Lem Davis

Lemuel A. "Lem" Davis (* 22. June 1914 in Tampa , Florida ; † 16th January 1970 in New York City ) was an American jazz - saxophonist of Swing .

Live and act

Lem Davis became known for his playing in the smaller ensembles of the 1940s and 1950s, a. a. in the bands of Coleman Hawkins , Rex Stewart and Eddie Heywood . Davis played under his own name a few pieces with Emmett Berry , Vic Dickenson and Dodo Marmarosa ( "Nothing from Nothing" ). As a member of Heywood's band, he was also involved in 1944 recordings of Billie Holiday for Commodore Records ; he also worked with John Kirby , Joe Thomas , Billy Kyle's Big Eight (1946) and Eddie Safranski .

Another session under the direction of Lem Davis took place in March 1946 in a sextet line-up for Savoy Records , in which Neal Hefti , Hal Singer , Sanford Gold , John Simmons and Denzil Best played ( "Theme On The Beam" ). In the 1950s he played in the New York area and had the last opportunity in October 1951 for another session under his own name for the Prestige Records label ; Performers were pianist Teacho Wiltshire, bassist Leonard Gaskin and drummer Teddy Lee. He also accompanied King Pleasure / Blossom Dearie (1952) and took part in an album under the direction of Buck Clayton , which was created at an all-stars jam session ( How Hi The Fi , released 1954 by Columbia). After that, Davis was forgotten when he did not turn to the new musical currents such as bebop . In 1960 he was still working on Bennie Green's Hornful Of Soul album ( Bethlehem Records ).

literature

• Richard Cook , Brian Morton : The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings . 8th edition. Penguin, London 2006, ISBN 0-14-102327-9 .
• Leonard Feather , Ira Gitler : The Biographical Encyclopedia of Jazz . Oxford University Press, Oxford u. a. 1999, ISBN 0-19-532000-X .

Web links

• Discographic information at Jazzdisco.org
• Craig Harris biography at Allmusic