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About Bill Doggett

Results for pages tagged "Bill Doggett"...

Musician

William Ballard Doggett was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His mother, a church pianist, introduced him to music when he was 9 years old. By the time he was 15, he had joined a Philadelphia area combo, playing local theaters and clubs while attending high school. He later sold his band to Lucky Millinder, and worked during the 1930s and early 1940s for both Millinder and arranger Jimmy Mundy. In 1942 he was hired as The Ink Spots' pianist and arranger. In 1949, he replaced Wild Bill Davis in Louis Jordan's Tympany Five. It was there that he first achieved success playing the Hammond organ and he is also reputed to have written one of Jordan's biggest hits, "Saturday Night Fish Fry", for which Jordan claimed the writing credit

Article: Profile

Percy France: Live from the West End

by Daniel Gould
August 27, 2026

If you know Percy France, most likely you are a fan of “greasy" organ jazz, particularly on Blue Note Records during their classic era. He was an integral part of Jimmy Smith's Home Cookin' (1959) and Freddie Roach's Down to Earth (1962). Or perhaps you came to jazz through r&b acts like the Bill Doggett combo. The ...

Article: History of Jazz

Honky Tonk at Seventy

by Daniel Gould
May 17, 2026

Seventy years ago this summer, a group of jazz men made a record that became the genre's first million-seller. The group was the Bill Doggett Combo, and the track was “Honky Tonk, Parts 1 & 2" (King, 1956). It sold 4 million copies worldwide and went to #2 (Pop) and #1 (R&B). While Bill Doggett always ...

Article: Interview

Meet Guitarist Adam Levy

by Mike Brannon
November 16, 2025

This article first appeared on All About Jazz in March 2002. Even if you have listened to jazz for a while, you might not have heard of Adam Levy, but you likely will, either through his higher profile efforts, including work with Tracy Chapman, Joey Baron, Sexmob, John Zorn, and now the latest Blue ...

Article: Album Review

Jim Waller Big Band: Bucket List

Read "Bucket List" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
November 5, 2020

One glance at Jim Waller's silver mane is enough to make it clear he is no young lion. In fact, Waller, a veteran composer, arranger and multi-instrumentalist who calls San Antonio, Texas, home, is nearing his eighth decade. Even though Waller's career has been long and successful, there was one item on his Bucket List that ...

News: Event

Jazz Bridge Presents Dizzy Gillespie Play "Last Call at the Downbeat" on April 5-6 and 12-13

February 17, 2013

Last Call at the Downbeat, an original show about Jazz pioneer Dizzy Gillespie’s famous stint at Philadelphia’s Downbeat nightclub in November of 1942, will open in the Red Room of the Society Hill Playhouse—507 South 8th Street in Philadelphia—on Friday April 5th and run through the first two weekends in April (International Jazz Month) ending on ...

Article: Interview

Mike LeDonne: Where There’s Smoke

by Bob Kenselaar
August 27, 2012

Mike LeDonne has more than made his mark in jazz over the years, on both piano and organ. One of the New York jazz scene's premier instrumentalists, he's long been a favorite of fellow musicians. “He is incredible," said the late Oscar Peterson, who once described how he would rush to hear LeDonne play every night ...

Article: Behind the Lens With...

Behind the Lens with C. Andrew Hovan

by C. Andrew Hovan
July 26, 2012

Meet C. Andrew Hovan: A devoted jazz fan since my school days, I have had the great advantage of combining many of my loves in a variety of creative ventures. A musician and writer, I have been an avid photographer since my freshman year in high school. My college studies led me to Boston ...

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News: Performance / Tour

Jazz Bridge Presents Bootsie Barnes at the Mt. Airy Presbyterian Church on Thursday January 13th

December 28, 2010

Appearing at the Mt. Airy Presbyterian Church on Thursday January 13th, 13 E. Mt. Pleasant Ave in Germantown (Philadelphia, PA) will be saxophonist Bootsie Barnes and his band: Duane Eubanks, Lucas Brown, and Byron Landham. $10/$5 for students. One show only. Starts 7:30 p.m. Free refreshments and a Free CD will be given to each person ...

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Article: Bailey's Bundles

The State of Organ Jazz 2010 (Pt. 1): Wayne Escoffery, Dan Pratt and Matthew Kaminski

by C. Michael Bailey
April 13, 2010

Organ-based jazz inhabits a unique place as a sub-genre. The combination of the sacred churchy organ with the decadence of blues and bebop made for a heady brew after the introduction of the format by Wild Bill Davis and Bill Doggett in the 1950s. Qualitatively, the names that loom largest in organ jazz are Jimmy Smith, ...