The dusty street corners of Dallas in the early years of the twentieth century were filled with the blues of Blind Lemon Jefferson. Jefferson, the sightless son of poor farmers, made his way to the city, put a tin cup on the sidewalk and moaned away. He picked out sixth- and seventh-chord arpeggios on his guitar in a manner that anticipated the boogie riffs of the jump blues greats of a few decades later. According to several sources, one of his lead boys (who helped him navigate the streets and get situated in good spots), a young Aaron “T-Bone” Walker, was, during that later jump period, the first master of the single-note electric boogie riff. Walker’s role in the development of r&b will be discussed at length in a future article.
Jefferson played at least for a while with the two-fisted, hot-tempered Huddie Ledbetter in Dallas brothels circa 1917. They were making a name for themselves when Ledbetter went to prison for six years in 1918.
A Dallas music store owner told Paramount Records about Jefferson. Jefferson was subsequently signed to the label and sent north to Chicago to cut what amounted to over a hundred sides before his mysterious 1929 death.
One of the most important elements in the development of swing in the 1930s was the concept of the territory bands. From a commercial standpoint, these were second-tier orchestras that sometimes recorded and sometimes didn’t, but which served much the same purpose as baseball’s farm teams. These groups were often as good as nationally known bands, but generally made their way with regional followings.
There was a string of midsize cities, from Dallas and Houston up through Oklahoma City, Tulsa, Kansas City and Omaha, that spawned territory bands and provided clubs and ballrooms in which they could find work. Bandleaders such as Alphonso Trent, Troy Floyd, Don Albert and Ernie Fields did quite well on this circuit.
Houston-born-and-bred Milt Larkin had arguably the most historic territory band of this ilk. At various times during the late 30s, when he led the house band at Houston’s Aragon Ballroom, his personnel included tenor saxophonists Eddie “Cleanhead” Vinson, Illinois Jacquet and Arnett Cobb, as well as pianist (later organist) Bill Davis, and guitarist T-Bone Walker. Larkin played as far away as Chicago, but, in what must surely be among the most unfortunate twists in black American music history, never went into the recording studio with his band.
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