Tom Archia

Ernest Alvin Archia, Jr. (November 26, 1919 – January 16, 1977), known as Tom Archia, was an American jazz tenor saxophonist, sometimes billed as "Texas Tom".

Archia was born in Groveton, Texas, moving with his family as a child to Rockdale and then Baytown, near Houston. He played saxophone in the Wheatley High School orchestra. He was known in childhood as "Sonny", but took the name "Tom" when he decided that neither "Ernest" nor "Alvin" were appropriate for a musician. After graduating from Prairie View A&M University in 1939, he joined Milt Larkin's band which, at the time, according to Down Beat, also included Eddie Vinson, Arnett Cobb, and Illinois Jacquet in the reed section and Cedric Haywood as pianist and arranger. Archia arrived in Chicago as a member of Larkin's band, which took up a nine-month residency backing T-Bone Walker at the Rhumboogie Club from August 1942 to May 1943.

In November 1943, he was a member of the Roy Eldridge orchestra that recorded in Chicago for the Brunswick label. Other band members included Ike Quebec, Ted Sturgis, and Doc West. He moved to the Rhumboogie "Dream Band," which lasted from November 1943 to June 1944. Along with Charlie Parker, Archia frequently disrupted band discipline, so when Marl Young took over as bandleader, his first act was to fire Archia. In 1945 Tom Archia went to Los Angeles to join Howard McGhee's combo, with Teddy Edwards, Bob "Dingbod" Kesterson, among others. Shortly afterwards, he was recording with the Jacquet brothers, Illinois and Russell, as well as Helen Humes.

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