Early in his career, Page played baritone sax and tuba. His musical training began at Lincoln High School in Missouri under the training of Major N Clark Smith. While at Lincoln, he was in the school's brass band, playing bass drum and bass horn. He also began to play the string bass while in high school. His formal studies continued at the University of Kansas at Lawrence.
In an interview in The Jazz Review, Page remembers Major Smith:
"Major N. Clark Smith was my teacher in high school. He taught almost everybody in Kansas City. He was a chubby little cat, bald, one of the old military men. He wore glasses on his nose and came from Cuba around 1912 or 1914. He knew all the instruments and couldn’t play anything himself, but he could teach. ...[O]ne day he was looking for a bass player and no one was around, so he looked at me, and said, "Pagey, get the bass." I said, "But," and he repeated, "Get the bass." That's when I got started."
While at KU, Page began to play for big bands
like the Bennie Moten and Dave Lewis Band on weekends. "Fridays and Sundays I played with Bennie Moten and Saturdays with Dave Lewis who was paying me $7.00 a night. Bennie was paying for my food and transportation, so when I'd be finished a weekend [sic] I'd made me $20.00 and had a ball." After leaving school in 1923, Page toured on the TOBA circuit.
In 1925, Page formed the Blue Devils in Oklahoma City. The Blue Devils were a commonwealth, territorial band primarily based in Oklahoma and Texas. The devils had a modern rhythm section that improvised from head arrangements. According to Page, they shared the same musical "ideas." They also toured Kansas and Missouri. The bands first and only recordings, "Blue Devil Blues" and "Squabblin" were made in Kansas City for the Vocalion label in the studios of WDAF in 1929.
In his autobiography, Jazz musician Count Basie recalls the first time he ever saw the Blue Devils Play:
The leader was the heavyset, pleasant-looking fellow playing the bass and doubling on the baritone. His name was Walter Page, and at that time the band was known as Walter Page and his Blue Devils. But you could also hear the musicians addressing him by his nickname, which was Big 'Un. You could also tell right away that they didn't just respect him because he was the boss; they really liked him and felt close to him because he was also one of them."
In 1925, Page formed the Blue Devils in Oklahoma City. The Blue Devils were a commonwealth, territorial band primarily based in Oklahoma and Texas. The devils had a modern rhythm section that improvised from head arrangements. According to Page, they shared the same musical "ideas." They also toured Kansas and Missouri. The bands first and only recordings, "Blue Devil Blues" and "Squabblin" were made in Kansas City for the Vocalion label in the studios of WDAF in 1929.
In his autobiography, Jazz musician Count Basie recalls the first time he ever saw the Blue Devils Play:
The leader was the heavyset, pleasant-looking fellow playing the bass and doubling on the baritone. His name was Walter Page, and at that time the band was known as Walter Page and his Blue Devils. But you could also hear the musicians addressing him by his nickname, which was Big 'Un. You could also tell right away that they didn't just respect him because he was the boss; they really liked him and felt close to him because he was also one of them."
While in Kansas City, Page had it bad for the Moten band. He wanted to battle them in the "worst way." Instead, Bennie Moten began to pick apart the Blue Devils and recruit band members. In 1932 after rebuilding the band, Page handed it off to Buster Smith and Ernie Williams due to financial problems. The next year, Page joined the last great Moten band. Later he joined the Barons of Swing and the Count Basie band. After 1948, Page spent the rest of his career freelancing in swing bands.
Bibliography
Driggs, Frank. "About My Life In Music by Walter Page, as Told to Frank Driggs." The Jazz Review, Nov. 1958: 12-15. Print.
