Bennie Moten
b. 13 November 1894, Kansas City, Missouri, USA, d. 2 April 1935. In his youth, Moten gained a substantial reputation in and around his home town as a pianist; by 1920 he had become an established and respected bandleader. His unit, originally a small outfit, gradually expanded until it was a big band ready to take advantage of the upsurge in interest in this kind of ensemble. As a pianist and an accomplished arranger, Moten deftly blended New Orleans concepts into the freewheeling style popular in the midwest. Beginning its recording career in 1923, the band built a reputation far afield, and residencies in New York followed. Moten attracted many excellent musicians until his was the outstanding band of the region. Some of the best men were poached from Walter Page's Blue Devils, among them Bill (not yet Count) Basie, Oran ‘Hot Lips’ Page, Eddie Durham and Jimmy Rushing. Eventually, Walter Page went along, too. Later additions to the band included Ben Webster, Herschel Evans, Eddie Barefield and Lester Young. By the mid-30s the band was not merely the finest in the region, but was superior to many of the headline bands in the east and elsewhere. In 1935 the unit visited Chicago to audition for a residency at the Grand Terrace Ballroom. When they headed for home Moten remained behind for a tonsillectomy and died when the surgeon's knife slipped and severed his jugular vein. The band subsequently broke up, but later many of the musicians reformed under the leadership of Buster Smith and Basie, and later still the band became Basie's. As the leader of an outstanding band, Moten occupies an important position in the history of Kansas City jazz, even if he was understandably overshadowed by his musical legatees.