the Great Moten Orchestra, a jazz band in Kansas City from Plains, specifically in three cities, Dallas, 1925-30. Texas; Kansas City, Missouri; and Deadwood, South Dakota. In Dallas Trent met with his first triumph, securing well-paying jobs that [GPQ 16 (Spring 1996): 107-151 had previously been off-limits to African

107 108 GREAT PLAINS QUARTERLY, SPRING 1996

American orchestras. Kansas City saw him three arenas for an African American orches­ during a period of hard times, when tragedy tra to play and for a black audience to dance and the Depression had taken its toll on his and listen. There was an outdoor pavilion in a group. In Deadwood, at the end of his music section of Dallas called "Oak Cliff." There was career, Trent again found financial success and the Pythian Temple, a large building down­ stability. town for the use of black businesses and orga­ nizations. And there were two nightclubs in ALPHONSO TRENT the area, the L.B. Mose Theater and the Hum­ mingbird.4 Alphonso Trent was born in Fort Smith, The Oak Cliff pavilion was the scene o,f the Arkansas, in 1902. He came from a solidly Trent Orchestra's first engagements in Dallas. middle class African American family that According to Essie Mae Trent, Alphonso's emphasized greatly the importance of educa­ widow, who first met her husband shortly after tion. According to Henry Rinne, his father he moved to Dallas, the pavilion at Oak Cliff was the principal of the black high school in was at a ballpark in a predominantly African Fort Smith, and was one of the first black American neighborhood. The audience was graduates of Ohio State University.l In addi­ generally ninety percent black as well. In Mrs. tion to formal classroom education, Alphonso Trent's words, the facility was was given piano lessons at an early age. By his early teens, he was playing professionally with a large area and plenty of parking space. I local bands.2 wouldn't say that it was cultivated like they In 1925 Trent joined a group of musicians have now. It wasn't like the modern parks in Little Rock, Arkansas. The personnel in­ and things are now. But you had your space. cluded Edwin Swayzee, trumpet; Eugene Plenty of parking space. Oh it took up, say, Crooke, banjo; James Jeter, alto saxophone; two blocks. John Fielding, vocals; Leo "Snub" Mosely, It wasn't anything modern. You had your trombone; and Trent on piano.3 In the spring bandstand. It was large. Huge, you could of 1925 the band, now called the Alphonso say. You could accommodate 1000 people Trent Orchestra, traveled through Texas and easily. During those times it was outstand­ eventually arrived in Dallas. ing. I wouldn't be wrong in using those In most cities the Trent orchestra played words.s their primary engagemenrs at extravagant, ex­ clusively white hotels. These hotels, catering In the beginning of their stay in Dallas, the to the economic elite, could offer the band Trent Orchestra struggled with small crowds steady long-term employment. During their and little recognition, but their biggest break off nights, however, in whatever city they were came a few weeks after their arrival. A bellman in, the Trent orchestra booked themselves into from the luxurious, white Adolphus Hotel African American establishments. The orches­ convinced the hotel secretary to attend one of tra did not make much money on these nights, the band's Oak Cliff performances. She per­ but as their reputation grew, these dances be­ suaded her boss to offer the orchestra a two­ came important events in the black commu­ week engagement.6 The two weeks became an nities. eighteen-month stay, during which the orches­ tra established itself as the best band in the DALLAS Southwest. In the segregated Adolphus Hotel, the The orchestra first established this method dances that the Trent Orchestra played were of operation in Dallas. In 1925 the city had off-limits to African Americans. The bands- JAZZ IN THE GREAT PLAINS 109

men and their families, including Trent's fu­ at the Adolphus ... and man, you couldn't ture wife Essie Mae, endured the Jim Crow get in when they played. They used to make policies at the hotel, but these dances were as much as $ 7 5 a night a man, they were so broadcast over a 50,000 watt radio station, popular. They had all that airtime over WFAA. It was heard throughout much of the WFAA in Dallas, and they were heard all country and served to disseminate the music the way to Canada.9 of the band to people across the land, particu­ larly the African Americans of Dallas.7 In addition to the Oak Cliff pavilion and In this manner the Trent Orchestra became the two nightclubs, African Americans could an important element in the multi-faceted also hear the Trent Orchestra at the Pythian musical culture of Dallas. During the 1920s, Temple, a downtown, black-owned building jazz and blues-based music thrived in the Af­ used by various businesses. In the words of rican American communities of the city. The Mrs. Trent, the building was Central Track section of the town in particu­ lar was host to many blues singers, boogie­ all brick. And there was a ballroom in there. woogie pianists, and small combos, who And of course on the first floor there was a worked in various types of small clubs. drug store. On the second floor you had Buster Smith, a saxophonist who grew up your different doctors. And then you had in Dallas during the twenties, was a witness to your schools like your commercial schools. the musical activities in the African Ameri­ This is owned by Blacks. A five story build­ can communities. As Smith recalled, "there ing. And you could rent the auditorium out, were many, many good bands and musicians if one wanted to rent it. Bands and things around [Dallas] then, and you'd see them ev­ would come in, they would book them in erywhere you went ..." Smith remembered there. Oh it was a lovely place. It was first hearing African American orchestras such as class. 10 those led by Jap Allen, George E. Lee, and T. Holder. There were also "any number of little The Pythian Temple's dance hall could be four and five-piece bands playing around the rented out for various occasions. As Mrs. Trent roadhouses and after hours spots." Smith was recalled quite familiar with the Trent Orchestra; it and the Troy Floyd Orchestra from San Antonio, the dance floor was just for anybody who "were the big bands. "8 wanted to rent it. For organizations. Lodges. Their radio broadcasts quickly spread the Dances. Church affairs. If they wanted to popularity of the Trent Orchestra in the Afri­ have school affairs or plays. Sometimes the can American communities of Dallas and different clubs they'd say, "Well now what across the Midwest and Southwest. When they are we going to do? Let's have a play." So were not playing at the Adolphus Hotel, the we know what we have in our club, and we band frequently played in either the L.B. Mose know what they can offer. Well, we'll have Theater downtown or the Hummingbird on a playY Hall street in the Central Track district. Ac­ cording to Buddy Tate, then a young Dallas Often the Temple was rented out for public musician who eventually became a member of dances. In fact, when the Trent orchestra had the Count Basie Orchestra: a night off, they themselves sometimes rented it out. Their tuba player, Brent Sparks, was in [The Trent Orchestra] would come uptown charge of advertising, and anyone who could [to black dance halls] and play from 9 to 12 afford the admission price could come. The every Sunday after they finished their date dance hall could also be rented for private 110 GREAT PLAINS QUARTERLY, SPRING 1996 affairs, and the Trent Orchestra frequently association with the least savory parts of were hired to provide the entertainment. Most the cities, the young accepted as respect­ important were the dances given by the two able what their elders logically could not, society clubs to which Mrs. Trent belonged, the excitement and those very qualities of the Idlewild and the Dunbar clubs, which pre­ indecency that they formally disdained. 14 sented the African American debutantes. Mrs. Trent's sister was in charge of selecting the There were also African American parents girls who would have their coming out at the who found dancing to this music to be less Pythian Temple dancesY than respectable. For example, a 192 7 edito­ These private clubs played an important rial, "The Dance Craze!" in the black-owned role in the culture of Dallas's mid- and upper­ Kansas City Call states: class African Americans. They were a mean­ ingful part of Mrs. Trent's life, and she met her After all has been said that can be said in husband at one of their meetings. She still has favor of the dance, it remains true that it is vivid memories of society dances at the Pythian demoralizing. It rests on a purely carnal Temple, for which the Trent Orchestra often basis. It is absolutely and exclusively of the played. When asked what one would see upon flesh. But for its sex complex it never would entering such a dance, she recalled with much have been known. Take this out of it and it laughter, would perish for lack of motive. It is a plea­ sure, no doubt, but it is the pleasure of sin. the band playing and people dancing. And It excites and thrills-and kills ... police women getting cool drinks or punch or courts and morgue records testify to the whatever. No setups and tables like they debasing influences of the dance ... 15 have now. You would go to this fountain and they'd serve you punch. But they had This attitude was also found in the Great chairs around and people'd sit and visit with Plains states. Ralph Ellison, an African Ameri­ their friends that way. Then they'd get up can writer and social commentator who grew and dance. And some of the dances would up in Oklahoma City in the 1920s described have programs. And fellows was coming, the social status of jazz in his home town: wanting to see my program and fill in You're there! Everybody's frompin'! Everybody's Jazz was regarded by most of the respect­ doing their own thing! Everybody's got their able Negroes of the town as a backward, own flask and bottle of whateverY low-class form of expression and there was a marked difference between those who THE RESPECTABILITY OF JAZZ accepted it and lived close to their folk experience and those whose status stirrings The popularity of the Trent Orchestra led them to reject and deny it. 16 spread like wildfire among both black and white audiences. Dancing to jazz was a vital Thus, when dancing to jazz became popular mode of social expression. There were those in the twenties, some adults, both African people, both African American and white, American and white, had a certain fear for the however, who saw jazz such as that played by souls of their children. Even if their music was the Trent Orchestra as dangerously decadent. seen by some as decadent, however, the mem­ Historian Paula Fass described this phenom­ bers of the Trent Orchestra, contrary to the enon among whites: image of the jazz musician as a shifty social degenerate, were well-educated young men of By accepting the sensuous and eXCltmg middle- and upper-middle class backgrounds. rhythms of modern jazz and its well-known In addition, when they arrived in Dallas, the JAZZ IN THE GREAT PLAINS 111 band associated primarily with the residents they would play the major white hotel for two of the city who had similar backgrounds. In weeks to three months and on the side play the words of Mrs. Trent, the band members dances for African Americans at various ven­ ues. As the engagement ended, tuba player were all high school graduates. And they Brent Sparks would secure them a job at an­ were not like regular musicians at all. They other white hotel and accommodations in the had culture. These young men had been new city. reared, you know, had had training at home. These were prosperous times for the band. And you could tell from the churches [that Their radio broadcasts at the Adolphus gave they attended] on down. See, they got with them a great deal of recognition. Dancing was the people that they'd been used to being more popular than ever, and they had no around at home, and they'd go to church trouble finding places to play. In early 1930, and the people there just fell in love with however, tragedy struck. The club in Cleve­ them. 17 land in which they were booked caught fire, and their instruments, uniforms, and sheet According to Mrs. Trent, the culture of the music were all destroyed. The disaster and the upper-class African Americans in Dallas, the deepening of the Great Depression reversed culture to which the Trent Orchestra attached their fortunes. themselves, was quite vibrant. Perhaps she is a bit biased, but she feels that neighboring towns HARD TIMES such as Fort Worth were "cowtowns" in com­ parison. As Mrs. Trent recalled, "When you Trent's father paid for new instruments and get that society in Dallas, you're hitting some­ uniforms, but jobs were difficult to come by. thing heavy. With carriage, culture, everything. In early 1931 the band played its last job in That's the way people acted and carried them­ the East and returned to the Southwest to re­ selves. These folks went from the top and en­ group. Hayes Pillars, a saxophonist in the band, tertained from the top."18 recalled that through most of 1931 and into Young people danced two main types of 1932 the band based themselves in Trent's dances to the music of the Trent Orchestra. hometown of Fort Smith, Arkansas, while play­ Historians cite the Charleston and the Black ing jobs in Oklahoma, Texas, Louisiana, and Bottom as the two most important dances in Missouri, but they also required financial help the 1920s. Both were introduced in black from their families. 21 vaudeville shows in the mid-I920s and were Their first jobs upon returning to the South­ quickly appropriated by the young. Mrs. Trent west in 1931 were in Tulsa, Oklahoma City, remembers both white and African American and smaller towns in the same vicinity. Then dancers performing these steps to the music of they returned to Arkansas, where their finan­ the Trent Orchestra. 19 cial situation deteriorated rapidly. For some jobs they were paid only three or four dollars a ON TOUR person. According to Hayes Pillars, "things just never got better ... everybody kept think­ After eighteen months, the Trent Orches­ ing it would be better next week or next month tra concluded their engagement at the or the next few months, but it just kept get­ Adolphus Hotel in the spring of 1926. In 192 7 ting worse and worse, so we finally realized the orchestra worked the major cities of Texas that we were in the grip of a deep depression and toured Louisiana, Arkansas, and Missis­ and that was it."22 sippi. They then headed east, playing St. Louis, The bright spot during this dark period was Louisville, Lexington, Cincinnati, Cleveland, a two-week booking at the end of October and and Buffalo in 1928 and 1929.20 In each city beginning of November 1931, in El Torreon, a 112 GREAT PLAINS QUARTERLY, SPRING 1996 white dance hall in Kansas City, Missouri, that battles of the bands, in which a hometown also allowed them to play one night at the band, such as the Bennie Moten Orchestra, African American Paseo Dance Hall. Perhaps would perform with a visiting band, such as this engagement rejuvenated the band, for jazz the Fletcher Henderson Orchestra from New and dancing were vital aspects of Kansas City York City.26 Also advertised were the dances life, and indeed, this city is of crucial impor­ held by the African American musicians' tance in the history of jazz. union, Local No. 627, at which eight or more large orchestras would perform.27 KANSAS CITY JAZZ One advertisement for the Trent Orches­ tra's performance at the Paseo Hall appeared From the mid-I920s through the 1930s, in the 30 October 1931 Kansas City Call. 28 Kansas City was the scene of the most vibrant Most notable is the statement "Victor Re­ jazz community in the western United States. cording Band." In fact, the Trent Orchestra It had several large dance halls, and, espe­ never had the opportunity to record for the cially in the African American communities, famous Victor label. Eight recordings, made many smaller cabarets where enthusiasts could for the smaller Gennet label, represent the hear and dance to jazz throughout the night. only extant music of any of Trent's orchestras. Most large cities were host to one territory It is quite possible that the advertisement band, but no less than three, and at times as used the Victor name to attract a larger audi­ many as eight, bands called Kansas City ence. Victor was highly recognizable to Kan­ home.23 sas City dancers because the favorite local Kansas City nightlife was the beneficiary of band, the Bennie Moten Orchestra, recorded Thomas Pendergast's control of city govern­ for it. 29 ment. According to Theodore Brown and Ross One week after the advertisement appeared, Russell, alcohol was, for all practical purposes, the Call carried a review of the band in a col­ legal in most Kansas City establishments dur­ umn titled "Dance Gossip." Since the Trent ing Prohibition. Pendergast controlled the Orchestra's eight Gennet recordings vary in police department, and for a price, would keep quality, the review provides insight into the the law away from any nightclub. sound of the band: The abundance of alcohol and music estab­ lished dancing and listening to jazz as impor­ With a might tooting of trumpets, a flock tant pastimes for both Kansas City residents of 'horsing around' by the men in the band, and visitors. An advertisement in aJuly 1931 a great deal of 'oompah-oompah' on the Kansas City Call announces excursion trains tuba and a new variety of low down stomps, for Kansas City from Dallas, Tulsa, and Okla­ Alphonso Trent and his band moved into homa City, to bring African Americans to the Paseo Hall last Tuesday night to receive a Paseo Dance Hall for two nights of celebra­ positive ovation ... the band played a lot tion. The music would be provided by the of fast hot numbers, but they slayed the George E. Lee Orchestra, that, like other bands dancers with their rendition of the blues based in kansas City, had traveled through­ tunes ...30 out the Southwest and was quite famous in that part of the country. 25 The reviewer described violinist Anderson During these years the entertainment sec­ Lacy as a "bundle of vertical motion," while tion of the Kansas City Call was filled with Trent "handled the instrument in the most advertisements describing dances in the Afri­ approved fashion." And "good-looking can American halls and nightclubs. Some of Chester Clarke (a Kansas City native) did the most vivid ads depict the spectacular some special tricks on his trumpet for the JAZZ IN THE GREAT PLAINS 113 home folks." The bandsmen were not only good dances. 11 The band had a few more profitable looking but, as Mrs. Trent had said, well­ times, including an engagement at the Ritz reared. Eppie Jackson, a tuba player originally Ballroom in Oklahoma City and a tour of In­ from Kansas City who had joined the orches­ diana with jobs at Indiana University. During tra in 1929, told the reviewer "nearly all of a tour of New England in the spring of 1933, the men are college men, and they all act like however, the work finally stopped coming. The gentlemen. I consider it rare good fortune to band staggered back to Albany, New York, be associated with them."ll and disbanded. The article describes three types of tunes Several of the musicians reorganized in performed by the Trent Orchestra: fast hot Cleveland, but Alphonso Trent, who had ac­ numbers, blues tunes, and low down stomps. tually left the band in late 1932 to return to In fact, the band was exceptionally versatile Fort Smith, was not among them. By 1934 he and could play music not only for jazz dances had organized another orchestra, and at some but also "sweet music" for dances attended by point before 1935 he and his wife had taken older, white audiences. As saxophonist Hayes this group to a far more profitable place, Dead­ Pillars recalled, wood, South Dakota.

They played everything you could think of: DEADWOOD dinner music; they played hot music ... they had a glee club in the band. I joined According to Mrs. Trent, Alphonso's new that band, and I found out that all of our orchestra spent most of the next eight years arrangements were head arrangements. playing for the largest nightclub in Deadwood. They would take a tune and start rehears­ Occasionally they would go on tour through ing it, and everybody'd put their idea in it the Dakotas and Wyoming. The band was so and sometimes they would be a week re­ successful that Trent was soon asked to orga­ hearsing one tune. But they rehearsed ev­ nize another orchestra for a club in a nearby ery day ... city, perhaps Rapid City. For most of these And in the brass section they had a trio eight years Trent directed both bands concur­ singing, and in the reed section we had a rently.14 trio singing. Then we all sang together as a Moving to Deadwood, the Trents literally choral group. We had novelties. We could discovered a gold mine. The city is adjacent to clown. We did everything ... Back in those Lead, South Dakota, the location of one of days you'd playa dance, and the people just the largest gold mines in the country. During wouldn't dance. They'd just stand around a gold rush in the 1870s, Deadwood had be­ the band, watch the band ... come legendary for its brothels, bars, and other Everybody had big tones in this band. forms of nightlife, patronized by miners who They could play waltzes. They could play had made their fortunes at Lead. By the early that pretty music, and could play hot music 1930s, however, Deadwood was in economic too. J2 decline. The gold at Lead was not attracting miners, and the population of Deadwood had When the job at the El Torreon Ballroom declined from 4200 to 2400, but through the ended, the band went to Texas, but they were 1930s the population rose dramatically, reach­ no longer the top band in the state. As trom­ ing 4100 in 1937. The increase came in re­ bonist Snub Mosely recalled, the musicians' sponse to the 1934 Federal Gold Reserve Act, union excluded them from playing the white which prohibited the use of gold as legal ten­ ballrooms and hotels and they were relegated der and made the federal government the sole to the less profitable African American buyer of Lead's gold-at higher prices. As the 114 GREAT PLAINS QUARTERLY, SPRING 1996 price of gold rose, miners flocked to Dead­ ers and their families were the only African wood.35 Americans in Deadwood. Perhaps this fact, Alphonso Trent and his two orchestras re­ the band's status as the city's best-known en­ turned to economic success in the middle of tertainers, and the presence of a much larger the Depression. As Mrs. Trent recalled, money "minority" population-the Lakota people of was pouring into Deadwood. According to her, the nearby Pine Ridge and Rosebud reserva­ tions-accounted for a perceived lack of rac­ those people didn't care about money. They ism toward the orchestra. According to Mrs. made money. That's where your money was. Trent, the treatment that the band received They didn't care nothing about money, only in Deadwood was a far cry from the days when to spend. You take the kids that were going they could not stay or even eat at the white to school. They'd get out of school, and do hotels where they played. you know how much money they would make in the bowling alley? The children, It reminded me in a measure sometimes just the kids, would make $3.50 an hour, when I think about it of when I was in Eu­ just the little bit they'd be doing around rope. It seemed like you just went out of the the bowling alley. See those folks made United States, because it's different, and money, they didn't care anything about it, the people were different. They acted dif­ they drank, they had a good time.36 ferent, they talked different, they treated you different. Not only were the residents of Deadwood The people there were happy to know prosperous during the Depression, but you. They were happy you were there cause Alphonso Trent's new orchestra was one of you brought happiness to them. They ap­ the few entertainments in town. According to preciated the music, and we were known by Mrs. Trent everybody. You were just like a baby in the arms of Jesus. 39 the nightclub in Deadwood was the largest nightclub, and of course that just drew CONCLUSION people from all around, you know, and those small places ... And you see, those people By the end of World War II Alphonso hadn't really been, I don't mean to say used Trent's prosperous days in South Dakota had to music, they hadn't had the opportunity. come to an end. For many different reasons he And they were just wild about musicians. was never able to achieve national recogni­ And they enjoyed themselves, enjoyed the tion and financial security. He was also vul­ music. Because, you see, there wasn't a lot nerable to losing his best musicians to more of activities ...37 famous and wealthier orchestras, as when the great guitarist Charlie Christian joined Benny The Trent orchestras drew listeners from as Goodman. far away as Minneapolis and Sioux City. Ac­ At some point in the mid 1940s, Alphonso cording to Mrs. Trent, many people would and Essie Mae Trent returned to Fort Smith. come just to listen or to watch the tap dancer During the last years of his life, Mr. Trent still who performed with the band. Others would played music professionally on occasion, and dance, but by the late 1930s the Charleston the couple managed a large housing project. and BlackBottom had been replaced by the Alphonso Trent died in 1959, and every mu­ Jitterbug and the Lindy Hop.38 sician that ever played with him has also Aside from a woman married to a white passed. In the autumn of 1994, however, Mrs. man and their two children and a doctor who Trent was alive and well, and extremely gra­ owned a downtown building, the Trent play- cious in the telling of her story. JAZZ IN THE GREAT PLAINS 115

NOTES of Popular Culture 7 (July 1973): 14-21; and Marshall and Jean Stearns, Jazz Dance: The Story of 1. Henty Q. Rinne, "A Short History of the American Vernacular Dance (New York: Schirmer Alphonso Trent Orchestra," Arkansas Historical Books, 1968). Quarterly 3 (March 1986): 213. 20. Rinne, "A Short History" (note 1 above), 2. Uncited biographical information was com­ pp. 238-43. piled and corroborated from these sources: Rinne, 21. Pillars interview, JOHP, lJS (note 2 above). "A Short History" (note 1 above); interviews with 22. Ibid. musicians Hayes Pillars and Snub Mosely, con­ 23. For more information on jazz in 1920s Kan­ ducted as part of the Jazz Oral History Project, sas City, see Ross Russell, Jazz Style in Kansas City Institute of Jazz Studies, Rutgers University, cited and the Southwest (Berkeley: University of Califor­ hereafter as JOHP, lJS; and personal interviews nia Press, 1971), and Gunther Schuller, Early Jazz: with Essie Mae Trent. Its Roots and Musical Development (New York: Ox­ 3. Rinne, "A Short History" (note 1 above), p. 23 2. ford University Press, 1968). 4. Personal interview with Essie Mae Trent, 24. Russell, Jazz Style, (note 23 above), p. 8, and October 1994, and Don Gazzaway, "Conversations Theodore A. Brown, The Politics of Reform: Kansas with Buster Smith," Jazz Review 2 (December City's Municipal Government 1925-1950 (Kansas 1959): 20. City: March, 1958), p. 54. 5. Essie Mae Trent interview, ibid. 25. "Dances Monday and Tuesday," Kansas City 6. Rinne, "A Short History" (note 1 above), Call, 31 July 1931, p. 10. p.233. 26. For example, "Mighty Monarch of Melody," 7. In 1926 a listener with good equipment Kansas City Call, II February 1927, p. 8. could hear a radio station the size of WFAA from 27. "Musicians Ball," Kansas City Call, 4 Sep­ hundreds of miles away. For more information con­ tember 1931, p. 10. The bands featured in this cerning the distance of radio broadcasts, see Susan advertisment are Andy Kirk and his 12 Clouds of Smulyan, Selling Radio: The Commercialization of Joy, George Lee's Great Novelty Band, Elmer American Broadcasting 1920-1934 (Washington, Payne's Music Masters, Bill Little and his Little D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1994), pp. Bills, the Bennie Moten Orchestra, Alvin Wall's 13-36. Rhythm Band, the Jap Allen Orchestra, and Paul 8. Gazzaway, "Conversations with Buster Banks R ythm [sic] Aces. These are just a few of the Smith" (note 4 above), p. 20. dozens of musical ensembles active in the Kansas 9. Buddy Tate, "My Story," Jazz Review 2 (Feb- City area in the late 1920s and 1930s. ruary 1958): 18. 28. "Alphonso Trent Orchestra," Kansas City 10. Essie Mae Trent interview, (note 4 above). Call, 30 October 1931, p. 10. 11. Ibid. 29. In their many appearances in the Kansas City 12. Ibid. Call, the Bennie Moten Orchestra is always de­ 13. Personal interview with Essie Mae Trent, scribed as being "Victor Recording Artists." In­ November 1994. deed, with approximately thirty-five recordings for 14. Paula Fass, The Damned and the Beautiful: this label by 1935, the Moten band was by far the American Youth in the 1920s (New York: Oxford most recorded, and probably most nationally University Press, 1977), p. 301. known, of the territory bands. 15. S. M. Brown, "The Dance Craze!" Kansas 30. "Dance Gossip," Kansas City Call, 6 Novem- City Call, 27 January 1927, p. 6. ber 1931, p. 10. 16. Ralph Ellison, Shadow and Act (New York: 31. Ibid. Random House, 1974), p. 238. 32. Pillars interview, JOHP, lJS (note 2 above). 17. Essie Mae Trent interview (note 4 above). 33. Mosely interview, JOHP, lJS (note 2 above). 18. Essie Mae Trent interview (note 13 above). 34. Essie Mae Trent interview (note 4 above). 19. Ibid. For more information concerning Af­ 35. John Milton, South Dakota: A Bicentennial rican Americans and jazz dance see Lynne Fauley History (New York: W.W. Norton, 1977), p. ll8. Emery, Black Dance: From 1619 to Today (Prince­ 36. Essie Mae Trent interview (note 4 above). ton: Princeton Book Company Publishers, 1988); 37. Essie Mae Trent interview (note 13 above). Russel B. Nye, "Saturday Night at the Paradise 38. Ibid. Ballroom: or, Dance Halls in the Twenties," Journal 39. Essie Mae Trent interview (note 4 above).