Eddie "Lockjaw "Davis

The screaming wail of Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis' tenor saxophone became a thrilling, iconic sound of be-bop in the mid-1950s and led the virtuoso to play with some of the greats of jazz, including Count Basie, Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald. Born in New York City, Davis started out playing in Harlem clubs in the 1940s and led his band Eddie Davis and the Bepobbers in wild, riotous R&B jams that became a notorious fixture of the era. By the 1950s "Jaws" led an equally spirited, though slightly more refined swing trio and released several albums with organist Shirley Scott, which won great acclaim. A self-taught musician with a huge personality, his regular runs with Count Basie further enhanced his reputation as a performer and soloist and he duelled with fellow sax man Johnny Griffin as The Tough Tenors on several albums including Griff & Lock (1960), The First Set (1961) and Tough Tenor Favourites (1962). In later years he played with trumpeter Harry Edison and toured Europe with the Kenny Clarke/Francy Boland Big Band before his death in 1986, aged 64, from cancer.

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