Ernest Alvin Archia, Jr. (November 26, 1919; January 16, 1977), was a jazz

Jazz

Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...

 tenor saxophonist

Tenor saxophone

The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor, with the alto, are the two most common types of saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B, and written as a transposing instrument in the treble...

. He took "Texas Tom" as his marquee name.

Archia was born, in Groveton, Texas

Groveton, Texas

Groveton is a city in Trinity County, Texas, United States. The population was 1,107 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Trinity County.-Geography:Groveton is located at ....

. Raised in Baytown and Houston, Texas, he graduated from Prairie View A&M University

Prairie View A&M University

Prairie View A&M University is a historically black university located in Prairie View, Texas and is a member of the Texas A&M University System. PVAMU offers baccalaureate degrees in 50 academic majors, 37 master’s degrees and four doctoral degree programs through nine colleges and schools...

 in 1939.

In 1940, he joined Milt Larkin

Milt Larkin

Milt Larkin was an American jazz trumpeter and bandleader.Larkin was an autodidact on the trumpet, and got his start playing in Texas in the 1930s with Chester Boone and Giles Mitchell...

's band which, at the time, according to Down Beat

Down Beat

Down Beat is an American magazine devoted to "jazz, blues and beyond" to indicate its expansion beyond the jazz realm which it covered exclusively in previous years. The publication was established in 1934 in Chicago, Illinois...

, also included Eddie Vinson

Eddie Vinson

Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson was an American jump blues, jazz, bebop and R&B alto saxophonist and blues shouter. He was nicknamed Cleanhead after an incident in which his hair was accidentally destroyed by lye contained in a hair straightening product.-Biography:Vinson was born in Houston, Texas...

, Arnett Cobb

Arnett Cobb

Arnett Cobb was an American jazz tenor saxophonist.Cobb was born Arnette Cleophus Cobbs in Houston, Texas. His musical career began with the local bands of Chester Boone, from 1934 to 1936, and Milt Larkin, from 1936 to 1942...

, and Illinois Jacquet

Illinois Jacquet

Jean-Baptiste Illinois Jacquet was an American jazz tenor saxophonist, best remembered for his solo on "Flying Home", critically recognized as the first R&B saxophone solo....

 in the reed section and Cedric Haywood

Cedric Haywood

Cedric Haywood was an American jazz pianist.Born and raised in Houston, Texas, Haywood played as a teenager in a high school band with Arnett Cobb...

 as pianist and arranger. Archia arrived in Chicago

Chicago

Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...

 as a member of Larkin's band, which took up a 9-month residency at the Rhumboogie Club

Rhumboogie Café

The Rhumboogie Café, also referred to as the Rhumboogie Club, was an important, but short-lived nightclub at 343 East 55th Street, Chicago....

 from August 1942 to May 1943.

In November 1943, he was a member of the Roy Eldridge

Roy Eldridge

Roy David Eldridge , nicknamed "Little Jazz" was an American jazz trumpet player. His sophisticated use of harmony, including the use of tritone substitutions, his virtuosic solos and his strong influence on Dizzy Gillespie mark him as one of the most exciting musicians of the swing era and a...

 orchestra that recorded in Chicago for the Brunswick

Brunswick Records

Brunswick Records is a United States based record label. The label is currently distributed by E1 Entertainment.-From 1916:Records under the "Brunswick" label were first produced by the Brunswick-Balke-Collender Company...

 label

Record label

In the music industry, a record label is a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. Most commonly, a record label is the company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the production, manufacture, distribution, marketing and promotion,...

. Other band members included Ike Quebec

Ike Quebec

Ike Quebec was an American jazz tenor saxophonist. His surname is pronounced KYOO-bek.Critic Alex Henderson wrote, "Though he was never an innovator, Quebec had a big, breathy sound that was distinctive and easily recognizable, and he was quite consistent when it came to down-home blues, sexy...

, Ted Sturgis

Ted Sturgis

Ted Sturgis was an American jazz bassist.Sturgis started on piano at age five and played alto saxophone, guitar and drums in addition to bass. He primarily played double-bass, although he played electric bass on some recordings late in life...

, and Doc West

Doc West

Harold "Doc" West was an American jazz drummer.West learned to play piano and cello as a child before switching to drums. In the 1930s he played in Chicago with Tiny Parham, Erskine Tate, and Roy Eldridge . Late in the 1930s he filled in for Chick Webb when Webb was unable to lead his own orchestra...

. He moved to the Rhumboogie "Dream Band," which lasted from November 1943 to June 1944. Along with Charlie Parker

Charlie Parker

Charles Parker, Jr. , famously called Bird or Yardbird, was an American jazz saxophonist and composer....

, 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

Howard McGhee

Howard McGhee was one of the very first bebop jazz trumpeters, together with Dizzy Gillespie, Fats Navarro and Idrees Sulieman. He was known for lightning-fast fingers and very high notes...

's combo, with Teddy Edwards

Teddy Edwards

Theodore Marcus "Teddy" Edwards was an American jazz tenor saxophonist based on the West Coast of the US. Some consider him to be one of the most influential jazz saxophonists.-Biography:...

, Bob "Dingbod" Kesterson, among others. Shortly afterwards, he was recording with the Jacquet brothers, Illinois

Illinois Jacquet

Jean-Baptiste Illinois Jacquet was an American jazz tenor saxophonist, best remembered for his solo on "Flying Home", critically recognized as the first R&B saxophone solo....

 and Russell

Russell Jacquet

Russell Jacquet was an American trumpeter. Jacquet was born on December 14, 1917 in Saint Martinville, Louisiana. He was the elder brother of well-known tenor saxophonist Illinois Jacquet, who he worked with through the years...

, as well as Helen Humes

Helen Humes

Helen Humes was an American jazz and blues singer.Humes was successively a teenaged blues singer, band vocalist with Count Basie, saucy R&B diva and a mature interpreter of the classy popular song.-Career:...

.

Returning to Chicago in 1946, he became a headliner at Leonard Chess

Leonard Chess

Leonard Chess was a record company executive and the founder of Chess Records. He was influential in the development of electric blues.- Early life :...

's club, the Macomba Lounge, and recorded extensively for Aristocrat Records

Aristocrat Records

Aristocrat Records, sometimes referred to The Aristocrat of Records, was founded in April 1947 by Charles and Evelyn Aron, together with their partners Fred and Mildred Brount and Art Spiegel. By September Leonard Chess had invested in the young record company. Over time, Leonard bought the others...

, the predecessor to Chess Records

Chess Records

Chess Records was an American record label based in Chicago, Illinois. It specialized in blues, R&B, soul, gospel music, early rock and roll, and occasional jazz releases....

, during 1947 and 1948. He also recorded with Wynonie Harris

Wynonie Harris

Wynonie Harris , born in Omaha, Nebraska, was an American blues shouter and rhythm and blues singer of upbeat songs, featuring humorous, often ribald lyrics. With fifteen Top 10 hits between 1946 and 1952, Harris is generally considered one of rock and roll's forerunners, influencing Elvis Presley...

 and Hot Lips Page (on King Records

King Records (USA)

King Records is an American record label, started in 1943 by Syd Nathan and originally headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio.-History:At first it specialized in country music, at the time still known as "hillbilly music." King advertised, "If it's a King, It's a Hillbilly -- If it's a Hillbilly, it's a...

). He frequently participated in tenor saxophone duels with Buster Bennett

Buster Bennett

Buster Bennett was an American blues saxophonist and vocalist. At various times in his career, he played the soprano saxophone, the alto, and the tenor. He was known for his gutbucket style on the saxophone...

, Gene Ammons

Gene Ammons

Eugene "Jug" Ammons also known as "The Boss," was an American jazz tenor saxophonist, and the son of boogie-woogie pianist Albert Ammons.-Biography:...

, Claude McLin

Claude McLin

Claude McLin was a jazz tenor saxophonist.A graduate of DuSable High School, he was in a "baby band" with Johnny Griffin and Wilbur Campbell in the spring of 1944....

, and Hal Singer

Hal Singer

Harold Joseph "Hal" Singer is an American R&B and jazz bandleader and saxophonist.-Biography:Born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Singer studied violin as a child but, as a teenager, switched to clarinet and then tenor saxophone, which became his instrument of choice...

, among others.

His run at the Macomba ended when the club was closed by a fire in 1950. Although Tom Archia worked steadily on the South Side of Chicago during the 1950s, and added Harold Ashby

Harold Ashby

Harold Ashby was a jazz tenor saxophonist. He is perhaps known for his work with Duke Ellington's band and stylistic similarities with Ben Webster.He worked as a freelance musician after leaving the Duke Ellington Orchestra in 1975, and took part in various reunions of...

, Porter Kilbert and Lucius Washington to his roster of duelling partners, his recording opportunities were sparse and unheralded but included two sessions accompanying Dinah Washington

Dinah Washington

Dinah Washington, born Ruth Lee Jones , was an American blues, R&B and jazz singer. She has been cited as "the most popular black female recording artist of the '50s", and called "The Queen of the Blues"...

. His last recording session was a blues jam organized by Jump Jackson in 1960 for visiting German critic Joachim-Ernst Berendt

Joachim-Ernst Berendt

Joachim-Ernst Berendt was a German music journalist, book author and producer specialized on Jazz.-Life:...

, who was touring the United States doing research on jazz history.

Archia scuffled for gigs in the 1960s. He retired to Houston in 1967, after being temporarily disabled by a broken jaw. After recovering, he played Houston clubs for the rest of his life. He worked with Arnett Cobb in the Sonny Franklin Big Band, which also included Joe Bridgewater

Joe Bridgewater

Joe Bridgewater was an American soul jazz/R&B trumpeter, probably better known for his recordings with Ray Charles.In Houston in 1973, he played in the Sonny Franklin Big Band with Tom Archia, Arnett Cobb, Cedric Haywood and his bandmate from the Ray Charles band, Don Wilkerson, with guest...

 and Don Wilkerson

Don Wilkerson

Don Wilkerson was an American soul jazz / R&B tenor saxophonist born in Moreauville, Louisiana, probably better known for his Blue Note Records recordings in the 1960s as bandleader with guitarist Grant Green. Prior to signing with the label, he worked frequently with Cannonball Adderley...

, with guest appearances by Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown and another old Larkin bandmate, Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson. Many of the band's arrangements were by another Larkin alumnus, Cedric Haywood

Cedric Haywood

Cedric Haywood was an American jazz pianist.Born and raised in Houston, Texas, Haywood played as a teenager in a high school band with Arnett Cobb...

. Archia's death in 1977 was commemorated with a jazz funeral in Houston's Fifth Ward.