Blue Devils
The Oklahoma City Blue Devils was the premier American Southwest territory jazz band in the 1920s. Originally called Billy King's Road Show, it disbanded in Oklahoma City in 1925 where Walter Page renamed it. The name Blue Devils came from the name of a gang of fence cutters operating during the early days of the American West. Several prominent jazz musicians were members, including Lester Young, William "Count" Basie and Buster Smith. The Blue Devils disbanded in 1933, after which Basie recruited most of the group's members to join his group, which had begun in 1931, but then changed the name to the Count Basie Orchestra. The 1979 film The Last of the Blue Devils documents a musical reunion with Basie, Big Joe Turner and other figures from the history of southwestern and Kansas City jazz. |
Date Range of DAHR Recordings: 1929
Roles Represented in DAHR: Musical group
= Recordings are available for online listening.
= Recordings were issued from this master. No recordings issued from other masters.
Recordings
Company | Matrix No. | Size | First Recording Date | Title | Primary Performer | Description | Role | Audio |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Brunswick | KC612 | 10-in. | 11/10/1929 | Blue Devil blues | Original Blue Devils ; Walter Page | Jazz/dance band, with vocal | Musical group | |
Brunswick | KC613 | 10-in. | 11/10/1929 | Squabblin’ | Original Blue Devils ; Walter Page | Jazz/dance band, with vocal | Musical group |
Citation
Discography of American Historical Recordings, s.v. "Blue Devils," accessed November 24, 2024, https://adpprod1.library.ucsb.edu/names/355099.
Blue Devils. (2024). In Discography of American Historical Recordings. Retrieved November 24, 2024, from https://adpprod1.library.ucsb.edu/names/355099.
"Blue Devils." Discography of American Historical Recordings. UC Santa Barbara Library, 2024. Web. 24 November 2024.
DAHR Persistent Identifier
External Sources
Wikipedia: Oklahoma City Blue Devils
Linked Open Data Sources
LCNAR: Blue Devils (Musical group) - http://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n93054320
Wikidata: Oklahoma City Blue Devils - http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q7082138
Wikipedia content provided under the terms of the Creative Commons BY-SA license
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