Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis | |
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Background information | |
Birth name | Edward F. Davis |
Born | New York City, U.S. | March 2, 1922
Died | November 3, 1986 64) Culver City, California, U.S. | (aged
Genres | Jazz, swing |
Occupation(s) | Musician |
Instrument(s) | Saxophone |
Labels | Prestige, Riverside, RCA Victor |
Edward F. Davis (March 2, 1922 – November 3, 1986), [1] known professionally as Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis, was an American jazz tenor saxophonist. [2] It is unclear how he acquired the moniker "Lockjaw" (later shortened in "Jaws"): it is either said that it came from the title of a tune or from his way of biting hard on the saxophone mouthpiece. [3] Other theories have been put forward. [4]
Davis played with Cootie Williams, Lucky Millinder, Andy Kirk, Eddie Bonnemère, Louis Armstrong, and Count Basie, as well as leading his own bands and making many recordings as a leader. He played in the swing, bop, hard bop, Latin jazz, and soul jazz genres. Some of his recordings from the 1940s also could be classified as rhythm and blues.
In 1940, when Teddy Hill became the manager of the legendary Minton's Jazz club, he put Eddie Davis in charge of deciding which musicians could, or couldn't, sit in during the jam sessions (playing in this Minton's sessions was coveted by many, including musicians which were not up to the demanding standards of the venue). [5]
His 1946 band, Eddie Davis and His Beboppers, featured Fats Navarro, Al Haig, Huey Long, [6] Gene Ramey and Denzil Best.
In the 1950s, he was playing with Sonny Stitt, while from 1960 to 1962, he and fellow tenor saxophonist Johnny Griffin led a quintet.
Starting in 1955, and up to 1960, Eddie Davis pioneered the tenor sax/Hammond organ combo, in a group featuring Shirley Scott on the Hammond B3. [7]
From the mid-1960s, Davis and Griffin also performed together as part of the Kenny Clarke/Francy Boland Big Band, along with other, mainly European, jazz musicians. [8]
Davis died of Hodgkin's lymphoma in Culver City, California, at the age of 64. [9]
With Mildred Anderson
With Count Basie
With Billy Butler
With Benny Carter
With the Kenny Clarke/Francy Boland Big Band
With Arnett Cobb
With Gene "Mighty Flea" Conners
With Wild Bill Davis
With Harry Edison
With Red Garland
With Dizzy Gillespie
With Al Grey
With Tiny Grimes
With Coleman Hawkins
With Jo Jones
With Quincy Jones
With Al Smith
With Sonny Stitt
Jerome Richardson was an American jazz musician, tenor saxophonist, and flute player, who also played soprano sax, alto sax, baritone sax, clarinet, bass clarinet, alto flute and piccolo. He played with Charles Mingus, Lionel Hampton, Billy Eckstine, The Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra, Kenny Burrell, and later with Earl Hines' small band.
Frank Wellington Wess was an American jazz saxophonist and flutist. In addition to his extensive solo work, Wess is remembered for his time in Count Basie's band from the early 1950s into the 1960s. Critic Scott Yanow described him as one of the premier proteges of Lester Young, and a leading jazz flutist of his era—using the latter instrument to bring new colors to Basie's music.
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John Arnold Griffin III was an American jazz tenor saxophonist. Nicknamed "the Little Giant" for his short stature and forceful playing, Griffin's career began in the mid-1940s and continued until the month of his death. A pioneering figure in hard bop, Griffin recorded prolifically as a bandleader in addition to stints with pianist Thelonious Monk, drummer Art Blakey, in partnership with fellow tenor Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis and as a member of the Kenny Clarke/Francy Boland Big Band after he moved to Europe in the 1960s. In 1995, Griffin was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Music from Berklee College of Music.
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James Howard Smith is an American jazz drummer.
Griff & Lock is an album by saxophonists Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis and Johnny Griffin recorded in 1960 and released on the Jazzland label.
Clifford Arthur Edgehill is an American hard bop jazz drummer active in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, appearing on several of the Prestige recordings recorded at the successive Van Gelder Studios, in Hackensack and Englewood Cliffs, including Mal Waldron's debut album, Mal-1 (1956), but especially with Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis and Shirley Scott.
Benjamin Alexander Riley Jr. was an American jazz drummer known for his work with Thelonious Monk, as well as Alice Coltrane, Stan Getz, Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis, Ahmad Jamal, and as a member of the group Sphere. During the 1970s and 1980s he was a member of the New York Jazz Quartet.
Simply Sweets is an album by trumpeter Harry Edison with saxophonist Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis recorded in 1977 and released by the Pablo label the following year.
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