In his book "Goin' to Kansas City," Nathan W. Pearson Jr. states: "Of all the bands figuring in the Kansas City story, none excites the imagination more than the Blue Devils. Rough and ready, wild and reckless, supremely talented, undisciplined barnstormers, they were the stuff of legend."
The Oklahoma City Blue Devils began about 1923 in Kansas City as Billy King's Road Show, a traveling vaudeville troupe. Their musical leader was Walter Page. The Billy King Road Show disbanded in 1925 in Oklahoma City where Page kept the band intact and renamed it - some say it was "Walter Page's Original Blue Devils," and others contend it was the "Oklahoma City Blue Devils." Page expanded the band from its original nine members to as many as 15 members. Page persuaded some local businessmen to back his venture.
Some of the early members of the Blue Devils included Oran "Hot Lips" Page and James Simpson on trumpets; Ted Manning and Buster Smith on reeds; Willie Lewis on piano; Reuben Lynch on guitar; Edward McNeil on drums; Walter Page on bass, tuba, and baritone sax; and Ernie Williams on vocals. Four native Oklahomans at one time or another were members of the Blue Devils. From Oklahoma City came Abe Bolar on bass, Lemuel C. Johnson on clarinet and tenor saxophone, Jimmy Rushing on vocals; and, from Muskogee, Don Byas on tenor and alto saxophone. During their heyday, the Blue Devils added luminary jazz artists such as Lester Young on tenor saxophone, and William Basie, later known as "Count" Basie, on piano. According to jazz scholars, it was the most dynamic lineup of that era in the Midwest and Southwest, because the band possessed an extraordinary spirit, enthusiasm, and talent.
Several Blue Devils went on to provide the nucleus of such legendary bands as Bennie Moten and Count Basie, including "Lips" Page, Jimmy Rushing, Eddie Durham, and Walter Page. The single recording session made by the Blue Devils was in Kansas City in 1929. It produced two three-minute performances, "Squabblin," a riff tune; and "Blue Devil Blues" with Jimmy Rushing vocal. The Blue Devils were a "territorial band," which meant they monopolized bookings in their home area and enjoyed local prestige, but not a national reputation. Competition among the "territorial bands" was intense. Contests known as the "Battle of The Bands" would be held in ballrooms where a visiting band would play opposite a local band. Many bands in the Southwest and Midwest were reluctant to face the Blue Devils.