Alphonse "Alphonso" Trent (August 24, 1905 – October 14, 1959) was an American jazz

Jazz

Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...

 pianist and territory band

Territory band

Territory bands were dance bands that crisscrossed specific regions of the United States from the 1920s through the 1960s. Beginning in the 1920s, the bands typically had 8 to 12 musicians. These bands typically played one-nighters, 6 or 7 nights a week at venues like VFW halls, Elks Lodges,...

 leader.

Trent played piano since childhood and worked in local bands in Arkansas

Arkansas

Arkansas is a state located in the southern region of the United States. Its name is an Algonquian name of the Quapaw Indians. Arkansas shares borders with six states , and its eastern border is largely defined by the Mississippi River...

 through his youth. 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 steamboat

Steamboat

A steamboat or steamship, sometimes called a steamer, is a ship in which the primary method of propulsion is steam power, typically driving propellers or paddlewheels...

s.

He left music in the mid-1930s but returned with another band in 1938. His sidemen included Terrence Holder

Terrence Holder

Terrence Holder was an American jazz trumpeter and territory band leader. While he did not achieve fame in his own life, he worked extensively with bands in and around Kansas City and was an important member of the city's musical life in the 1920s and 1930s.Holders played with Alphonse Trent in...

, Alex Hill

Alex Hill

Alex Hill was an American jazz pianist.Hill was a child prodigy on piano, which he learned from his mother. While studying at Shorter College he met Alphonse Trent, and began arranging material for him. He graduated in 1922 and played in various territory bands, including Terrence Holder's...

, Stuff Smith

Stuff Smith

Hezekiah Leroy Gordon Smith , better known as Stuff Smith, was a jazz violinist. He is known well for the song "If You're a Viper".-Biography:...

, Snub Mosley

Snub Mosley

Lawrence Leo "Snub" Mosley was an American jazz trombonist.-Biography:...

, Charlie Christian

Charlie Christian

Charles Henry "Charlie" Christian was an American swing and jazz guitarist.Christian was an important early performer on the electric guitar, and is cited as a key figure in the development of bebop and cool jazz. He gained national exposure as a member of the Benny Goodman Sextet and Orchestra...

, Sweets Edison

Sweets Edison

Harry "Sweets" Edison , born in Columbus, Ohio, was an American jazz trumpeter and member of the Count Basie Orchestra.-Biography:He spent his early childhood in Kentucky, where he was introduced to music by an uncle...

, Mouse Randolph

Mouse Randolph

Irving "Mouse" Randolph was an American swing jazz trumpeter.Randolph started off playing on riverboats with Fate Marable's ensemble. Following this he played in numerous territory bands, including those of Walt Farrington, Willie Austin, Art Sims, Norman Mason, Floyd Campbell, Alphonse Trent, and...

, and Peanuts Holland

Peanuts Holland

Herbert Lee "Peanuts" Holland was an American jazz trumpeter best known for his contributions in swing jazz. He was born in Norfolk, Virginia and died in Stockholm, Sweden....

. As leader, he recorded only eight sides: four in 1928, two in 1930, and two in 1933.

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

Budd Johnson

Not to be confused with Buddy Johnson.Budd Johnson was an American jazz saxophonist and clarinetist who worked extensively with Ben Webster, Benny Goodman, Big Joe Turner, Coleman Hawkins, Dizzy Gillespie, Duke Ellington, Billie Holiday and Earl Hines, among others.-Biography:He initially played...

 (quoted by Gunther Schuller

Gunther Schuller

Gunther Schuller is an American composer, conductor, horn player, author, historian, and jazz musician.- Biography and works :...

 via The Jazz Review

The Jazz Review

The Jazz Review was a magazine which was founded by Nat Hentoff, Martin Williams, and Hsio Wen Shih, in New York City in 1958. It was published until 1961...

) 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."