The Bennie Moten Orchestra 1930
*On this date, in 1894, Bennie Moten was born. He was a Black pianist.
Moten was born in Kansas City, MO. He became a bandleader in and around his hometown in 1922 and remained so his entire life. He made his recording debut in 1923, and although many of his recordings sound unremarkable, he is regarded as a figure of great importance in the development of the larger jazz orchestra.
His achievements were verified when, after his death, the remnants of his group were taken up by his second pianist, Count Basie, and fashioned into a new, far more streamlined orchestra destined to become one of the outstanding orchestras in jazz history. Bennie Moten, one of the earliest known organizers of bands in the Midwest in the emergent years of jazz, died in 1935.
Jazz People
by Harry N. Abrams, Incorporated, New York
Copyright 1976
ISBN 0-8109-1152-3
