Shortly after Basie’s departure, Durham quit and later Rushing and Lips Page would also join Bennie Moten’s Kansas City Orchestra. The Blue Devils regrouped and hired Lester Young and Druie Bess, but Moten ended up absorbing most of the Blue Devils, even including Walter Page.
After a series of misadventures in 1933, The Blue Devils found themselves stranded in Virginia, without instruments or money. They hopped a freight train back to St. Louis. Moten ended up hiring the remnants of the band, including Lester Young. After Moten’s death in 1935, Count Basie took over the Kansas City Orchestra.
Title | Recording Date | Recording Location | Company |
Blue Devil Blues (Stoval) | 11-10-1929 | Kansas City, Missouri | Vocalion 1463 |
Squabblin’ (Count Basie) | 11-10-1929 | Kansas City, Missouri | Vocalion 1463 |
Artist | Instrument |
Alvin Borroughs | Drums |
Walter Page | Tuba |
Hot Lips Page | Tumpet |
Reuben Lynch or Thomas Owens | Guitar |
Ted Manning | Alto Saxophone |
Dan Minor | Trombone |
Reuben Roddy | Tenor Saxophone |
Jimmy Rushing | Vocals |
James Simpson | Tumpet |
Buster Smith | Clarinet, Alto Saxophone |
Charlie Washington | Piano |
Goin’ To Kansas City, by Nathan W. Pearson, Jr, University of Illinois Press, 1994 |