Hello, everyone and welcome to the midpoint of the week. We now present to you a hard-drivin', brass-laden, organ-pumpin' two-part instrumental epic from a man they used to call Wild Bill Davis!
Davis is very well-known among jazz enthusiasts as one of the leading organists in the field. In fact, before the emergence of Jimmy Smith in 1956, Davis was considered the top organist out there. Prior to that, though, he played guitar and wrote arrangements with Milt Larkin's band between 1939 and 1942. Then, between 1945 and 1949, he was the pianist for Louis Jordan's Tympany Five. In 1950, he switched to organ and would remain a top practioner all the way up to his death in 1995, playing and recording with such figures as Buddy Tate, Memphis Slim and Lionel Hampton, in addition to his own trios.
I'm assuming this is an early 1960s recording, but what the hey? What matters most is that this piece is as hard-chugging a piece as you can find with Davis wailing away on the organ backed by a brass section, a twangin' guitar riff and a full-on frenetic rhythm section. One can hear the influence of swing with all the horns blarin' in the background, but that only adds to the full-throttle energy of the song and Davis' wailing organ. Check it out and see for yourself.
If anyone out there knows some other Wild Bill Davis recordings I should check out, please feel free to leave a comment or two.
5 comments:
can I go back to your post on Crud about Lonnie Duvall?
No one out your way seems to know him, and I do. I am from his hometown, Greenville Mississippi, and kow about as much about him as anyone, so if you have an interest, let me know! I posted some stuff about him on Crud, but have had no response
Jim, I was the one who posted something in the comments about Lonnie Duvall at Crud Crud. I have one 45 by him and another by a band called the Lancers, where he's listed as songwriter on both sides. Feel free to let me know more about him, if you want. You can email me at tlucas1@onecliq.net
Todd
Brian, I didn't check for a year on this one. Based on the other records that I found it with, I'd guess it's from around 1964.
If you know about this, I apologize, but I strongly recommend, "Bring the Money In"
Brian
For more stuff in this vein, check out Wild Bill's album called "Doin' His Thing". Also noteworthy is "Free, Frantic and Funky"
I have 3 or 4 others but they are not as good. email me at aplegt@yahoo.com if you want to know more about Wild Bill
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