Caughey Roberts (August 25, 1912 – December 15, 1990) was an American

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

alto sax The alto saxophone is a member of the saxophone family of woodwind instruments. Saxophones were invented by Belgian instrument designer Adolphe Sax in the 1840s and patented in 1846. The alto saxophone is pitched in the key of E, smaller th ...

player, best known for his time in the

Count Basie William James "Count" Basie (; August 21, 1904 – April 26, 1984) was an American jazz pianist, organist, bandleader, and composer. In 1935, he formed the Count Basie Orchestra, and in 1936 took them to Chicago for a long engagement and the ...

Orchestra in the 1930s. He was born in

Boley, Oklahoma Boley is a town in Okfuskee County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 1,091 at the 2020 Census. Boley was incorporated in 1905 as a predominantly Black pioneer town with persons having Native American ancestry among its citizens. Of th ...

,Fourteen Census of the United States, 1920 https://archive.org/details/14thcensusofpopu1478unit later moving to

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

. He played both

baritone A baritone is a type of classical music, classical male singing human voice, voice whose vocal range lies between the bass (voice type), bass and the tenor voice type, voice-types. It is the most common male voice. The term originates from the ...

and alto sax, and

clarinet The clarinet is a Single-reed instrument, single-reed musical instrument in the woodwind family, with a nearly cylindrical bore (wind instruments), bore and a flared bell. Clarinets comprise a Family (musical instruments), family of instrume ...

. During the early-1930s, he was a music band teacher at Jefferson High School in Los Angeles.Jazz High by Kirk Silsbee - LA CityBeat Magazine, September 13–19, 200

/ref> He later joined

Buck Clayton Wilbur Dorsey "Buck" Clayton (November 12, 1911 – December 8, 1991) was an American jazz trumpeter who was a member of Count Basie's orchestra. His principal influence was Louis Armstrong, first hearing the record " Confessin' that I Love You" ...

’s 14-piece jazz ensemble (known as the Harlem Gentlemen). They traveled by cruise liner to Shanghai, China where they performed an extended engagement at the elegant Canidrome Ballroom. He would eventually leave Shanghai before the 1937 Second Sino-Japanese War. After returning from Shanghai, he replaced

Buster Smith Buster or BUSTER may refer to: People *Buster (surname) * Buster (given name) * Buster (nickname) Arts and entertainment Comics * ''Buster'' (comics), a British comic * ''Buster'' (sport comic), a Swedish comic Film and television * ''Buster ...

in the Count Basie Orchestra, leaving in 1942 when he was replaced by

Earle Warren Earle Warren (born Earl Ronald Warren; July 1, 1914 – June 4, 1994) was an American saxophonist. He was part of the Count Basie Orchestra from 1937. Early life Warren was born in Springfield, Ohio, on July 1, 1914. "He played piano, banjo, and ...

. He also played in

Roy Milton Roy Bunny Milton (July 31, 1907 – September 18, 1983) was an American R&B and jump blues singer, drummer and bandleader. Career Milton's grandmother was Chickasaw. He was born in Wynnewood, Oklahoma, and grew up on an Indian reservation bef ...

's band. Caughey was drafted into the U.S. Army on August 13, 1942. He trained at Fort Huachuca for a week and a half. He requested to go with the band assigned at Fort Huachuca, but ended up with another band at Papago Park (Prisoner-of-War Camp) sixteen miles out of Phoenix, Arizona. He was there close to four years playing in the dance band and a small combo. He was honorably discharge from the U.S. Army with the rank of Sergeant, February 1946.National Archives and Records Administration, U.S. World War II Army Enlistment Records, 1938-194

and Peter Vacher, "Swingin' on Central Avenue, African American Jazz in Los Angeles, Published by Rowman & Littlefield, 2015, pages 141-142 In later years he played in the traditional jazz band at

Disneyland Disneyland is a amusement park, theme park at the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, California. It was the first theme park opened by the Walt Disney Company and the only one designed and constructed under the direct supervision of Walt Disney, ...

New Orleans Square New Orleans Square is a themed land found at Disneyland in Anaheim, California. Based on 19th-century New Orleans, Louisiana, the roughly three-acre area was the first land to be added to Disneyland after the park's opening, at a cost of $18 mi ...

with

Teddy Buckner Teddy Buckner (July 16, 1909 in Sherman, Texas – September 22, 1994 in Los Angeles, California) was an American jazz trumpeter associated with Dixieland music. Early in his career, Buckner played with Sonny Clay. He worked with Buck Clayton ...

and others. Clora Bryant, ''Central Avenue Sounds: Jazz in Los Angeles'', University of California Press, 1999
/ref> He died in Los Angeles in 1990 at the age of 78. Donald's Encyclopedia of Popular Music: Count Basie
/ref>

Discography

With

*'' The Original American Decca Recordings'' (GRP, 1992)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Roberts, Caughey 1912 births 1990 deaths American jazz saxophonists American male saxophonists People from Tuskegee, Alabama 20th-century American saxophonists Jazz musicians from Alabama 20th-century American male musicians American male jazz musicians