[Dixielandjazz] Wild Bill Davison

[Charles Suhor]

> Bill (Davison) was his own man who came up listening to Louis (as 'they' all did), Bix and Louis Panico.

Thus is the first time I've seen Louis Panico named in the same sentence with Armstrong and Bix. Can he really have been much of an influence on Wild Bill and his generation? The YouTube pieces by Panico's band don't show a lot that sounds like a jazz pioneer—more like a precursor of the Mickey Mouse bands that persisted for decades in hotels playing "businessman's bounce" tempos for old guys with trophy wives. (I exaggerate, but not by much.) Panico is credited with popularizing the "war-wah" muted trumpet and "laughing cornet" gimmick with Isham Jones, but those hardly merit placement with Satch and Bix. The wah-wah effect is executed brilliantly by Johnny DeDroit at 1:46 in the 1924 "Eccentric Rag" solo below, and other jazzmen had long been bending notes to effectively well before Panico. 
Charlie

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8BJTRDaSY7A


> On Nov 27, 2018, at 4:13 PM, Bill Haesler <bhaesler at bigpond.net.au> wrote:
> 
>> Marek Boym <marekboym at gmail.com> wrote:
>> I have just listened to an off-radio cassette featuring Franz Jackson on the occasion of his then forthcoming visit here.  A few numbers also featured Wild Bill Davison.  According to the announcer (who must have read it in the liner notes to the record), Wild Bill had been referred to as "the white Louis Armstrong."
>> I have never came across such a reference.  Has any of you?
> 
> Dear Marek,
> Yes, it pops up every now-and-then in biographical pieces, including Wikepedia.
> But not applicable, so far as I am concerned.
> Bill was his own man who came up listening to Louis (as 'they' all did), Bix and Louis Panico.
> The original reference to "the white Louis Armstrong" occurred in 1931, when Davison's big band was playing a 'battle of the bands contest' against Tiny Parham's orchestra at the Savoy Ballroom, for which a sign outside announced the appearance of "Wild Bill Davison, the white Louis Armstrong".
> To Bill's astonishment. 
> It was also the first time the term 'Wild' was added to his name, and not immediately adopted.
> Refer to page 100 of Hal Willard's 1996 Davison biography 'The Wildest One. The Life of Wild Bill Davidson' for the full details.
> Cheers,
> Bill.
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