Deep dive into early the last century this weekend with one of those artists who were at the vanguard of what were becoming breakthroughs in race relations, not to mention a supremely gift artist in his own right.
Alphonso Trent may not ring a whole lot of bells, unless you’re a Jazz fan and, like me, have a propensity to dig and dig deep.
Alphonso Trent (October 24, 1902 – October 14, 1959) was a jazz pianist and territory band leader. The territory in his case was the South, since he was born and raised in Arkansas where he also did a considerable amount of work as pianist, arranger and band leader.
He led his first band in the mid-1920s, possibly as early as 1923. In 1924 he played with Eugene Cook’s Synco Six, and then took over leadership of the band, which played until 1934, playing mostly in the American South and Midwest, as well as on steamboats. Despite success in New York around 1930, Trent chose not to work further on the East Coast.
The Alphonso Trent orchestra recorded many firsts for African American bands. It was the first to play weekly at the prestigious Adolphus Hotel, the first to play for a white audience in the state of Texas, and the first to have a regular radio program. Band members made $125 a week, a princely sum in the 1930s. Although its music was popular, the band suffered for poor management. Trent disbanded the group and was out of music for several years.
He left music in the mid-1930s but returned with another band in 1938. His sidemen included Terrence Holder, Alex Hill, Stuff Smith, Snub Mosley, Charlie Christian, Sweets Edison, Mouse Randolph, and Peanuts Holland. As leader, he recorded only eight sides: four in 1928, two in 1930, and two in 1933. He died in Fort Smith on October 14, 1959.
His small recorded legacy has made him a somewhat obscure figure today, but the sophistication of his arrangements and the precision with which they were executed inspired awe in contemporaries – one such, Budd Johnson (quoted by Gunther Schuller via The Jazz Review) stated:
“Let me tell you about Trent… They were gods back in the twenties, just like Basie was, only many years ahead of him… They worked nothing but the biggest and finest hotels in the South… They were years ahead of their time.”
Here’s a sample, starting with Nightmare followed by Louder and Funnier and I’ve Found A New Baby and finishing up with Black and Blue Rhapsody.
