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

Veterans of Foreign Wars

The Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States is a congressionally chartered war veterans organization in the United States. Headquartered in Kansas City, Missouri, VFW currently has 1.5 million members belonging to 7,644 posts, and is the largest American organization of combat...

 halls, Elks Lodge

Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks

The Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks is an American fraternal order and social club founded in 1868...

s, Lions Clubs, hotel ballrooms, and the like. Francis Davis

Francis Davis

Francis Davis is an American author and journalist. He is best known as the jazz critic for The Village Voice, and a contributing editor for The Atlantic Monthly. He has also worked in radio and film, and taught courses on Jazz and Blues at the University of Pennsylvania...

, jazz critic for The Village Voice

The Village Voice

The Village Voice is a free weekly newspaper and news and features website in New York City that features investigative articles, analysis of current affairs and culture, arts and music coverage, and events listings for New York City...

, likened territory bands to "the Top 40 cover bands of their day, typically relying on stock arrangements of other ensembles' hits." He said, "many historians give much credit to territory bands for popularizing modern ballroom dancing that began during the World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

 era with the influence of Vernon and Irene Castle."

Territory bands helped disseminate popular music — which included swing, jazz, sweet dance music, or any combination thereof — bringing it to remote gin mills and dance halls that were otherwise ignored by national booking agents representing genuine recording stars like Ellington

Duke Ellington

Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington was an American composer, pianist, and big band leader. Ellington wrote over 1,000 compositions...

 and Armstrong. Many developed original repertoires and signature sounds, none more storied than Walter Page

Walter Page

Walter Sylvester Page , nicknamed "Hoss," was an African American jazz bassist and leader of the Oklahoma City Blue Devils jazz orchestra from 1925–1931...

's Blue Devils

Oklahoma City Blue Devils

The Oklahoma City Blue Devils was the premier 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 Oklahoma City-based outfit that Count Basie

Count Basie

William "Count" Basie was an American jazz pianist, organist, bandleader, and composer. Basie led his jazz orchestra almost continuously for nearly 50 years...

 joined in 1926.

Ethnicities of the bands

There were black bands and white bands, and bands of various immigrant ethnicities. There were also all-female bands, such as the International Sweethearts of Rhythm

International Sweethearts of Rhythm

The International Sweethearts of Rhythm was the first integrated all women's band in the United States. During the 1940s the band featured some of the best female musicians of the day...

.

Musician, composer, and scholar Gunther Schuller

Gunther Schuller

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

 asserted in one of his books, The Swing Era: The Development of Jazz, 1930–1945 (The History of Jazz, Vol. 2) that, "territory bands, by definition, were black. There were, of course, many white bands in the 'territories' but they tended to have the more lucrative and permanent jobs and therefore not required to travel as much as the black bands." Another musician (former territory band musician and historian), Jack Behrens

Jack Behrens

Jack Behrens is a Canadian composer, music educator, and writer of American birth. A member of the Canadian League of Composers and an associate of the Canadian Music Centre, his music has been performed throughout North America and on CBC Radio and radio stations in he United States...

, expressed in a book that Schuller's depiction of divergent work conditions was narrow. "During my playing days in the 1940s and 50s in several white territory bands, we didn't have "lucrative and permanent jobs" unless you count day labor in a dairy bar or clerking at a military surplus store. Worse, there were times we didn't get paid at all and we had little recourse given the cost of legal advice."

For most territory bands — whether black, white, integrated, male, female — the musicians were nearly always paid. Neither the booking agencies nor the musicians got rich, but regular salaries helped maintain pretty decent musicianship.

Most musicians witnessed and experienced a wide variety of Jim Crow

Jim Crow laws

The Jim Crow laws were state and local laws in the United States enacted between 1876 and 1965. They mandated de jure racial segregation in all public facilities, with a supposedly "separate but equal" status for black Americans...

 practices, from city to city and region to region. One common present-day misconception is that Jim Crow practices were more prevalent in the South. The practices were prevalent everywhere, especially in New York City and the Midwest. The bands that were racially integrated commonly experienced problems, mostly from having to dodge different applications and degrees of Jim Crow among cities and regions. Many bands, especially The International Sweethearts of Rhythm

International Sweethearts of Rhythm

The International Sweethearts of Rhythm was the first integrated all women's band in the United States. During the 1940s the band featured some of the best female musicians of the day...

, handled some of the absurdities with a degree of inward, sarcastic humor. When musicians grew wary or even felt vulnerable to injustices of Jim Crow, the band bus, for those who had one, served as a safe haven.

Chronicling Territory Bands

The published history of territory bands is thin. Most of what we know comes from fading memories and second-hand anecdotes. With a lack of discography and the passing of a generation, our knowledge is slipping.

While many territory bands were of high quality, they rarely recorded and were often unfairly considered minor league to the national touring bands. Moreover, they were confined to specific regions or states … even parts of a state. Ambitious and hopeful young musicians saw territory bands as a training ground for, or rite of passage to, the major big bands. The alumni of territory band musicians who matriculated to fame within the industry reads like list of "who's who" in music.

Territory bands typically played more sweet music, though, some in the mid 50s, particularly those with talented musicians, managed to entertain dancers with a jazzier sound. But dancing audiences are what kept the bands employed. In the 1920s, territory bands commonly traveled by car (station wagon

Station wagon

A station wagon is a body style variant of a sedan/saloon with its roof extended rearward over a shared passenger/cargo volume with access at the back via a third or fifth door , instead of a trunk lid...

), followed by an equipment truck. Later, beginning in the mid 1930s, territory bands commonly traveled in sleeper trailers.

Well-Established Territories

The home 'territories' were loosely defined, but some classifications emerged. Generally, the areas were defined as Northeast, Southeast, Midwest, West Coast, Southwest and Northwest. In addition, some state-groupings became common. One such group was usually referred to as MINK — Minnesota

Minnesota

Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...

, Iowa

Iowa

Iowa is a state located in the Midwestern United States, an area often referred to as the "American Heartland". It derives its name from the Ioway people, one of the many American Indian tribes that occupied the state at the time of European exploration. Iowa was a part of the French colony of New...

, Nebraska

Nebraska

Nebraska is a state on the Great Plains of the Midwestern United States. The state's capital is Lincoln and its largest city is Omaha, on the Missouri River....

 and Kansas

Kansas

Kansas is a US state located in the Midwestern United States. It is named after the Kansas River which flows through it, which in turn was named after the Kansa Native American tribe, which inhabited the area. The tribe's name is often said to mean "people of the wind" or "people of the south...

. Another group was VSA — Virginia

Virginia

The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...

, South Carolina

South Carolina

South Carolina is a state in the Deep South of the United States that borders Georgia to the south, North Carolina to the north, and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Originally part of the Province of Carolina, the Province of South Carolina was one of the 13 colonies that declared independence...

 and Alabama

Alabama

Alabama is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west. Alabama ranks 30th in total land area and ranks second in the size of its inland...

.

The Southwest

Southwestern United States

The Southwestern United States is a region defined in different ways by different sources. Broad definitions include nearly a quarter of the United States, including Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas and Utah...

 proved especially fertile for territory bands. Texas

Texas

Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...

, with its spread-out geography and relatively large population, offered the greatest opportunity with developed markets for dance music in Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, San Antonio, Austin, Amarillo, and other cities. The homegrown audiences of Texas bands were so plentiful that the bands developed to a high degree in relative isolation from outside influences. One such band was that of Alphonso Trent.

There was a military territory, too — NCO Clubs, Officers' Clubs. These clubs took bands to Greenland

Greenland

Greenland is an autonomous country within the Kingdom of Denmark, located between the Arctic and Atlantic Oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Though physiographically a part of the continent of North America, Greenland has been politically and culturally associated with Europe for...

, Nova Scotia

Nova Scotia

Nova Scotia is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the most populous province in Atlantic Canada. The name of the province is Latin for "New Scotland," but "Nova Scotia" is the recognized, English-language name of the province. The provincial capital is Halifax. Nova Scotia is the...

, Bermuda

Bermuda

Bermuda is a British overseas territory in the North Atlantic Ocean. Located off the east coast of the United States, its nearest landmass is Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, about to the west-northwest. It is about south of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, and northeast of Miami, Florida...

, Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico , officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico , is an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of both the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands.Puerto Rico comprises an...

, as well as the US.

Styles

The musicians in the territory dance bands were primarily jazz musicians. Despite the overwhelming view that New Orleans was the cradle of jazz, the itinerant

Itinerant

An itinerant is a person who travels from place to place with no fixed home. The term comes from the late 16th century: from late Latin itinerant , from the verb itinerari, from Latin iter, itiner ....

 musicians were the ones who first disseminated it.

The dancing public could actually dance and they knew which bands swung and which simply just played well. Audiences responded with great enthusiasm to the black bands in the Midwest. The East Coast black bands were popular in the 1920s; but "Swing" came to that region in the form of Louis Armstrong

Louis Armstrong

Louis Armstrong , nicknamed Satchmo or Pops, was an American jazz trumpeter and singer from New Orleans, Louisiana....

 joining the Fletcher Henderson

Fletcher Henderson

James Fletcher Hamilton Henderson, Jr. was an American pianist, bandleader, arranger and composer, important in the development of big band jazz and swing music. His was one of the most prolific black orchestras and his influence was vast...

 band when he went to the Big Apple

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

.

Territory bands were not all swing bands. The Midwest settlements of Europeans of various ethnicities brought their community dancing and revelry with them in the form of very popular polka bands (and also old time waltzes, leandlers, and schottische

Schottische

The schottische is a partnered country dance, that apparently originated in Bohemia. It was popular in Victorian era ballrooms as a part of the Bohemian folk-dance craze and left its traces in folk music of countries such as Argentina , Finland , France, Italy, Norway , Portugal and Brazil , Spain ...

s). They played at all the ballrooms, Elk Clubs, and the like as well. Here's a short exemplary list:

Fezz Fritsche & His Goose-town Band

The Six Fat Dutchmen

Six Fat Dutchmen

The Six Fat Dutchmen was a polka band formed around 1932 by Harold Loeffelmacher in New Ulm, Minnesota. The band was known mostly for playing the "Oom-pah" style of polka music that originated from Germany and the German-speaking areas of Czechoslovakia...

The Babe Wagner Band (Babe later played jazz trombone with the Krupa

Gene Krupa

Gene Krupa was an American jazz and big band drummer and composer, known for his highly energetic and flamboyant style.-Biography:...

 band)

Whoopie John — a very successful and famous polka band from Minneapolis

Pre 1920s

There were traveling bands well before the 1920s & 30s. One of many examples were musicians who did their booking from Redfield, South Dakota

Redfield, South Dakota

Redfield is a city in and the county seat of Spink County, South Dakota, United States. The population was 2,333 at the 2010 census. The city is not to be confused with the surrounding Redfield Township, which encompasses unincorporated areas outside of the city limits.-Geography:Redfield is...

. Redfield was a railroad hub in the Northern Plains. All their booking was up and down the rail line.

1920s — the birth of swing and ballroom dancing

In 1924, according to Variety

Variety (magazine)

Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...

, there were more than 900 dance bands, representing steady work for 7,200 musicians. There were 68 Whiteman

Paul Whiteman

Paul Samuel Whiteman was an American bandleader and orchestral director.Leader of the most popular dance bands in the United States during the 1920s, Whiteman's recordings were immensely successful, and press notices often referred to him as the "King of Jazz"...

 orchestras across the country, playing music from the Whiteman library, eleven in New York alone. In the mid-20s, bands typically had ten musicians: two altos

Alto saxophone

The alto saxophone is a member of the saxophone family of woodwind instruments invented by Belgian instrument designer Adolphe Sax in 1841. It is smaller than the tenor but larger than the soprano, and is the type most used in classical compositions...

, one tenor

Tenor saxophone

The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor, with the alto, are the two most common types of saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B, and written as a transposing instrument in the treble...

 (who often doubled on other woodwinds and sometimes violin

Violin

The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....

), two trumpet

Trumpet

The trumpet is the musical instrument with the highest register in the brass family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BCE. They are played by blowing air through closed lips, producing a "buzzing" sound which starts a standing wave vibration in the air...

s, trombone

Trombone

The trombone is a musical instrument in the brass family. Like all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player’s vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate...

, banjo

Banjo

In the 1830s Sweeney became the first white man to play the banjo on stage. His version of the instrument replaced the gourd with a drum-like sound box and included four full-length strings alongside a short fifth-string. There is no proof, however, that Sweeney invented either innovation. This new...

 or guitar

Guitar

The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...

, piano

Piano

The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...

, string bass or brass bass

Tuba

The tuba is the largest and lowest-pitched brass instrument. Sound is produced by vibrating or "buzzing" the lips into a large cupped mouthpiece. It is one of the most recent additions to the modern symphony orchestra, first appearing in the mid-19th century, when it largely replaced the...

, and drums. Sometimes there were two trombones. If the band had only two saxophones, they would be alto and tenor.

1933 — the Great Depression

The Great Depression

Great Depression

The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...

, which hit bottom in 1933, was hard on territory bands. The public strained to afford entertainment. It was not uncommon for bands to be stranded for lack of funds. Many broke up during this period.

1940s — decline of swing and territory bands

There are many theories on why swing music and territory bands declined. Here are a few:

1. Unions restricted the fees of booking agents and managers.
2. Unions required visiting bands to pay local musicians for displaced work (in small towns, unions were nonexistent; but in large cities, unions often looked askance upon territory bands).
3. Popularity of small combos
4. Commercial Radio (introduced in 1922), better-quality gramophone discs, and TV (giving greater access to entertainment in the home and access to different types of music). Changing technology (radio, TV, mobility, amplified music) shocked the music industry in a similar way that the internet
   Internet
   The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
   
    has shocked the recording industry today.
5. In the 1950s, most ballrooms in smaller towns of the Midwest closed because people could drive to the city for everything.
6. Record companies discovered — during the AFM recording bans of 1942-43 and 1948 — that they could profit from record sales, churning out Hit Parade
   Hit parade
   A hit parade is a ranked list of the most popular recordings at a given point in time, usually determined by sales and/or airplay. The term originated in the 1930s; Billboard magazine published its first music hit parade on January 4, 1936...
   
    music with just singers, who were exempt from the recording bans. This marked a period when singers became more popular than bandleaders. The introduction and technological advancement of amplification and gramophone recording led to the development of crooning, an intimate vocal style perfected by singers such as Bing Crosby
   Bing Crosby
   Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby was an American singer and actor. Crosby's trademark bass-baritone voice made him one of the best-selling recording artists of the 20th century, with over half a billion records in circulation....
   
    and, later, Frank Sinatra
   Frank Sinatra
   Francis Albert "Frank" Sinatra was an American singer and actor.Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became an unprecedentedly successful solo artist in the early to mid-1940s, after being signed to Columbia Records in 1943. Being the idol of the...
   
   . The record companies gained control over what got recorded; therefore music that was slated for a new market of teenagers was born. This destroyed several booking agencies. MCA
   Music Corporation of America
   MCA, Inc. was an American talent agency. Initially starting in the music business, they would next become a dominant force in the film business, and later expanded into the television business...
   
   , who broke up as many bands as it booked, moved to Hollywood. Frederic Bros. (Chicago
   Chicago
   Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
   
   ) had a fallout with several of its bands. The Vic Schroeder Agency (Omaha), was one of the more responsible bookers before World War II
   World War II
   World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
   
    but, little is known after — same with the White Agency.
7. Amplification also led to the introduction of the electric guitar
   Electric guitar
   An electric guitar is a guitar that uses the principle of direct electromagnetic induction to convert vibrations of its metal strings into electric audio signals. The signal generated by an electric guitar is too weak to drive a loudspeaker, so it is amplified before sending it to a loudspeaker...
   
   , which enabled few musicians to project adequately in large-room settings. Bear in mind that, in the 1920s, an unamplified orchestra had to be large enough and play loud enough to entertain a dance hall of 3,000. Prior to the recording bans, the industry was bent on capturing the intent of composers as interpreted by musicians. Before the ban, gramophone consumers were primarily interested in authenticity of symphonies and famous orchestras (dance bands). Vocals, with no microphones, were only an incidental part of an arrangement. Vocals — like Bing Crosby's with the Paul Whiteman Orchestra in the studio — could not be replicated live, on stage. Rudy Vallée
   Rudy Vallée
   Rudy Vallée was an American singer, actor, bandleader, and entertainer.-Early life:Born Hubert Prior Vallée in Island Pond, Vermont, the son of Charles Alphonse and Catherine Lynch Vallée...
   
    used a cheerleader's megaphone
   Megaphone
   A megaphone, speaking-trumpet, bullhorn, blowhorn, or loud hailer is a portable, usually hand-held, cone-shaped horn used to amplify a person’s voice or other sounds towards a targeted direction. This is accomplished by channelling the sound through the megaphone, which also serves to match the...
   
   . Amplification and the record industry helped spur technical improvements, at the expense of performing musicians.

Various territory bands and territory band leaders

• Willard Robison
  Willard Robison
  Willard Robison was an American composer of popular song. Born in Shelbina, Missouri, his songs reflect a rural, melancholy theme steeped in Americana. Their warm style has drawn comparison to Hoagy Carmichael...
  
   & His Orchestra (New York)
• Bill Brown & His Brownies
• Gene Kardos & His Orchestra (New York)
• J. Neal Montgomery & His Orchestra (Henry Mason, Trumpet) (Atlanta)
• Zach Whyte's Chocolate Beau Brummels (Midwest)
• Mal Hallett
  Mal Hallett
  Mal Hallett was an American jazz violinist and bandleader.Hallett was a graduate of the Boston Conservatory of Music. He played in France during World War I as a member of Al Moore's orchestra, and led his own band, primarily in New England, for much of the 1930s...
  
   (New England)
• Savoy Sultans
  Savoy Sultans
  -Savoy Sultans :The original Savoy Sultans were formed by saxophonist Al Cooper, and played at the Savoy Ballroom from 1937 to 1946. This small swing jazz ensemble was comprised, at various times, Jack Chapman, Sam Massenberg, Jesse Drakes and Pat Jenkins on trumpets; Skinny Brown, Rudy Williams,...
  
   (Savoy
  Savoy Ballroom
  The Savoy Ballroom, located in Harlem, New York City, was a medium sized ballroom for music and public dancing that was in operation from March 12, 1926 to July 10, 1958. It was located between 140th and 141st Streets on Lenox Avenue....
  
   in Harlem)
• Jimmie Lunceford
  Jimmie Lunceford
  James Melvin "Jimmie" Lunceford was an American jazz alto saxophonist and bandleader in the swing era.-Biography:...
  
  's Orchestra (Buffalo) (link: Nagasaki
  Nagasaki (song)
  "Nagasaki" is a jazz song from 1928 by Harry Warren and Mort Dixon that became a popular Tin Pan Alley hit. The silly, bawdy lyrics have only the vaguest relation to the Japanese port city of Nagasaki...
  
  )

(the band became famous when it replaced Calloway's

Cab Calloway

Cabell "Cab" Calloway III was an American jazz singer and bandleader. He was strongly associated with the Cotton Club in Harlem, New York City where he was a regular performer....

 at the Cotton Club

Cotton Club

The Cotton Club was a famous night club in Harlem, New York City that operated during Prohibition that included jazz music. While the club featured many of the greatest African American entertainers of the era, such as Fletcher Henderson, Duke Ellington, Adelaide Hall, Count Basie, Bessie Smith,...

 in 1934)

• Charles Fultcher Band (southern territory)
• Royce Stoenner Orchestra
• Cab Calloway
  Cab Calloway
  Cabell "Cab" Calloway III was an American jazz singer and bandleader. He was strongly associated with the Cotton Club in Harlem, New York City where he was a regular performer....
  
   (New York)
• Edgar Hayes
  Edgar Hayes
  Edgar Hayes was an American jazz pianist and bandleader.Hayes attended Wilberforce University, where he graduated with a degree in music in the early 1920s. In 1922 he toured with Fess Williams, and formed his own group, the Blue Grass Buddies, in Ohio in 1924...
  
   (New York)
• Tiny Hill
  Tiny Hill
  Harry Lawrence “Tiny” Hill was a band leader of the Big Band era. During the height of his career Hill was billed as “America’s Biggest Bandleader” because of his weight of over . His signature song was “Angry” which he first recorded in 1939 on Columbia records Vocalion label...
  
   and the Hilltoppers
• Earl "Fatha" Hines (Chicago)
• Chick Webb
  Chick Webb
  William Henry Webb, usually known as Chick Webb was an American jazz and swing music drummer as well as a band leader.-Biography:...
  
   (New York)
• Harlem Playgirls
  Harlem Playgirls
  Harlem Playgirls was an African American swing band active in the Midwest and throughout the United States from the mid-1930s to the early 1940s.-History:...
  
  
• Casa Loma Orchestra
  Casa Loma Orchestra
  The Casa Loma Orchestra was a popular American dance band active from 1927 to 1963. From 1929 until the rapid multiplication in the number of swing bands from 1935 on, the Casa Loma Orchestra was one of the top North American dance bands...
  
   (Detroit, then New York)
• Andy Kirk
  Andy Kirk
  Andrew Dewey Kirk was a jazz saxophonist and tubist best known as a bandleader of the "Twelve Clouds of Joy," popular during the swing era....
  
   and his Twelve Clouds of Joy (Kansas City)
• Mills Blue Rhythm Band
  Mills Blue Rhythm Band
  The Mills Blue Rhythm Band was an American big band of the 1930s.The band was formed in Harlem in 1930, with reedman Bingie Madison the first of its many leaders. It started life as the Coconut Grove Orchestra, changing to Mills Blue Rhythm Band when Irving Mills became its manager in 1931...
  
   (New York)
• Babe Egan's Hollywood Redheads (all female band)
• Doc Ross
• Deluxe Melody Boys
• Happy Black Aces
• Jesse Stone
  Jesse Stone
  Jesse Stone was an American rhythm and blues musician and songwriter whose influence spanned a wide range of genres...
  
  's Blue Serenaders
• George E. Lee
  George E. Lee
  George Ewing Lee was an American jazz bandleader.Born in Boonville, Missouri, Lee was the older brother of pianist/singer Julia Lee. He played in a band while serving in the Army in 1917; following this he sang in a vocal quartet, and in 1920 he formed an ensemble of his own...
  
   and His Singing Novelty Orchestra (Kansas City)
• Smiling Billy Stewart's Celery City Serenaders (Florida)
• C.S. Belton
• Clarence Love
  Clarence Love
  Clarence Eugene Love is a former American football defensive back who played in the National Football League. Love attended college at the University of Toledo and was drafted by the Philadelphia Eagles in the 4th round of the 1998 NFL Draft. He played with the Eagles , the Baltimore Ravens , and...
  
  

J. J. Johnson played with this band in the early 1940s

• Snookum Russell
  Snookum Russell
  Snookum Russell was a pianist and leader of a territory band that played tobacco warehouses and dance halls in the South and Midwest in the 1930s, '40s and '50s.Members of his bands included J. J...
  
  

J. J. Johnson and Fats Navarro

Fats Navarro

Theodore "Fats" Navarro was an American jazz trumpet player. He was a pioneer of the bebop style of jazz improvisation in the 1940s. He had a strong stylistic influence on many other players, most notably Clifford Brown.-Life:Navarro was born in Key West, Florida, to Cuban-Black-Chinese parentage...

 played with this band in the early 1940s

Trumpeter, arranger and composer Herbie Phillips played with this group in 1954

Ray Brown

Ray Brown (musician)

Raymond Matthews Brown was an American jazz double bassist.-Biography:Ray Brown was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and had piano lessons from the age of eight. After noticing how many pianists attended his high school, he thought of taking up the trombone, but was unable to afford one...

 and Tommy Turrentine

Tommy Turrentine

Thomas Walter Turrentine, Jr. was a swing and hard bop trumpeter of the 1940s to 1960s, the older brother of saxophonist Stanley Turrentine.-Biography:...

 played with this band

• Tommy Douglas and his Orchestra
• Milt Larkin
  Milt Larkin
  Milt Larkin was an American jazz trumpeter and bandleader.Larkin was an autodidact on the trumpet, and got his start playing in Texas in the 1930s with Chester Boone and Giles Mitchell...
  
   (Houston)

"Illinois" Jacquet's father and "Illinois

Illinois Jacquet

Jean-Baptiste Illinois Jacquet was an American jazz tenor saxophonist, best remembered for his solo on "Flying Home", critically recognized as the first R&B saxophone solo....

" himself played with Milt Larkin

• Washboard Rhythm Boys
• Sonny Clay
  Sonny Clay
  William Rogers Campbell "Sonny" Clay was an American jazz pianist, drummer, and bandleader, who had an unusual impact on the development of Australian jazz....
  
   Plantation Orchechtra
• Jeter-Pillars Club Plantation Orchestra
  Jeter-Pillars Orchestra
  Jeter-Pillars Orchestra was a jazz troupe led by altoist James Jeter and tenor-saxophonist Hayes Pillars.Jeter and Pillars were previously members of Alphonso Trent's big band. After that outfit split in 1933 they formed the group, which subsequently became the house band at the Club Plantation in St...
  
  
• Alex Jackson's Plantation Orchestra
• Willie Jones
• Dave Nelson's Harlem Hot Shots (New York)
• Floyd Mills & His Marylanders
• Ernest Coycault
• Julia Lee
  Julia Lee (musician)
  Julia Lee was an American blues and dirty blues musician.-Biography:Born in Boonville, Missouri, United States, Lee was raised in Kansas City, and began her musical career around 1920, singing and playing piano in her brother George Lee's band, which for a time also included Charlie Parker...
  
  
• Buster Smith
  Buster Smith
  Henry "Buster" Smith , also known as Professor Smith, was an American jazz alto saxophonist and mentor to Charlie Parker. Smith was instrumental in instituting the Texas Sax Sound with Count Basie and Lester Young in the 1930s...
  
  
• Jimmy Rushing
  Jimmy Rushing
  James Andrew Rushing , known as Jimmy Rushing, was an American blues shouter and swing jazz singer from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, United States, best known as the featured vocalist of Count Basie's Orchestra from 1935 to 1948.Rushing was known as "Mr...
  
  
• Wilbur DeParis
• Buster Bailey
  Buster Bailey
  William C. "Buster" Bailey was a jazz musician specializing in the clarinet, but also well versed on saxophone...
  
  
• Jerry Mosher
• Sammy Stevens
• Jimmy Thomas
• Jack Russell and His Sweet Rhythmic Orchestra (booked by NOS
  National Orchestra Service
  The National Orchestra Service, Inc. , was the most important booking and management agency for territory bands across the Great Plains and other regions from the early 1930s through 1960...
  
  
• Tommy Allan
• Jimmie Joy's Baker Hotel Orchestra
• The Scranton Sirens Orchestra
• Frankie and Johnnie [Gilliland] Orchestra, Charlotte, North Carolina
  Charlotte, North Carolina
  Charlotte is the largest city in the U.S. state of North Carolina and the seat of Mecklenburg County. In 2010, Charlotte's population according to the US Census Bureau was 731,424, making it the 17th largest city in the United States based on population. The Charlotte metropolitan area had a 2009...
  
  
• Gabe Garland Band

Oklahoma City

• Walter Page
  Walter Page
  Walter Sylvester Page , nicknamed "Hoss," was an African American jazz bassist and leader of the Oklahoma City Blue Devils jazz orchestra from 1925–1931...
  
  's Oklahoma City Blue Devils
  Oklahoma City Blue Devils
  The Oklahoma City Blue Devils was the premier 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...
  
   — active until 1931

Many members, which included Count Basie

Count Basie

William "Count" Basie was an American jazz pianist, organist, bandleader, and composer. Basie led his jazz orchestra almost continuously for nearly 50 years...

, went on to the Count Basie Orchestra

Hot Springs, Arkansas

• Original Yellowjackets

Saint Louis

• Original Saint Louis Crackerjacks

Birmingham, Alabama

• Carolina Cotton Pickers

Ohio

• Chubb-Steinberg Orchestra
• The Wolverines
  The Wolverines
  The Wolverines were an American jazz band. They were one of the most successful territory bands of the American Midwest in the 1920s.-History:...
  
  
• Austin Wylie
  Austin Wylie
  Austin Wylie was an American jazz bandleader.Wylie led a dance band in the 1920s and early 1930s which operated as a territory band based out of Cleveland, Ohio, though he also broadcast on national radio. The band was sometimes billed as the Golden Pheasant Orchestra...
  
  's Golden Pheasant Orchestra

Memphis

• Snooks and His Memphis Stompers

Denver

• George Morrison

Kansas City

• Art Bronson's Bostonians
• Coon-Sanders Original Nighthawk Orchestra
  Coon-Sanders Original Nighthawk Orchestra
  Coon-Sanders Original Nighthawk Orchestra was the first Kansas City jazz band to achieve national recognition, which it acquired through national radio broadcasts...
  
  
• Red Perkins & His Dixie Ramblers
• Bennie Moten
  Bennie Moten
  Bennie Moten was a noted American jazz pianist and band leader born in Kansas City, Missouri.He led the Kansas City Orchestra, the most important of the itinerant, blues-based orchestras active in the Midwest in the 1920s, and helped to develop the riffing style that would come to define many of...
  
  's Kansas City Orchestra

Miami

• Ross De Luxe Syncopators

Omaha

• Lloyd Hunter
  Lloyd Hunter
  Lloyd Hunter was a trumpeter and big band leader from North Omaha, Nebraska. He led band across the Midwest from 1923 until his death. Hunter had also worked with Jessie Stone in Kansas City, Missouri.-Biography:...
  
  's Serenaders
• Preston Love
  Preston Love
  Preston Haines Love was a renowned alto saxophonist, bandleader and songwriter from Omaha, Nebraska.-Biography:Preston Love grew up in North Omaha and graduated from North High....
  
  

Got his start in with Hunter's Serenaders, then went big with Basie

• Nat Towles
  Nat Towles
  Nat Towles was an African American musician, jazz and big band leader popular in his hometown of New Orleans, Louisiana, North Omaha, Nebraska and Chicago, Illinois. He was also music educator in Austin, Texas...
  
  

Neal Hefti

Neal Hefti

Neal Hefti was an American jazz trumpeter, composer, tune writer, and arranger. He was perhaps best known for composing the theme music for the Batman television series of the 1960s, and for scoring the 1968 film The Odd Couple and the subsequent TV series of the same name.He began arranging...

 did a lot of writing for Towles's Big Band. T's band got much smaller after 1947, into the 50s

• Dick Mango Orchestra
• Verne Byers
  Verne Byers
  Verne Byers, aka Vern Byers, was an American bandleader of a territory band, a bassist, a concert promoter, and an owner-operator of several live music clubs and restaurants in Denver...
  
   Orchestra
• Bob Calame

Calame composed Lawrence Welk

Lawrence Welk

Lawrence Welk was an American musician, accordionist, bandleader, and television impresario, who hosted The Lawrence Welk Show from 1955 to 1982...

's theme song "Bubbles in the Wine"

• Al Hudson

Dirk Fischer, Clare Fischer

Clare Fischer

Clare Fischer is an American composer, arranger, pianist and organist. His parents were of German, French, Irish-Scot, and English backgrounds.-Early years:...

's brother, wrote a lot for this band. Al was one of the original members of Lee Williams Orchestra

• Anna Mae Winburn
  Anna Mae Winburn
  Anna Mae Winburn, née Darden was an African American vocalist and jazz bandleader who flourished beginning in the mid 1930s...
  
  

The Winburn band had a sleeper bus before it eventually fronted The International Sweethearts of Rhythm

International Sweethearts of Rhythm

The International Sweethearts of Rhythm was the first integrated all women's band in the United States. During the 1940s the band featured some of the best female musicians of the day...

. Winburn composed a couple of originals for Sweethearts

• Walter Martie
• Little John Beecher

Milwaukee

• Grant Moore and his Black Devils

Texas

• Don Albert Band
• Joe Buzze and His Orchestra, Waco
• Alphonso Trent
• Clifford "Boots" Douglas and his Buddies
• Sunny Clapp's Band
• Fred Gardner's Texas University Troubadours
• Peck's Bad Boys (Peck Kelly)
• Blue Syncopaters, El Paso
• Troy Floyd San Antonio