Old Missoula

Oscar Clayborne’s The Royal Knights – 9 Piece Colored Band

The announcement below appeared in The Daily Missoulian on November 18, 1931:

A Message From Oscar Clayborne – Director of Royal Knights Colored Band

I am extremely sorry that due to our band bus being wrecked while speeding to Missoula to fill an engagement at the Old Country Club we disappointed perhaps the largest crowd that ever assembled for a dance in Missoula.

To make good we have arranged our booking to play a Return Date – At the Old Country Club Next Saturday, November 21

And to make sure we are here we are coming into Missoula Friday. We have nine pieces instead of eight as advertised, and will play a dance program until a late hour, that will more than make up the appointment last week,

Signed Oscar Clayborne, Director

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Royal Knights Play At The Wilma Today – 5/22/1932

The Royal Knights, nine-piece colored band which has proved itself so lastingly popular, will appear at the Wilma theater at each show afternoon and evening today.

They will present an entirely new program of a varied nature, ranking all the way from ballads of long ago to the most modern popular songs. Their entertaining program includes one very laughable, typically negro, novelty number. They will also feature new costumes and stage settings.

This band appeared once last fall at the Wilma theater and was exceptionally well received. Since then it has “worked” theater and ballroom engagements in some of the larger cities in the Northwest, including Seattle, Tacoma, and Spokane. This will be their last appearance here for at least some time to come.

The above article appeared in The Daily Missoulian on May 22, 1932

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Royal Knights Play Farewell Saturday

The Royal Knights famous nine-piece colored band, will play for the dance at the Old Country club next Saturday night for what is very probably their farewell appearance in Missoula.

“This very popular colored band comes to Missoula this time fresh from a four-day theater engagement at the new Fox theater Spokane, where they made a tremendous hit with their entrancing music. Following the theater engagement they played a dance engagement at the ballroom in Natatorium park, Spokane,” said Mr. Sheridan.

They are now en route to Miles City, where they will be featured at the annual rodeo there, after which they leave for a Salt Lake City engagement.

The management of the Old Country club has had many requests to return the band here, and it was only after a great deal of effort on their part that they were able to secure the colored band.

The above article appeared in The Sunday Missoulian on June 19, 1932.

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In attempting to research Oscar Clayborne, and this band, plenty of information can be discovered which tracks the places where they performed, however, almost nothing can be found regarding the members’ personal history. Many of the ads announcing their engagements featured photographs. At least one article stated they were a Chicago band. They performed in many cities and states throughout the Midwest and Pacific Northwest, including Montana, Idaho, and Washington – beginning in the late 1920’s and into the early 1930’s.

An article in a St. Joseph, Michigan newspaper (linked below) in 1980 featured an allegedly 60-year-old local jazz performer, Othenar “Bus” Clayborne, who was playing for free at two local Twin City venues, one being a “Soup Kitchen.” Performing on a “non-contract” basis, Clayborne performed several nights a week at the place where he was also a regular customer. “The ancient blue piano in the Soup Kitchen window has seen better days, but audiences say Clayborne makes it sound like a Steinway.”

Clayborne stated that he got his start with Duke Ellington’s band in 1937 when he was 17 years old. He sat in for a missing sax player though he could play piano. He stated that he played with Count Basie “a lot,” the last time being at a party at Basie’s house on Long Island in 1962. “I’ve played with a lot of bands, some regular work, some pick-up work, Dizzy Gillespie, Joe Henderson, a lot of them.” He played a wide variety of tunes at the Soup Kitchen, many of them classics from the 30’s and 40’s – “He’s a hard man to stump – name the tune and he’ll not only play it, but add improvisations.”

Clayborne stated that he became “stranded” in Benton Harbor in 1965 while on his way to Detroit and that health problems, medical bills, and circumstances prostrated him. He was now “short of breath,” and admitted that at times he’d had “problems with the bottle” but was overcoming it. “I can’t hardly tell you all the places I’ve played,” he said. “Madison Square Garden, the Old Rose Social Club in Washington, D. C., a lot of places in the Midwest. But you know, I can’t remember them too well. When that curtain would go up or we’d walk out onto the stage, everything would sort of fade away but me and the music.”

Whether or not the Twin City’s Othenar Clayborne was related to (or could have been) the Oscar Clayborne who was the band director of the Royal Knights is unclear. The Benton Harbor article included a great photo of “Bus” Clayborne sitting at the piano in the Benton Harbor Soup Kitchen in 1980.

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