Wild Bill Davis
Encyclopedia
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
pianist
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
, organist
Organist
An organist is a musician who plays any type of organ. An organist may play solo organ works, play with an ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers or instrumental soloists...
, and arranger William Strethen Davis.
Davis was born in Glasgow, Missouri
Glasgow, Missouri
Glasgow is a city in Chariton and Howard counties in the U.S. state of Missouri. The population was 1,263 at the 2000 census.The Howard County portion of Glasgow is part of the Columbia, Missouri Metropolitan Statistical Area.-Geography:...
. He is best known for his pioneering jazz electronic organ
Electronic organ
An electronic organ is an electronic keyboard instrument which was derived from the harmonium, pipe organ and theatre organ. Originally, it was designed to imitate the sound of pipe organs, theatre organs, band sounds, or orchestral sounds....
recordings and for his tenure with the Tympany Five
Tympany Five
Tympany Five was a successful rhythm and blues and jazz dance band founded by Louis Jordan in 1938. The group was composed of a horn section of three to five different pieces and also drums, double bass, guitar and piano. After playing in Chicago at the Capitol Lounge in 1941, Jordan and his band...
, the legendary backing group for Louis Jordan
Louis Jordan
Louis Thomas Jordan was a pioneering American jazz, blues and rhythm & blues musician, songwriter and bandleader who enjoyed his greatest popularity from the late 1930s to the early 1950s. Known as "The King of the Jukebox", Jordan was highly popular with both black and white audiences in the...
. Prior to the emergence of Jimmy Smith
Jimmy Smith (musician)
Jimmy Smith was a jazz musician whose performances on the Hammond B-3 electric organ helped to popularize this instrument...
in 1956, Davis (whom Smith had reportedly first seen playing organ in the 1930s) was the pacesetter among organists.
He originally played guitar and wrote arrangements for Milt Larkin
Milt Larkin
Milt Larkin was an American jazz trumpeter and bandleader.Larkin was an autodidact on the trumpet, and got his start playing in Texas in the 1930s with Chester Boone and Giles Mitchell...
's Texas-based big band during 1939–1942, a band which also included Arnett Cobb
Arnett Cobb
Arnett Cobb was an American jazz tenor saxophonist.Cobb was born Arnette Cleophus Cobbs in Houston, Texas. His musical career began with the local bands of Chester Boone, from 1934 to 1936, and Milt Larkin, from 1936 to 1942...
, Illinois Jacquet
Illinois Jacquet
Jean-Baptiste Illinois Jacquet was an American jazz tenor saxophonist, best remembered for his solo on "Flying Home", critically recognized as the first R&B saxophone solo....
, and Tom Archia
Tom Archia
Ernest Alvin Archia, Jr. , was a jazz tenor saxophonist. He took "Texas Tom" as his marquee name.Archia was born, in Groveton, Texas...
on horns. After leaving the Larkin orchestra, Davis worked in Chicago as a pianist, recording with Buster Bennett
Buster Bennett
Buster Bennett was an American blues saxophonist and vocalist. At various times in his career, he played the soprano saxophone, the alto, and the tenor. He was known for his gutbucket style on the saxophone...
in 1945. He played a crucial role as the pianist-arranger in Louis Jordan's Tympany Five (1945–1947) at the peak of their success. After leaving Jordan, he returned to Chicago for a time, recording again with Buster Bennett and working with Claude McLin
Claude McLin
Claude McLin was a jazz tenor saxophonist.A graduate of DuSable High School, he was in a "baby band" with Johnny Griffin and Wilbur Campbell in the spring of 1944....
. After switching from piano to organ, Davis moved to the East Coast. In 1950, he began leading an influential trio of organ, guitar, and drums, which recorded for OKeh.
Davis was originally supposed to record "April in Paris" with Count Basie
Count Basie
William "Count" Basie was an American jazz pianist, organist, bandleader, and composer. Basie led his jazz orchestra almost continuously for nearly 50 years...
's Orchestra in 1955 but when he could not make the session, Basie used his arrangement for the full band and had a major hit.
In addition to working with his own groups in the 1960s, Davis made several albums with his friend Johnny Hodges
Johnny Hodges
John Cornelius "Johnny" Hodges was an American alto saxophonist, best known for his solo work with Duke Ellington's big band. He played lead alto in the saxophone section for many years, except the period between 1932–1946 when Otto Hardwick generally played first chair...
, leading to tours during 1969–1971 with Duke Ellington
Duke Ellington
Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington was an American composer, pianist, and big band leader. Ellington wrote over 1,000 compositions...
. In the 1970s he recorded for the Black & Blue Records
Black & Blue Records
Black & Blue Records is a French record label specializing in swing jazz and blues.Black & Blue was founded in 1968, and in its early years concentrated on reissuing jazz that had been previously released on American labels. The label recorded Blues and Jazz musicians both in America and France and...
label with a variety of swing all-stars, and he also played with Lionel Hampton
Lionel Hampton
Lionel Leo Hampton was an American jazz vibraphonist, pianist, percussionist, bandleader and actor. Like Red Norvo, he was one of the first jazz vibraphone players. Hampton ranks among the great names in jazz history, having worked with a who's who of jazz musicians, from Benny Goodman and Buddy...
, appearing at festivals through the early 1990s.
Discography
- Sweet and Hot (Riverside RecordsRiverside RecordsRiverside Records was a United States record label specializing in jazz. Founded by Orrin Keepnews and Bill Grauer under his firm Bill Grauer Productions, Inc. in 1953, the label was a major presence in the jazz record industry for a decade...
) - 1953: On The Loose (Epic)
- 1955: Wild Bill Davis At Birdland (Columbia)with Floyd Smith(guitar), Chris Columbus(drums)
- 1958: Wild Bill Davis Swings Hit Songs From "My Fair LadyMy Fair LadyMy Fair Lady is a musical based upon George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion and with book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe...
" (Everest RecordsEverest RecordsEverest Records was a stereophonic record label based in Bayside, Long Island started by Harry D. Belock and Bert Whyte in May 1958. It was devoted mainly to classical music.-History:...
) with Maurice SimonMaurice SimonMaurice James Simon is a jazz saxophonist.A high school classmate of Eric Dolphy Simon appears on an early 1945 Los Angeles recording in a band led by Russell "Illinois" Jacquet and which also included Teddy Edwards, Charles Mingus, Bill Davis and Chico Hamilton.In 1948, again with Jacquet as...
, Jo JonesJo JonesJo Jones was an American jazz drummer.Known as Papa Jo Jones in his later years, he was sometimes confused with another influential jazz drummer, Philly Joe Jones...
, Milt HintonMilt HintonMilton John "Milt" Hinton , "the dean of jazz bass players," was an American jazz double bassist and photographer. He was nicknamed "The Judge".-Biography:... - 1959: In The Groove! (Fresh Sound, 1959–60) with George ClarkeGeorge ClarkeGeorge Clarke , the son of Sir William Clarke, enrolled at Brasenose College, Oxford in 1676. He was elected a Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford in 1680. He became Judge Advocate to the Army and was William III of England's Secretary at War from 1690 to 1704...
, Bill Jennings (guitarist), Grady TateGrady TateGrady Tate, , is a hard bop and soul-jazz drummer and singer.He has played with Lional Hampton, Jimmy Smith, Grant Green, Lena Horne, Astrud Gilberto, Ella Fitzgerald, Miles Davis, Blossom Dearie, Chris Connor, Sarah Vaughan, Ray Charles, Cal Tjader, Peggy Lee, Bill Evans, Duke Ellington, Count... - 1959: In A Mellow Tone (same)
- 1960: Dis Heah (Everest)
- 1964: Free Frantic And Funky (RCA)
- 1964: Blue Rabbit with Johnny HodgesJohnny HodgesJohn Cornelius "Johnny" Hodges was an American alto saxophonist, best known for his solo work with Duke Ellington's big band. He played lead alto in the saxophone section for many years, except the period between 1932–1946 when Otto Hardwick generally played first chair...
(Verve) - 1965: Con Soul And Sax with Johnny HodgesJohnny HodgesJohn Cornelius "Johnny" Hodges was an American alto saxophonist, best known for his solo work with Duke Ellington's big band. He played lead alto in the saxophone section for many years, except the period between 1932–1946 when Otto Hardwick generally played first chair...
(RCA) - 1965: Wings and Things with Johnny HodgesJohnny HodgesJohn Cornelius "Johnny" Hodges was an American alto saxophonist, best known for his solo work with Duke Ellington's big band. He played lead alto in the saxophone section for many years, except the period between 1932–1946 when Otto Hardwick generally played first chair...
(Verve) - 1966: Live At Count Basie's (RCA)
- 1966: In Atlantic City with Johnny HodgesJohnny HodgesJohn Cornelius "Johnny" Hodges was an American alto saxophonist, best known for his solo work with Duke Ellington's big band. He played lead alto in the saxophone section for many years, except the period between 1932–1946 when Otto Hardwick generally played first chair...
(RCA) - 1966: Midnight to Dawn (RCA)
- 1967: Doin' His Thing (RCA)
- 1976: Live with Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis (Black And Blue)
- 1986: Live at Swiss Radio Studio Zürich (Jazz Connaisseur) with Clifford Scott, Dickie Thompson, Clyde Lucas
- 1986: Greatest Organ Solos Ever (Jazz Connaisseur)
- 1987: 70th/30th Anniversary Live Concert LP together with Austrian Jazz organist T.C. Pfeiler http://www.tcpfeiler.com
- 1990: That's All with Plas JohnsonPlas JohnsonPlas John Johnson Jr. is an American soul-jazz and hard bop tenor saxophonist, probably most familiar as the lead on Henry Mancini’s "The Pink Panther Theme"....
(Jazz Connaisseur)