Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis - Very Saxy / RVG Remasters

with Shirley Scott, George Duvivier, Arthur Edgehill

Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis’s quartet with organist Shirley Scott, bassist George Duvivier, and drummer Arthur Edgehill was one of the swinging wonders of the late 1950s. For Very Saxy, Davis added three fellow tenor saxophonists. But not just any three. They were Coleman Hawkins, who reinvented the tenor as a jazz instrument; Buddy Tate, star of the Basie band and later his own Celebrity Club orchestra; and Arnett Cobb, the uninhibited "Wild Man of the Tenor Sax" who enlivened Lionel Hampton’s band for five years. The album is full of chases, challenges, chesty solos, full-bodied sax ensembles, and an overall feeling of joyful celebration. During a heated moment, one of the musicians yells, "Yow!" That’s a fair summation of this happy date.