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DAVIS, Eddie 'Lockjaw'

(b 3 March '21, NYC) Aka 'Jaws'. Tenor saxophone. Self-taught; muscular style in funky blues-jazz tradition on the cusp between the Swing Era and modernism, also a fine ballad player: a crowd-pleaser with integrity for decades. With Cootie Williams band '42--4 ('Sweet Lorraine', 'You Talk A Little Trash'), Lucky Millinder, Andy Kirk, Louis Armstrong '44--5; freelanced '45--52 and led own combo, often at Minton's, where unique sense of harmony enabled him to fit in with young turks of bop. Own records prod. '46 by Bob Thiele reissued on Classic Tenors incl. 'Afternoon In A Doghouse', 'Lockjaw' (hence nickname), 'Surgery', 'Athlete's Foot'; led to 'Spinal', 'Fracture', 'Calling Dr Jazz!' etc. Recorded for Savoy, King, Roost, many others '46--57; with Count Basie '52--3: solos on 'Bread', 'Hobnail Boogie', 'Paradise Squat' etc; freelance (played on The Atomic Mr Basie '57); rejoined Basie on tenor and as road manager '66--73; settled in Las Vegas. Played many jazz festivals USA and Europe; often worked with Harry Edison '70s--80s. Own albums on Roulette '57--8, Roost, King, Prestige '58 with organist Shirley Scott, various albums called Cookbook, Smokin', Soul Jazz Giants etc; six more on Prestige '59--60 incl big band Trane Whistle arr. by Gerald Wilson. With Johnny Griffin on Tough Tenors, Griff And Lock and Lookin' At Monk '60--61; then Afro-Jaws '61, Tough Tenor Favorites '62 (with Griffin again), all on Jazzland/Mainstream, Jawbreakers '62 on Riverside with Harry Edison, all later on Fantasy. Two more on Prestige '62, Lock The Fox, The Fox And The Hounds, Love Calls with Paul Gonsalves, all on RCA '66--7; then in Europe: Tough Tenors Again'n'Again '70 with Griffin on MPS/Saba/Pausa, more on Black and Blue, Spotlite, Steeplechase, Storyville; at Montreux with Oscar Peterson '77 on Pablo, in France '78 with Edison on Musica and Vogue, quartets The Heavy Hitter '79 on Muse with Albert Dailey, Jaw's Blues '81 on Enja with Horace Parlan; quintet Jazz At The Philharmonic with Edison on Fantasy and quartet That's All on EPM '83.