Donald's Encyclopedia of Popular Music
THOMAS, Joe (tenor sax, 1909-86)
(
b Joseph Vankert Thomas, 19 June 1909, Uniontown PA;
d 3 August 1986, Kansas City MO) Tenor saxophonist, singer. He began playing alto sax for Horace Henderson in 1930, but soon switched to tenor, worked briefly with Stuff Smith, and with his big tone and personality became a star in the very popular Jimmie Lunceford band. After Lunceford's death in 1947 he co-led the band with pianist Ed Wilcox for a year, then had his own group, but settled in Kansas City in the early 1950s and mostly left jazz, although he played at the Newport Jazz Festival in 1970 and recorded with a Jimmy Rowles quartet in 1979.