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Bill Davis
Videos: Wild Bill Davis + Duke
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JazzWax by Marc Myers
Earlier this week, I posted on the tasty genius of organ pioneer Wild Bill Davis. Here are two videos featuring Davis, both with Duke Ellington. On one, he joins the band on Satin Doll. On the other, you get to hear what April in Paris might have sounded like had he made it to the 1955 Count Basie recording session for Verve: Here's Davis's first recording of Ellington-Strayhorn's Satin Doll in 1959 backed bywith George Clarke (ts) Bill Jennings (g) ...
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Wild Bill Davis & Johnny Hodges
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JazzWax by Marc Myers
Before Jimmy Smith, Shirley Scott, Big John Patton, Jimmy McGriff, Brother Jack McDuff, Groove Holmes and all the other organists you know, there was Wild Bill Davis. Born in Missouri, Davis started his recording career in 1945 as organist and arranger for Louis Jordan and His Tympani Five, one of the leading pioneers of rhythm and blues. When Davis left Jordan in 1951, he led a trio and began recording for Okeh. Perhaps his best known recording today is April ...
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Lockjaw Davis + Wild Bill Davis
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JazzWax by Marc Myers
Tenor saxophonist Eddie “Lockjaw" Davis (above) and organist Wild Bill Davis recorded together intermittently in the 1950s, '60s and '70s. Their first session together was in 1959 on Arnett Cobb's Blow, Arnett, Blow for Prestige. Then, they were together on Sonny Stitt's The Matadors Meet The Bull: Stitt for Roulette in 1966. Finally, there was a series of recordings in France in 1976 for the Black & White label. The first was a live date in the town of Chateauneuf ...
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Wild Bill Davis: April in Paris
Source:
JazzWax by Marc Myers
Count Basie's most famous and best-selling recording is April in Paris. Captured at New York's Fine Sound studios in July 1955, the song was arranged by organist Wild Bill Davis. Here's a passage from Chris Albertson's superb liner notes that accompany the Mosaic box, The Complete Clef/Verve Count Basie Fifties Studio Recordings: “Organist Wild Bill Davis wrote this arrangement, giving it a decided organ feel and making other departures that its composer surely welcomed... The touch that makes this arrangement such ...
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