You may be familiar with this phrase: "the music is rippling on softly." Well, that does not apply to Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis. When he starts with his powerful, 'red hot' tenor sax, he immediately creates an excited, energetic atmosphere; the meters of the recording equipment will often have run dangerously into the red. His playing is easily recognizable from countless other tenor players. After the
… first notes there is no escape, these sounds give the listener an inexorable boost of energy and he swings from beginning to end. In celebration of his eightieth birthday, three CDs have been released. On the first disc we find work from the fifties, the second deals with the sixties and the third contains work from the seventies and eighties. Davis was usually classified as 'mainstream' for convenience, between swing and bop. And while that is undoubtedly true, it does not give a good idea of his incredible vitality, creativity and progressive harmonies and rhythms (for example the rhythm & blues elements in his music). Three CDs to swing to the old fashioned way again. (RM)more
