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The Treasure Island Naval Station band was popular throughout the San Francisco area. The 403-acre station was built on the shoals of Yerba Buena island in the San Francisco Bay in 1936-37 for the 1939 Golden Gate International Exhibition and in 1941 its space and all its structures were leased to the Navy, which “repurposed exposition buildings, turning palaces into bunking quarters.” Some buildings were demolished, others remodeled to accommodate new needs: “The fair’s food and beverage exhibit was converted to a mess hall that would eventually serve food to over 7,000 men an hour and seat up to 3,000 at once.” The Billy Rose Aquacade was converted to one of three swimming pools and two buildings became theaters–before war’s end, a third was built. 

The base was used primarily as a training and distribution site throughout the war. The Treasure Island was comprised primarily of talented professional musicians, and they were the first Black personnel on the base. Trained in Chicago at Camp Robert Smalls, they arrived at Treasure Island on October 27, 1942 and quickly became popular on base and in San Francisco. They played for formal and recreational events on base regularly, dances and smokers especially, as as accompanists to traveling entertainers and USO shows, at graduation ceremonies, and in San Francisco for war bond rallies, war loan drives, Army-Navy shows, and commissioning ceremonies for ships launching, the USS O’Ryan, USS Ashland, and USS The Sullivans “among the ships that have slid down the stocks as the band’s patriotic notes climaxed the fitting ceremonial tribute paid to those honored and courageous sons of liberty who gave their lives in order that democracy may hold high the torch of freedom that will lead this war-torn, war-wearied world to a world of peace and brotherhood.”

That’s Robert Johnson describing the first Treasure Island band’s duties. The band’s history, he writes, “evidences a veritable note of true patriotism”:

Like Captain Glenn Miller and Artie Shaw, who, in the acme of their musical career, dropped their batons to give their talent to “dear ol’ Unc’ Sam,” the members of the TREASURE ISLAND band being overwhelmed by a similar surge of patriotism, gave up their urban gayety and key positions in various renowned musical aggregations and volunteered as a unit to “don the gobs” of this military organization—the U.S. Navy.

Prior to Johnson’s arrival on staff, The Masthead rarely mentioned “colored” sailors and never ran photos of them. 

After the war, he would become editor of Jet magazine and would later write that he was named the first Black managing editor at The Masthead after it published a racist joke that caused trouble on the base. But as often seems the case, parts of the story can be substantiated but others don’t add up. The Pittsburg Courier reports in August 1943 that a racist joke printed in The Masthead “a few weeks ago” created a furor on the base and brought about an official Navy apology; The Masthead does not list Johnson as an editor until October 1944. I can find no evidence of racist jokes in extant copies of The Masthead, and the Courier article is vague on how it got its story. It would seem unlikely that the base newspaper would cover anything controversial and especially of a racial nature; it may be coincidence that the editor of The Masthead was reassigned to another base in June 1943. But prior to that, the commander had said in a front page address that anonymous complaints would not be taken seriously. The new base radio show, “Three Cheers for the Navy,” was also canceled in May 1943 after only three episodes, blaming difficulties in clearance of material. So I wonder if perhaps the offending joke was made on the air. 

Regardless, after Johnson became associated with the paper it began covering Black sailor news on a regular basis, even running a photo of a Black seaman and his bride after their marriage in the base’s new chapel.

Johnson highlights several bandsmen in his introductory article, which notes that Leonard Fields, David Brown and James Buchanan do most of the arranging. And as with other Navy bands, a swing band was developed from the band’s ranks for dance and party performances, with Samuel Allen usually its leader.

At Treasure Island, the swing band became known as the Shipmates of Rhythm after Clyde Kerr’s arrival, and they provided music for the Naval Station’s weekly radio broadcast, “Skyway to Victory.” Kerr said that he worked with “just about all the best musicians in the country.” The Shipmates of Rhythm also played regularly at the Stage Door, a USO club that, after the war, became the Stage Door Theater.

Clyde Kerr, who led the first New Orleans Lakefront Navy band, was transferred to Treasure Island in 1945 and served there until after the war ended. He recalls working double duty while stationed at Treasure Island, composing and arranging for stage and traveling shows that featured musicians such as Harry James, and his band also performed behind Humphrey Bogart, Betty Grable, and other Hollywood stars–Bette Davis was in charge of booking musical acts at the Stage Door. [Kerr recalls that he was transferred to Treasure Island in 1944 but the base newsletter, the Masthead, reports that he became the new Treasure Island band leader in June 1945.]

Samuel Allen led the station’s dance band at Treasure Island band prior to Kerr’s arrival.

The first Treasure Island band was promised that its enlistment would have them stationed there “for the duration” of the war; they made $66 a month and rehearsed in the Savoy every afternoon before deployment. Players in that band included Alphonso Fook, Henry Williams, Wilfred P. Jackson, Ike Perkins, William J. Fitzpatrick, Joseph R. Page, Edward W. Walker, Ray Saunders, James G. Buchanan, Bill Sylvester, Thomas Scates, Arthur L. O’Neil, Melvin L. Saunders, Earl Philips, and Lawrence Fulgham. George Dixon of Earl Hines’ band was supposed to join “soon,” in August 1942.

But as with most other Black Navy bands, Treasure Island’s was broken up, its members dispersed. Allen, Jackson, Fitzpatrick, Page, Walker, Melvin Saunders, Buchanan, and O’Neil are the only original members still listed with the band in April 1944.

In September 1944, the band was presented the American Theatre Wing War Services of New York’s “highest honor” for the band’s “loyal and outstanding service” during its regular and many special peformances at events at the Stage Door Canteen in San Francisco.. The bandsmen had entertained “most of Hollywood’s stage celebrities” and performed with or opened for “many of the nation’s greatest dance bands.”

Jackson, Page, Walker, Saunders, Buchanan and Allen were still with the T.I. band when it was commended. Others, as identified in the base newsletter: P. Hobson, guitar; H. Mitchell, bass; H. Liggons, drums; A. Verdun, O. Alcorn, L. Fields, V. Kelley. W. Jackson, Braxton Patterson, Mus3c, A. O’Neil, reeds; R. Brown, E. Walker,  H. Hogan, G. Matthews, Thomas Scates, (who may have left T.I. and come back), W. Hughes, brass; D.K. Brown, Mus2c, chief arranger. W. Fitzpatrick [White], bandmaster.

Piecing together Navy band histories is complicated by the lack of sources as well as the circumstances under which those sources were produced. Local newspapers are spotty in their coverage. Base newsletters,  as with the Cloudbuster that documented activities of B-1, The Tail Spinner at the Algiers Naval Station, and The Masthead at Treasure Island NAS are invaluable but also not comprehensive by any means. Their timeliness as well as their accuracy is not always easy to reconcile with other sources, including interviews with bandsmen and reports from the Black press especially.

And because the Navy did not keep records of individual bands, it’s impossible to know for the most part when bands arrived at duty stations, how long they stayed, how their personnel changed, and if, in fact, there were other bands associated with their particular stations at the same time. One White Navy vet–Joe Pizzimenti’s dad–recalled stopping at Mogmog, in the Ulithi Atoll in the Caroline Islands, en route to Okinawa in 1945, where he played bass on a few numbers with Black musicians from “the Treasure Island band.” But such a duty station would mean that the base would be left without a band, unless there were another there. Some members of B-1 recall that their unit was at one point destined for duty at Mogmog, on which the Navy operated a large recreation & relaxation facility. Did other bands come in and out of Mogmog to fill the gap left by its not having a permanently attached band?

In 1945, there were clearly two Treasure Island bands, one White (band 126) and one Black (band 755). Band 755 was Kerr’s. How long Treasure Island had two bands is not clear, but it also seems quite possible that Kerr was associated with Treasure Island well before the base newsletter says he was there. Kerr’s recollections of performing with so many Hollywood stars makes it seem more likely that he arrived before June 1945, when Stage Door Canteen activities were winding down. It also would have been difficult for a single station band to perform all of the formal military duties required of it as well as at as many events in San Francisco as were accompanied by a Treasure Island band. Another issue arises in trying to coordinate timelines: the April 1944 program pictured here also lists Braxton Patterson in the band, but The Masthead welcomes him to Treasure Island as its “newest” bandsman in December 1944.

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A partial muster list of Treasure Island Navy bandsmen:

Oliver Alcorn (October 3, 1910 – 1981) played clarinet and tenor saxophone in the Treasure Island Navy band. Where he enlisted is not clear. 
     The musical career of his older brother, Alvin (born in 1912), who played and recorded with Don Albert, is better documented. Alvin and Oliver played and recorded with Papa Celestin’s Original Tuxedo Jazz Orchestra in New Orleans in the 1920s. Alvin later played with Sidney Desvigne on the steamer Capitol.
     In Chicago after the war, Oliver recorded with Little Brother Montgomery in 1947 and St. Louis Jimmy in 1948.
     The Alcorn Brothers were born to a musical family who lived in the 2800 block of Magnolia Street in New Orleans. In the 1920s, they played together in the Excelsior Brass Band, which Alvin called “a walking band” that seemed to play a jazz funeral a day. Prior to Excelsior, they played “advertising jobs” together, performing as they traveled about the city on a truck bed.

Sam Allen  (January 30, 1909 – April 1963) played piano on many sides prior to the war, with the Teddy Hill and Roy Eldridge orchestras as well as with his own. Frank Driggs’ interview with him at the University of Missouri – Kansas City has not been transcribed or digitized. 

David Brown, clarinet & arranger, began his music career in Chicago. He played for 9 years with the 10th Cavalry Regimental Band in New Mexico. Johnson identifies him as the band’s chief arranger, who’s also studying music at the University of California. 

James Buchanan, saxophone, studied music education at Alabama State Teachers College. Before the war, he also worked with Joan Lunceford and arranged several hits for Clarence Love. Johnson reports that he had written over twenty pop and patriotic songs being performed by the band.

Richard Dunlap, trombone, became a pro “at anearly age,” Johnson writes. He had played with Louis Armstrong & Fats Waller before the war. 

Leonard Fields, saxophone, joined the Treasure Island band in 1943 and was noted as “trumpet soloist.” He wrote the lyrics for the 1919 hit “When the Yanks Come Marching Home” and had played with Jelly Roll Morton’s band, where he was known to be paid “higher than the usual salary because of his all-around musicianship.” A native of Louisville, Kentucky, he grew up next to trumpeter George “Little Mitch” Mitchell, who took lessons from Fields’ father. Leonard Fields studied in Chicago where he became noted for his prowess on both trumpet and saxophone. Ed “Boogie” Morton recalls Fields playing sax in clubs in Louisville. Bobby Booker, who played trumpet in a band in which Fields played alto, said of him: “I never saw anybody play like him, he was really fast and used to do double and triple tongue work on the saxophone.” 

Fields first began playing music in New York, then studied at the University of Chicago (or Chicago Musical College) before working with Fletcher Henderson, then Fats Waller, and  Johnny Long. Johnson notes that in addition to arranging for the band, he’s studying music education at the University of California.

William Fitzpatrick, trumpet, studied instruments at Wendell Phillips High School in Chicago and at Lincoln University. Prior to the war, he toured with his  twin brother as a dancing team, and before that was a trumpet soloist in the 8th regiment Army band for five years.

Alphonso Fook played trombone and recorded with the Jay McShann band after the war.

Martin V.B. “Van” Kelly, Jr. was born in Pittsburgh on February 23, 1921 and graduated from Allegheny High School. In 1942, he married Lettie B. Hyde, became a member of Ebenezer Baptist Church, and joined the Navy, training at Great Lakes prior to service with the Treasure Island Navy band. After the war, he became one of the first African Americans admitted to the Navy’s School of Music, where he studied conducting and advanced saxophone and clarinet. He returned to Chicago and played with trumpeter Eddie Mallory and then moved to New York where he performed with the Charlie Barnett Band at the Savoy Ballroom and the Apollo Theater. He traveled as part of Eddie Rochester’s troupe and then returned to Chicago, where he played in the Billy Eckstine Band with Miles Davis, Gene Ammons, Art Blakey, and Frank Wess, occasionally gigging with Cab Calloway. In 1952, he earned a B.S. in biology/ chemistry from Roosevelt University and became a medical lab director with the Veterans Administration. After retiring in 1992, he picked up his musical interests full-time, forming the Van Kelly Trio, which was the house band at the Como Inn for five years. He recorded with Floyd McDaniel and the Blues Swingers. After moving to Hilton Head Island in 2001, he performed with several Low Country bands, including the Stardust Orchestra and a Dixieland band that played monthly gigs at the Jazz Corner on Hilton Head, where he died on November 22, 2012.

George Matthews (September 23, 1912 – June 28, 1982) was born in Dominica and moved to New York (or New Jersey) with family when he was a child. He started playing at Bordentown, NJ. He studied tuba, trumpet, and trombone at the Martin Smith School of Music. Johnson writes that he was discovered by Louis Armstrong and featured with him before joining Chick Webb, with whom he played after Webb’s death with Ella Fitzgerald; he also played with Willie Bryant, Cannonball Adderly, Ray Charles, Clark Terry, Count Basie, and Dizzy Gillespie.  

Frank Driggs’ interview with him at the University of Missouri – Kansas City has not been transcribed or digitized. 

Herman Mitchell, bass, began playing music when he was 8. He studied violin, bass violin and bass horn and before the war played with the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra and swing music with Don Clinton’s orchestra.

Joseph Page, trumpet, studied music at Tilden Technical College in Chicago and at Alabama State Teachers College, where he earned a B.S. and was a member of the renowned Bama State Collegians, with whom he toured  prior to induction.

Braxton Patterson, sax, began as a drummer. He was playeing with the Louisiana Swingsters before joining the Navy, and arranged “Baby It’s You” for J. Russel Robinson..

Melvin Saunders, drums, began as drummer in 4-piece band in Des Moines, IA. He studied at Englewood High School in Chicago, where he organized his own band and also played in concert bands under Major N. Clark Smith, E. Stirman, and Norman Black. He began his professional career with Eddie Barefield and played with Earl Hines before the war. He was instrumental in recruiting the Treasure Island band.

Thomas Scates, trombone, began playing music with high school band and before the war was known for freelance work with bands led by Doc Wheeler, Baron Lee, King Kolax, and Blanche Calloway.

Edward Walker, trumpet, began studies of music in Los Angeles. He freelanced with Eddie Barefield, Happy Johnson, Kenny McVey and Coleman Hawkins and also worked with Cootie Williams, King Kolax, Ernie Fields, and the Bill Robinson Show.

 

 

Sources

Alcorn, Alvin. Interview with Richard B. Allen, 30 Nov. 1960. Hogan Jazz Archives, Tulane U, New Orleans.

Allen, John. Email to author. 24 Nov. 2017.

Booker, Bobby. Interview with editor and Frank Driggs, in Hot Jazz: From Harlem to Storyville, ed. by David Griffiths. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow, 1998.

Johnson, R.E. “Gala Cast of 100 in Show, Treasure Island’s Band Features an Array of Talented, Famous Musicians.” The Masthead. San Francisco, CA. 8 April 1944: 1, 4.

Kennedy, Al. Chord Changes on the Chalkboard. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow, 2002.

“Leonard Fields.” Chicago Defender [Nat’l ed]. 6 Mar. 1943: 10.

“Martin V.B. ‘Van’ Kelly, Jr.” Obituary. Legacy.com. 9 Dec. 2012. Web. 6 June 2013.

Morton, Ed “Boogie.” “I’ve Got a Mind to Ramble.”  Interview with Keith S. Clements. Louisville Music News, March 2005. Web. 9 June 2021.

“Navy Apologizes for Joke.” Pittsburg Courier 28 Aug. 1943: 8.

“Navy Band Is about Set with Name Aces.” Chicago Defender 15 August 1942: 23.

The Masthead. January 1943 – December 1945. TreasureIslandMusuem.org/Masthead and collection of the author.

“Oliver Alcorn.” ArtistInfo. Music.metason,net. n.d. Web. 14 Mar. 2023.

Pizzimenti, Joe. Email to author, 15 Mar. 2017.

White, Byron P. “Robert Edward Johnson, Jet Associate Publisher.” Chicago Tribune 28 Dec. 1995. Web. 17 July 2014.

Wicks, Steefenie. Telephone interview with author. 13 Mar. 2014.

“WW II. Treasure Island History.” TreasureIslandMuseum.org. 22 Dec. 2024.

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—Alex Albright
8 January 2025