In 1940 Archia joined the Milt Larkin band and played in Houston with tenorists Arnett Cobb and Illinois Jacquet, with whom he had played in the school orchestra at Phyllis Wheatley High School. He continued with Larkin at the Rhumboogie Club in Chicago in 1942–43 and in the mid-1940s recorded with trumpet star Roy Eldridge. Archia lived in Los Angeles during part of 1945 and played in Howard McGhee's combo but was back in Chicago in 1946. He made a name for himself primarily during tenor battles with Gene Ammons and Claude McLin in Chicago between 1946 and 1950. In 1947–48 he formed part of fellow Texan Oran (Hot Lips) Page's band, and during this same period Archia was recorded by the Aristocrat label (including under the name of Tom Archia and His All Stars); the Classics Jazz label reissued this recording on compact disc in 2001 in its Blues & Rhythm Series.
Archia's style is in a bluesy R&B vein, which has been called a familiar sound even if his name is not familiar to most listeners. He was known as "the Devil" because he could "play the hell out of his horn." The Classics CD describes his recording as "the real deal street wailing and jive." According to The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz, Archia's style, "influenced by Lester Young, was characterized by a sense of youthful exuberance and a set of personalized licks that had a discernible influence on Ammons."
Archia was in a common-law marriage from 1949 to about 1960 with Freda Kelln, with whom he had three children. He remained active in Chicago until 1967 when he returned to Texas and settled in Houston. He continued to perform in that city in the 1970s. He died of cancer in Houston on January 16, 1977 and buried in Oakwood Cemetery in Hempstead, Texas.
In 1940 Archia joined the Milt Larkin band and played in Houston with tenorists Arnett Cobb and Illinois Jacquet, with whom he had played in the school orchestra at Phyllis Wheatley High School. He continued with Larkin at the Rhumboogie Club in Chicago in 1942–43 and in the mid-1940s recorded with trumpet star Roy Eldridge. Archia lived in Los Angeles during part of 1945 and played in Howard McGhee's combo but was back in Chicago in 1946. He made a name for himself primarily during tenor battles with Gene Ammons and Claude McLin in Chicago between 1946 and 1950. In 1947–48 he formed part of fellow Texan Oran (Hot Lips) Page's band, and during this same period Archia was recorded by the Aristocrat label (including under the name of Tom Archia and His All Stars); the Classics Jazz label reissued this recording on compact disc in 2001 in its Blues & Rhythm Series.
Archia's style is in a bluesy R&B vein, which has been called a familiar sound even if his name is not familiar to most listeners. He was known as "the Devil" because he could "play the hell out of his horn." The Classics CD describes his recording as "the real deal street wailing and jive." According to The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz, Archia's style, "influenced by Lester Young, was characterized by a sense of youthful exuberance and a set of personalized licks that had a discernible influence on Ammons."
Archia was in a common-law marriage from 1949 to about 1960 with Freda Kelln, with whom he had three children. He remained active in Chicago until 1967 when he returned to Texas and settled in Houston. He continued to perform in that city in the 1970s. He died of cancer in Houston on January 16, 1977 and buried in Oakwood Cemetery in Hempstead, Texas.
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