Tenor saxophone.
While a student at Garfield High School, Tolles, self-taught, founded a swing band, the Savoy boys, thatt featured contemporaries who would go on to make lasting contributions, including saxophonist Gerald Brashear, trumpeter Sonny Booker, trombonist Major Pigford and pianist Kenny Boas. The band took its name from the venue where it played, the Savoy Ballroom, at 21st Avenue and East Madison Street. After graduating from A &T College in North Carolina in 1948, Tolles was in and out of Seattle for the next 10 years, forging a reputation as a hot, soulful bebopper and Seattle rock’n’roll pioneer, forming a rock band in 1951 and hosting a TV show in 1956 on Channel 13, “Rock’n’Roll Party.” Tolles performed with bassist Bob Marshall and band leader Bumps Blackwell and also booked early R&B acts such as T-Bone Walker and James Brown. Tolles moved to Denver in 1966, where he became an institution on the jazz scene, headlining his own group for several decades.
Jackson Street After Hours (print). https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/billy-tolles-ex-seattleite-saxophonist-dies-at-81/