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Wild Bill Davison

Like a select group of other jazz instrumentalists, cornetist Wild Bill Davison had a talent that lives on long after his death. More than a decade after Davison died at the age of 83, record companies continue to reissue some of the more than 800 songs he recorded during his 70-year career. Jazz aficionados never tire of talking about some of the more memorable engagements played by the colorful Davison around the world.

Davison did not come by his lifelong nickname accidentally. He was a heavy drinker beginning in his teens and was known as a womanizer. Davison went through four wives before he finally got the knack of married life, settling down to a relatively monogamous relationship with his fifth wife—and love of his life—Anne Stewart. Heavy drinking and womanizing were the two most obvious characteristics that made Davison truly wild. He also enjoyed a reputation for playful antics and kleptomania as well.

In fact, given his wild streak, it's particularly amazing that Davison was a musician of such memorable ability. Beginning in childhood, he had displayed an unfailing ability to commit to memory every song he heard, and his natural ear for pitch amazed even his fellow musicians. It's equally amazing that even with a life of such excesses, Davison retained his musical abilities until the very end of his life. He practiced daily into his 80s and spent the final two decades of his life playing concert dates in Europe, where his music was extraordinarily popular.

William Edward Davison was born on January 5, 1906, in the northwest Ohio town of Defiance. The son of Edward Davison, an itinerant worker, and Anna Kreps Davison, a homemaker, he was raised by his maternal grandparents from the age of seven on. Davison displayed a love for music, as well as a natural ability to master musical instruments, at an early age. He first learned to play the mandolin, guitar, and banjo. He joined the Boy Scouts mostly because it provided an opportunity for him to learn the bugle. At age 12 he graduated from the bugle to the cornet. The sharper tones of the trumpet never really appealed to Davison, and he stayed with the cornet for the entirety of his musical career. His ear for music was so keen that after hearing a song only once he could reproduce its melody perfectly and elaborate on it with perfect chord progressions and harmonic improvisation. His ability to read music was limited, but it was a skill that he really did not need for the style of music that most interested him.

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6
Album Review

Wild Bill Davison: The Danish Sessions

Read "The Danish Sessions" reviewed by Chris Mosey


Wild Bill Davison was aptly described by Humphrey Lyttelton as the kind of drunken reveller who throws his arms around your neck one moment and tries to knock you down the next. Aside from his drinking, Wild Bill was, more importantly, a white Dixieland cornet player of considerable ability, with a fierce, uninhibited attack, whose heroes were Louis Armstrong and Bobby Hackett. Author and jazz trumpeter Richard M. Sudhalter saw Davison for the first time at Eddie ...

10
Getting Into Jazz

The Commodore Master Takes

Read "The Commodore Master Takes" reviewed by Mark Barnett


Getting Started If you're new to jazz, go to our Getting Into Jazz primer for some hints on how to listen. CD Capsule Take a generous scoop of traditional New Orleans jazz, with its intricate three-horn counterpoint, add a hard-driving, hell-for-leather beat, shake well, and you've got Chicago-style jazz. No one made Chicago-style more exciting than cornetist Wild Bill Davison, and these recordings catch him and his cohorts at the top of their game. ...

6
Album Review

Wild Bill Davison: The Jazz Giants

Read "The Jazz Giants" reviewed by Hrayr Attarian


Cornetist Wild Bill Davison had a fiery, extroverted approach to playing that originated in the 1920s Chicago and mirrored his hard living. By 1968, when he recorded The Jazz Giants for the Canadian label Sackville, he had mellowed and his tone had become more melodic. A democratic leader, Davison allows the five, underrated practitioners of “prebop jazz," who join him on the date, plenty of room in the spotlight. The result is a collaborative effort that comprises delightful interpretation of ...

249
Album Review

Wild Bill Davison: Wild Bill Davison: Pretty Wild & With Strings Attached

Read "Wild Bill Davison: Pretty Wild & With Strings Attached" reviewed by Mike Neely


Wild Bill Davison did not always front a go-for-broke Dixieland band playing his cornet above a high-octane rhythm section. Arbors Records has reissued two albums featuring Davison with strings. Pretty Wild and With Strings Attached, originally recorded in 1956 and 1957, reveal a lyrical, reflective Davison playing ballads and slow to medium tempo standards. This other side of Wild Bill Davison, a very attractive one, adds dimension to his reputation.On Pretty Wild Davison plays with a jazz quartet ...

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Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

The Danish Sessions

Storyville Records
2017

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The Jazz Giants

Delmark Records
2015

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In Copenhagen

Sound Triangle Records
2008

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Wild Bill Davidson

Unknown label
2007

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Wild Bill Davison:...

Columbia Records
2000

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