# Milt Larkin

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{{short description|American jazz trumpeter, bandleader, and singer (1910–1996)}}
thumb|Milton Larkin c. 1943
'''Milt Larkin''' (October 10, 1910, [Navasota](/source/Navasota%2C_Texas), [Texas](/source/Texas)<ref name=TSHA>{{cite web |url=https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/flajb |title=Larkin, Milton, Sr. |author=Dave Oliphant |work=[Handbook of Texas](/source/Handbook_of_Texas) |publisher=[Texas State Historical Association](/source/Texas_State_Historical_Association) |access-date=July 3, 2013}}</ref><ref name=HPL>{{cite web |url=http://www.lib.utexas.edu/taro/houpub/00138/hpub-00138.html |title=Milton Larkin Collection MSS.0252 |publisher=[Houston Public Library](/source/Houston_Public_Library) |access-date=July 3, 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Vodinh |first1=Andrew  |date=Fall 2013 |title=Bayou City Jazz Greats |journal=Houston History |volume=11 |issue=1 |page=1 |url=https://houstonhistorymagazine.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Bayou-City-Jazz-Greats.pdf}}</ref> &ndash; August 31, 1996) was an American [jazz](/source/jazz) trumpeter,  bandleader and singer.<ref name=camber>[http://campber.people.clemson.edu/archia.html Campbell, Robert L. and Leonard J. Bukowski, and Armin Büttner "The Tom Archia Discography"] Retrieved 3 July 2013.</ref>

==Biography==

===Early career===
Larkin was an [autodidact](/source/autodidact) on the trumpet, and got his start playing in Texas in the 1930s with [Chester Boone](/source/Chester_Boone) and [Giles Mitchell](/source/Giles_Mitchell). Between 1936 and 1943 he led his own band, touring the southwest United States, with gigs in [Kansas City](/source/Kansas_City%2C_Missouri), and at the [Apollo Theater](/source/Apollo_Theater) in [New York City](/source/New_York_City), as well as a 9-month residency at the [Rhumboogie Café](/source/Rhumboogie_Caf%C3%A9) in [Chicago](/source/Chicago),<ref>[http://www.texasmonthly.com/content/golden-oldies "Golden Oldies"] ''[Texas Monthly](/source/Texas_Monthly)''. Retrieved 3 July 2013.</ref> on occasions coinciding there with, and backing, [T-Bone Walker](/source/T-Bone_Walker).<ref name="clemrhum">[http://campber.people.clemson.edu/rhumboogie.html Pruter, Robert and Campbell, Robert L. "The Rhumboogie Label"] Retrieved 3 July 2013.</ref>

Personnel in the band included [Arnett Cobb](/source/Arnett_Cobb) and [Illinois Jacquet](/source/Illinois_Jacquet) (both of whom went on to join [Lionel Hampton](/source/Lionel_Hampton)),<ref name=camber/> [Eddie Vinson](/source/Eddie_Vinson) (who left to join [Cootie Williams](/source/Cootie_Williams)),<ref name=camber/> [Tom Archia](/source/Tom_Archia), [Cedric Haywood](/source/Cedric_Haywood), [Wild Bill Davis](/source/Wild_Bill_Davis), [Alvin Burroughs](/source/Alvin_Burroughs), [Joe Marshall](/source/Joe_Marshall_(musician)) and [Roy Porter](/source/Roy_Porter_(drummer)).<ref name=camber/> Vinson and Cobb had been with the band since its creation at the Aragon Ballroom in Houston in 1936.<ref name=camber/> This ensemble won high praise but never recorded, on the one hand, because of the "recording ban" imposed on August 1, 1942, just after the band arrived in Chicago,<ref name=camber/> and on the other hand, because Larkin wouldn't accept the low wages that record companies offered to black musicians.<ref name=TSHA/>

Having already lost several members to the draft board,<ref name=camber/> Larkin disbanded the group when he himself entered the [Army](/source/United_States_Army). From 1943 to 1946, he played in [Sy Oliver](/source/Sy_Oliver)'s army band, also playing on [trombone](/source/trombone). Larkin first recorded after leaving the service, recording with a number of ensembles over the next decade. In 1956, he moved to New York and led a [septet](/source/septet) at the [Celebrity Club](/source/Celebrity_Club). In the 1970s he returned to Houston and retired.

===Later career===
From 1979 to 1994, Milt Larkin was the leader of the Milt Larkin Allstars and the founder of Get Involved Now, a non-profit group that served inhouse audiences in Houston, Texas.  Members of his group included Jimmy Ford [alto sax], Arnett Cobb [tenor sax], Basirah Dean [piano/keyboard], Clayton Dyess [guitar], Terry T. Thomas [bass], and Richard Waters [drums] as well as. many other musicians who sat in his big band, including [Buddy Tate](/source/Buddy_Tate).<ref name=HPL/> He did hundreds of performances for crippled and burned children, special needs children, mentally ill patients and elderly audiences. He was the recipient of the Jefferson Award for community service and performed regularly on the Annual Houston Jazz Festival and the Annual Juneteenth Blues Festival in Houston.  Milt Larkin was featured in a documentary which was produced and aired on [PBS](/source/PBS) called ''The Bigfoot Swing''.  Although he suffered from Alzheimer's disease in the last few years of his life, he performed flawlessly at the Milt Larkin birthday bash on October 10, 1994, for his 84th birthday.  He died on August 31, 1996, of pneumonia and his funeral was attended by many musicians, politicians and members of the press.

His son, [Milton "Tippy" Larkin](/source/Milton_%22Tippy%22_Larkin), is also a trumpet player and played with Larkin's various bands.<ref name=HPL/>

==Discography==
===As leader===
* ''Down Home Saturday Night'' (Copasetic, 1976)<ref>[http://brazosvalleyblues.blogspot.com.es/p/chapter-seven.html Blues Valley (album cover)] Retrieved 3 July 2013.</ref>

===As sideman===
* [Arnett Cobb](/source/Arnett_Cobb), ''[Arnett Blows for 1300](/source/Arnett_Blows_for_1300)'' (Delmark, 1994)

==References==
;Footnotes
{{Reflist}}

;General references
*[Scott Yanow](/source/Scott_Yanow), [{{Allmusic|class=artist|id=p96601/biography|pure_url=yes}} Milt Larkin] at [Allmusic](/source/Allmusic)

== External links ==
* Larkin, Milton and Louis Marchiafava and Charles Stephenson. [http://digital.houstonlibrary.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/Interviews/id/12 Milton Larkin Oral History], Houston Oral History Project, January 5, 1988.

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Larkin, Milt}}
Category:1910 births
Category:1996 deaths
Category:American jazz bandleaders
Category:American jazz trumpeters
Category:American male trumpeters
Category:American jazz trombonists
Category:American male trombonists
Category:20th-century American trumpeters
Category:20th-century American trombonists
Category:People from Navasota, Texas
Category:Jazz musicians from Houston
Category:Jazz musicians from Texas
Category:20th-century American male musicians
Category:American male jazz musicians

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Milt Larkin](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milt_Larkin) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milt_Larkin?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.