Wild Bill Davison
Encyclopedia
'Wild' Bill Davison was a fiery jazz
cornet
player who emerged in the 1920s, but did not achieve recognition until the 1940s. He is best remembered for his association with the bandleader
Eddie Condon
, with whom he worked and recorded from the mid-1940s through to the 1960s.
His nickname 'Wild Bill' reflected a reputation for heavy drinking and womanising (Anne Stewart was his fourth wife). His cornet style was generally hot and powerful, but could also be delicately melodic. The poet Philip Larkin
, a fan, described his playing thus:
Richard M. Sudhalter described first seeing Wild Bill at Eddie Condon's Club in New York City
in the 1950s:
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...
cornet
Cornet
The cornet is a brass instrument very similar to the trumpet, distinguished by its conical bore, compact shape, and mellower tone quality. The most common cornet is a transposing instrument in B. It is not related to the renaissance and early baroque cornett or cornetto.-History:The cornet was...
player who emerged in the 1920s, but did not achieve recognition until the 1940s. He is best remembered for his association with the bandleader
Bandleader
A bandleader is the leader of a band of musicians. The term is most commonly, though not exclusively, used with a group that plays popular music as a small combo or a big band, such as one which plays jazz, blues, rhythm and blues or rock and roll music....
Eddie Condon
Eddie Condon
Albert Edwin Condon , better known as Eddie Condon, was a jazz banjoist, guitarist, and bandleader. A leading figure in the so-called "Chicago school" of early Dixieland, he also played piano and sang on occasion....
, with whom he worked and recorded from the mid-1940s through to the 1960s.
Early life
Born William Edward Davison; son of Edward and Anna (Kreps) Davison; married Anne Stewart (stage name of Anne Hendlin McLaughlin), 1954.His nickname 'Wild Bill' reflected a reputation for heavy drinking and womanising (Anne Stewart was his fourth wife). His cornet style was generally hot and powerful, but could also be delicately melodic. The poet Philip Larkin
Philip Larkin
Philip Arthur Larkin, CH, CBE, FRSL is widely regarded as one of the great English poets of the latter half of the twentieth century...
, a fan, described his playing thus:
- "...a player of notable energy, he uses a wide range of conscious tonal distortions, heavy vibratoVibratoVibrato is a musical effect consisting of a regular, pulsating change of pitch. It is used to add expression to vocal and instrumental music. Vibrato is typically characterised in terms of two factors: the amount of pitch variation and the speed with which the pitch is varied .-Vibrato and...
, and an urgent, bustling attack. At slow tempos he is melting, almost articulate. Humphrey Lyttelton has compared him with the kind of reveler who throws his arm round your neck one moment and tries to knock you down the next."
- "All the same, his stylistic mannerisms-the deep hoarse blurrings, the athletic in-front-of-the-beat timing, the flaring shakes-are highly conscious (the 'Wild' is more a personal than a musical sobriquet), and, imposed as they are on a conventional Armstrong basis, make Davison one of the most exciting of white small-band cornetists. His sessions with Sidney BechetSidney BechetSidney Bechet was an American jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, and composer.He was one of the first important soloists in jazz , and was perhaps the first notable jazz saxophonist...
for Blue NoteBlue noteIn jazz and blues, a blue note is a note sung or played at a slightly lower pitch than that of the major scale for expressive purposes. Typically the alteration is a semitone or less, but this varies among performers and genres. Country blues, in particular, features wide variations from the...
are collisions of two furious jazz talents which at the same time were oddly sympathetic, and prove his ability to play in any kind of milieu; his numerous sides in the Condon tradition show him uniting with (Pee Wee) Russell in the same way. But solo after solo demonstrates that he is not a 'wild' player: each note is perfectly shaped and pitched as if the cornet were his speaking voice, in the style of his favorites (Louis) ArmstrongLouis ArmstrongLouis Armstrong , nicknamed Satchmo or Pops, was an American jazz trumpeter and singer from New Orleans, Louisiana....
and (Bobby) HackettBobby HackettRobert Leo "Bobby" Hackett was an US jazz musician who played trumpet, cornet and guitar with the bands of Glenn Miller and Benny Goodman in the late thirties and early forties.-Biography:...
, and with an emotional immediacy always hard to parallel."
Richard M. Sudhalter described first seeing Wild Bill at Eddie Condon's Club in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
in the 1950s:
- "Up there, incredibly, is Bill Davison himself, looking like anything *but* the standard image of the cornet or trumpet player. Not like Louis ArmstrongLouis ArmstrongLouis Armstrong , nicknamed Satchmo or Pops, was an American jazz trumpeter and singer from New Orleans, Louisiana....
, horn tilted up and eyes rolled back as the tone takes flight; not like Maxie KaminskyMax Kaminsky (musician)Max Kaminsky was a jazz trumpeter and bandleader of his own orchestra .-Biography:Kaminsky was born in Brockton, Massachusetts...
, so tiny that his instrument seems gigantic in his hands. Not like Bix BeiderbeckeBix BeiderbeckeLeon Bismark "Bix" Beiderbecke was an American jazz cornetist, jazz pianist, and composer.With Louis Armstrong, Beiderbecke was one of the most influential jazz soloists of the 1920s...
, in some old photo or other, dented cornet pointed resolutely to the floor.
- "Nope. This guy is seated, one leg crossed casually over the other, drink on an upended barrel in front of him. He sweeps the cornet into the side of his mouth to expel some supercharged phrase, then jerks it away as if it's too hot to keep there. And I realize, awe-struck, he's chewing *gum*! Where in the world does he *keep* that stuff when he's blowing?
- "In short, he looked just the way he sounded - like a guy from Ohio (a town named, aptly, Defiance) with a fierce, uninhibited way of attacking the beat, driving a band of whatever size halfway into tomorrow. The music comes out as from a flame-thrower, but with a density and momentum only suggested by even the best (of his) records".