Vertna Saunders

Vertna Saunders was an African-American cornettist and trumpet player based in the Missouri jazz scene of the early 20th century. Saunders was in the University of Kansas Band and became established as a jazz musician in Kansas City, Missouri.[1] He visited New Orleans while performing on a riverboat.[2] Saunders joined Eddie Johnson's band in 1934[3] and worked with Lester Young at that time.[1] He learned to read music from a fellow jazz musician.[2]

Saunders performed with the St. Louis Blue Devils in the late 1930s and early 1940s, with performances at the Villa Valencia Club in Springfield, Illinois.[3] He first encountered Miles Davis while playing with Buggs Roberts at the West End Waiters Club.[3] In the 1940s, both Saunders and Davis played with St. Louis Blue Devils under the leadership of Eddie Randle, who was also treasurer of the black musicians union in St. Louis.[3] He was one of many St. Louis jazz musicians, white and black, who served in various military branches during WWII.[3] He performed with Singleton Palmer’s band in 1952.[1] He served in the Army until his discharge in 1956.[1] Saunders was interviewed by Dan Havens on April 5, 1982, for the National Ragtime and Jazz Archive, located in Lovejoy Library at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville.[1]