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Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis
Eddie Lockjaw Davis was one musician who provided a link from the big band era through to the soul jazz phenomenon of the late 1950s and early 1960s. Davis developed one of the most unmistakable tenor sax sounds in post war jazz. With a full bodied yet reedy tone that was equally at home in rhythm & blues settings as more modern contexts, his playing always had a direct, singing quality that was a huge influence on the next generation of sax men.
Davis began to make his mark on the jazz scene in New York when he worked at Clark Monroe's Uptown House in the late 30s. Despite this establishment's close ties with the emergence of bebop a few years later, Davis' tenor saxophone playing was rooted in swing and the blues, and early in his career he displayed a marked affinity with the tough school of Texas tenors. In the early 40s he worked with a number of big bands, including those of Cootie Williams, Lucky Millinder and Andy Kirk. He also led his own small group for club and record sessions.
Eddie “Lockjaw” Davis was a pioneer of the tenor-and-organ combo, between 1955-60, he toured and recorded with a unit featuring Shirley Scott on the Hammond B3. In this long-running group, Davis realized his vision of what an organ/tenor combo could achieve. Miss Scott’s taste and light touch on the organ made it possible for Davis to avoid the battering-ram approach and produce music of restraint and taste without sacrificing drive and excitement. After Scott left the band, Davis never really returned to the organ/tenor sound, despite his success with it.
In 1952 Davis made the first of several appearances with the Count Basie band, which extended through the 60s and into the 70s. He was a mainstay at Prestige, and released a long list of fine sessions for that label and for their subsidiary Moodsville. It was with Basie that he made his greatest impact, although in between these stints he continued to lead his own small groups, notably Tough Tenors with Johnny Griffin in the early 60s. As the 1960s came into focus, Chicago tenor saxophonist Johnny Griffin and his New York counterpart, Eddie “Lockjaw” Davis, hooked up for a series of tenor battle albums that were easily a cut above most such recordings. For one thing, both saxophonists were rock solid bop players who were at the peak of their powers. For another, the two tenor men were very compatible in their playing styles and had a lot of mutual respect. “Tough Tenors” is a November, 1960, date. This record delivers an unbeatable program of music delivered by two of the greatest jazz tenors in top form.
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Box It Up!
by Patrick Burnette
Summertime, and the livin' is sweaty--at least for us in the Midwest right now. Along with being the most perspiration-friendly season, Summer is also consecrated to travel, which can make it difficult to align two bastard's schedules. Hence this solo podcast looking at jazz box sets. Yes, the vinyl revival is all grown up enough to get its own self-indulgent shelf-benders and Pat is hear to talk about several of them. Playlist General discussion about boxed sets. 1:20 ...
Continue ReadingVarious Artists: The Birth of Bop
by Richard J Salvucci
Someone famously called jazz the sound of surprise, but all too often, what is on offer is the dull hum of routine. Or something like that. This historic reissue is, however, anything but routine. This is not the first time that Teddy Reig's Savoy sides have been reissued (was he also the mysterious Buck Ram listed as producing one track?), but Craft Recordings took a lot of trouble to produce this very fine selection. If a listener were, ...
Continue ReadingEddie "Lockjaw" Davis with Shirley Scott: Cookin’ with Jaws and the Queen: The Legendary Prestige Cookbook Albums
by Mark Corroto
There is something undeniably hip about the four discs which make up Cookin' With Jaws And The Queen, the music by tenor saxophonist Eddie “Lockjaw" Davis and Hammond B3 organist Shirley Scott. Recorded in three sessions between June and December 1958, at Rudy Van Gelder's studio, which happened to be in his parents' home, the music deftly recreates the soul-jazz experience heard in nightclubs and maybe more significantly on jukeboxes. Davis made a name for himself in the ...
Continue ReadingEddie "Lockjaw" Davis and Shirley Scott: Cookin’ with Jaws and the Queen: The Legendary Prestige Cookbook Albums
by Jim Trageser
In a sign that the art of the box set continues to evolve, and that history never runs in a straight line, a lavishly produced box set of tenor giant Eddie “Lockjaw" Davis and organist Shirley Scott is being released not only on CD but on high grade vinyl LPs and downloads as well. Compare that to Bing Crosby's 1954 set, which came out on seventeen 45s in an actual box with a locking clasp and key.
Continue ReadingA Night At Minton's Playhouse + New Finds And Releases
by David Brown
This week, we visit Minton's Playhouse in Harlem to check out Eddie “Lockjaw" Davis with Johnny Griffin for a two-tenor workout. We'll spin selections from three LP's The First Set, The Midnight Set, and The Late Show all documenting sets performed by the Davis/Griffin Quintet on January 6, 1961. Then, we'll celebrate the sounds of the clavinet electric piano with Les McCann, Herbie Hancock and Sun Ra. Plenty of new releases and old gems are included as well, here on ...
Continue ReadingNew Orbits in Sound + Soulful Sides
by David Brown
Today, we have a variety show of sounds for your enjoyment. First, a bit of a brew of mild avant-garde meets lounge music with Lyle Murphy (inventor of his own 12-tone system) and Gil Mellé (Modern Primitive Music). Things get serious with works from George Russell and the MJQ, before we change it up with a healthy serving of soul sides form Eddie “Lockjaw" Davis = 6127} / {{m: Shirley Scott, The Delvon Lamarr Organ Trio and more. We take ...
Continue ReadingEddie "Lockjaw" Davis & Johnny Griffin Quintet: Tough Tenors Again 'N' Again
by John Kelman
It's been over a year since Promising Music's last series of lovingly remastered and repackaged titles from the classic MPS catalog of the 1960s/70s, but they're back with two 2012 reissues that, once again, demonstrate the breadth and depth of a German label that ran the gamut from straight-ahead to fusion, and from down-and-dirty blues to the freest of the free. First up is Tough Tenors Again 'N' Again, truly a lost 1970 classic of muscular and unrepentantly down-the-middle jazz ...
Continue ReadingBackgrounder: Lockjaw Davis - Lock, the Fox
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JazzWax by Marc Myers
Tenor saxophonist Eddie “Lockjaw" Davis recorded two stupendous albums for RCA in 1966. The first was a sextet album called Lock, the Fox in June. The full album without ads surfaced on YouTube a year ago. The other, The Fox and the Hounds, was a big band album recorded in November. The band was essentially Basie's orchestra without Basie, with arrangements by Bobby Plater. Unfortunately, this one seems to have alluded YouTube completely. Both were produced by Brad McCuen, which ...
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Lockjaw Davis Meets the Hammond
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JazzWax by Marc Myers
Tenor saxophonist Eddie “Lockjaw" Davis was among the first jazz saxophonists who used an organ combo on tour and when recording. Like many horn players who started out in R&B bands along the Chitlin' Circuit in Black communities throughout the upper Midwest in the early 1950s, Davis realized that the Hammond B-3 organ was a moneymaker. Instead of hiring a costly big band, the organ could simulate the spectrum of reed and bass tones and provide excitement. The instrument not ...
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Jazz Musician of the Day: Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis
Source:
Michael Ricci
All About Jazz is celebrating Eddie “Lockjaw" Davis' birthday today!
Eddie Lockjaw Davis was one musician who provided a link from the big band era through to the soul jazz phenomenon of the late 1950s and early 1960s. Davis developed one of the most unmistakable tenor sax sounds in post war jazz. With a full bodied yet reedy tone that was equally at home in rhythm & blues settings as more modern contexts, his playing always had a direct, singing ...
read more
Jazz Musician of the Day: Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis
Source:
Michael Ricci
All About Jazz is celebrating Eddie “Lockjaw" Davis' birthday today!
Eddie Lockjaw Davis was one musician who provided a link from the big band era through to the soul jazz phenomenon of the late 1950s and early 1960s. Davis developed one of the most unmistakable tenor sax sounds in post war jazz. With a full bodied yet reedy tone that was equally at home in rhythm & blues settings as more modern contexts, his playing always had a direct... Read ...
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Lockjaw Meets Gonsalves, 1968
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JazzWax by Marc Myers
I love the three albums that tenor saxophonist Eddie “Lockjaw" Davis recorded for RCA in the mid-1960s. They maximized his badness perfectly, surrounding him with enormously talented artists and arrangers and songs that were perfectly suited to his take-charge sound. The first was Lock the Fox (1966), the second was The Fox & the Hounds (1967) and the third was Love Calls (1968). The wild part is that all three were produced by Brad McCuen, a leading RCA producer from ...
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Jazz Musician of the Day: Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis
Source:
Michael Ricci
All About Jazz is celebrating Eddie “Lockjaw" Davis' birthday today!
Eddie Lockjaw Davis was one musician who provided a link from the big band era through to the soul jazz phenomenon of the late 1950s and early 1960s. Davis developed one of the most unmistakable tenor sax sounds in post war jazz. With a full bodied yet reedy tone that was equally at home in rhythm & blues settings as more modern contexts, his playing always had a direct... Read ...
read more
Jazz Musician of the Day: Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis
Source:
Michael Ricci
All About Jazz is celebrating Eddie “Lockjaw" Davis' birthday today!
Eddie Lockjaw Davis was one musician who provided a link from the big band era through to the soul jazz phenomenon of the late 1950s and early 1960s. Davis developed one of the most unmistakable tenor sax sounds in post war jazz. With a full bodied yet reedy tone that was equally at home in rhythm & blues settings as more modern contexts, his playing always had a direct... Read ...
read more
Jazz Musician of the Day: Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis
Source:
Michael Ricci
All About Jazz is celebrating Eddie “Lockjaw" Davis' birthday today!
Eddie Lockjaw Davis was one musician who provided a link from the big band era through to the soul jazz phenomenon of the late 1950s and early 1960s. Davis developed one of the most unmistakable tenor sax sounds in post war jazz. With a full bodied yet reedy tone that was equally at home in rhythm & blues settings as more modern contexts, his playing always had a direct... Read ...
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Lockjaw Davis + Wild Bill Davis
Source:
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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"Lockjaw" Davis: Jaws in Orbit
Source:
JazzWax by Marc Myers
For jazz to ignite on record, there needs to be three factors in place. First, you need the right combination of artists, which is harder than it may seem. We've all listened to albums that fall flat despite a stellar personnel. Second, you need the artists in the right frame of mind—meaning all in the same groove. And third, you need the right producer who is passionate about the session, selects the right mix of songs and inspires the musicians ...
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Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis
Instrument: Saxophone, tenor
Born: March 2, 1922
Died: November 3, 1986
