Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis
Davis (March 2, 1922 – November 3, 1986), known professionally as Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis, was an American jazz tenor saxophonist. It is unclear how he acquired the moniker "Lockjaw" (later shortened to "Jaws"): it is either said that it came from the title of a tune or from his way of biting hard on the saxophone mouthpiece. Other theories have been put forward.
Also recorded as Eddie Davis
Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis
- Name
- Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis
- Birth Name
- Edward F.
- Born
- 2 March 1922
- Birthplace
- New York City, U.S.
- Died
- 3 November 1986
- Place of death
- Culver City, California, U.S.
- Occupation
- Musician
- Nationality
- United States
- Fields
- jazz · Dixieland jazz
VALÉORINE Encyclopedia
VALÉORINE documentary reading
Documentary summary
Davis (March 2, 1922 – November 3, 1986), known professionally as Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis, was an American jazz tenor saxophonist. It is unclear how he acquired the moniker "Lockjaw" (later shortened to "Jaws"): it is either said that it came from the title of a tune or from his way of biting hard on the saxophone mouthpiece. Other theories have been put forward.
Admitted source layer · organised and presented by VALÉORINE
Reference Check
Propose documentary evidence for Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis. A contribution is never written directly as fact: identity, source, rights and evidence gates still decide.
Sign in to contribute
World of VALÉORINE
Documentary connections
Only confirmed graph relationships appear here. Images are shown only when their identity and reuse rights both pass the documentary gate.
Documentary evidence
Documentary basis
Authority files
gnd · 5250209-0 · wikidata · Q1282884 · wikipedia · Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis
In this article
Biography
Biography
Davis worked between 1922 and 1986 across saxophonist, jazz musician, composer, recording artist and musician. The registers place that work in jazz and Dixieland jazz. This article rests on 98 catalogued compositions, 115 issued recordings and 5 scholarly references drawn from named institutional registers. Every statement below returns to a source shown in the evidence panel; where the record is silent or divided, the article says so instead of resolving it.
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis • Birth Name — Edward F. Davis • Born — 2 March 1922 • Birthplace — New York City, U.S. • Died — 3 November 1986 • Place of death — Culver City, California, U.S. • Genre — Jazz, swing • Occupation — Musician • Instrument — Saxophone • Label — Prestige, Riverside, RCA Victor
Biography
Biography
Davis played with Cootie Williams, Lucky Millinder, Andy Kirk, Eddie Bonnemère, Louis Armstrong, and Count Basie, as well as leading his own bands and making many recordings as a leader. He played in the swing, bop, hard bop, Latin jazz, and soul jazz genres. Some of his recordings from the 1940s also could be classified as rhythm and blues. In 1940, when Teddy Hill became the manager of the legendary Minton's Jazz club, he put Eddie Davis in charge of deciding which musicians could, or couldn't, sit in during the jam sessions (playing in this Minton's sessions was coveted by many, including musicians which were not up to the demanding standards of the venue). His 1946 band, Eddie Davis and His Beboppers, featured Fats Navarro, Al Haig, Huey Long, Gene Ramey and Denzil Best. In the 1950s, he was playing with Sonny Stitt, while from 1960 to 1962, he and fellow tenor saxophonist Johnny Griffin led a quintet. Starting in 1955, and up to 1960, Eddie Davis pioneered the tenor sax/Hammond organ combo, in a group featuring Shirley Scott on the Hammond B3. From the mid-1960s, Davis and Griffin also performed together as part of the Kenny Clarke/Francy Boland Big Band, along with other, mainly European, jazz musicians. Davis died of Hodgkin's lymphoma in Culver City, California, at the age of 64.
As leader/co-leader
As leader/co-leader
• 1954: Goodies from Eddie Davis (Roost [10" LP]) • 1955: The Battle of Birdland [live] (Roost) – with Sonny Stitt • 1956: Modern Jazz Expressions (King) • 1956: Jazz With a Horn (King) – also released as This and That (King, 1959) • 1956–57: Jazz With a Beat (King) – with Shirley Scott; released 1958 • 1957: Big Beat Jazz (King) – released 1958 • 1957: Uptown (King) – released 1958 • 1957: Count Basie Presents Eddie Davis Trio + Joe Newman (Roulette) • 1958: Eddie Davis Trio Featuring Shirley Scott, Organ (Roulette) • 1958: The Eddie Davis Trio Featuring Shirley Scott, Organ (Roost) • 1958: The Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis Cookbook, Vol. 1 (Prestige) – with Shirley Scott, Jerome Richardson; also released as In the Kitchen (Prestige, 1969) • 1958: Jaws (Prestige) – with Shirley Scott • 1958: The Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis Cookbook, Vol. 2 (Prestige) – with Shirley Scott, Jerome Richardson; also released as The Rev (Prestige, 1970) • 1958: The Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis Cookbook Volume 3 (Prestige) – with Shirley Scott, Jerome Richardson; released 1961 • 1958: Smokin [the 4th volume in the Cookbook series] (Prestige) – with Shirley Scott, Jerome Richardson; released 1964 • 1959: Very Saxy (Prestige) – with Buddy Tate, Coleman Hawkins, Arnett Cobb • 1959: Jaws in Orbit (Prestige) – with Steve Pulliam, Shirley Scott • 1959: Bacalao (Prestige) – with Shirley Scott • 1960: Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis with Shirley Scott (Moodsville) note: Scott also on piano • 1960: Misty (Moodsville) – with Shirley Scott; released 1963 • 1960: Afro-Jaws (Riverside) – with Ray Barretto; also released as Alma Alegre (Jazzland, 1964) • 1960: Battle Stations (Prestige) – with Johnny Griffin, Norman Simmons; released 1963 • 1960: Trane Whistle (Prestige) – with big band arranged by Oliver Nelson, Ernie Wilkins • 1960: Tough Tenors (Jazzland) – with Johnny Griffin, Junior Mance • 1960: Griff & Lock (Jazzland) – with Johnny Griffin, Junior Mance; released 1961 • 1961: The Tenor Scene (Prestige) – with Johnny Griffin, Junior Mance; also released as The Breakfast Show (Prestige, 1966) • 1961: The First Set (Prestige) – with Johnny Griffin, Junior Mance; released 1964 • 1961: The Midnight Show (Prestige) – with Johnny Griffin, Junior Mance; released 1965 • 1961: The Late Show (Prestige) – with Johnny Griffin, Junior Mance; released 1965 • 1961: Lookin' at Monk! (Jazzland) – with Johnny Griffin, Junior Mance • 1961: Blues Up & Down (Jazzland) – with Johnny Griffin, Lloyd Mayers; released 1962 • 1962: Tough Tenor Favorites (Jazzland) – with Johnny Griffin, Horace Parlan • 1962: Jawbreakers (Riverside) – with Harry "Sweets" Edison • 1962: Goin' to the Meeting (Prestige) – with Horace Parlan • 1962: I Only Have Eyes for You (Prestige) – with Don Patterson; released 1963 • 1962: Trackin (Prestige) – with Don Patterson; released 1963 • 1966: Lock, the Fox (RCA Victor) – with Ross Tompkins • 1967: The Fox & the Hounds (RCA Victor) – with big band arranged by Bobby Plater • 1968: Love Calls (RCA Victor) – with Paul Gonsalves • 1970: Tough Tenors Again 'n' Again (MPS) – with Johnny Griffin • 1974: Leapin' on Lenox (Black & Blue) • 1975: The Tenor Giants Featuring Oscar Peterson (Pablo) – with Zoot Sims • 1975: Light and Lovely (Black & Blue) – with Harry "Sweets" Edison • 1975: Chewin' the Fat (Spotlite) • 1976: Jaws Strikes Again (Black & Blue) – with Wild Bill Davis • 1976: Swingin' Till the Girls Come Home (SteepleChase; Inner City) • 1976: Straight Ahead (Pablo) • 1976: Lockjaw with Sweets (Storyville) – with Harry "Sweets" Edison • 1976: Opus Funk (Storyville) – with Harry "Sweets" Edison • 1977: Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis 4 – Montreux '77 (Pablo) • 1977: Simply Sweets (Pablo) – with Harry "Sweets" Edison, Dolo Coker • 1978: Midnight Slows Vol. 10 (Black & Blue) – with Bill Doggett • 1979: The Heavy Hitter (Muse) • 1981: Jaw's Blues (Enja) – with Horace Parlan; released 1986 • 1981: Sonny, Sweets & Jaws – Recorded Live at Bubba's (Who's Who in Jazz) – with Sonny Stitt, Harry "Sweets" Edison • 1983: Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis/Harry "Sweets" Edison/Al Grey – Jazz at the Philharmonic 1983 (Pablo) – recorded 1982 • 1983: All of Me (SteepleChase) – with Kenny Drew • 1983: Jazz at the Philharmonic – Yoyogi National Stadium, Tokyo 1983: Return to Happiness (Pablo) • 1984: Tough Tenors Back Again! (Storyville) – with Johnny Griffin; released 1998
As sideman
As sideman
With Mildred Anderson • Person to Person (Bluesville, 1960) – with Shirley Scott With Count Basie • The Count! (Clef, 1952 [rel. 1955]) • Basie Jazz (Clef, 1952 [rel. 1954]) • Dance Session Album #2 (Clef, 1954) • The Atomic Mr. Basie (Roulette, 1957) – originally titled Basie; also known as E=MC 2 • Everyday I Have the Blues (Roulette, 1959) • The Count Basie Story (Roulette, 1960) • Pop Goes the Basie (Reprise, 1965) • Basie Meets Bond (United Artists, 1966) • Live at the Sands (Before Frank) (Reprise, 1966 [rel. 1998]) • Sinatra at the Sands (Reprise, 1966) • Basie's Beatle Bag (Verve, 1966) • Basie Swingin' Voices Singin (ABC-Paramount, 1966) • Basie's Beat (Verve, 1967) • Broadway Basie's...Way (Command, 1966) • Hollywood...Basie's Way (Command, 1967) • Basie's in the Bag (Brunswick, 1967) • Count Basie Captures Walt Disney's The Happiest Millionaire (Coliseum, 1967) • Manufacturers of Soul (Brunswick, 1968) • The Board of Directors Annual Report (Dot, 1968) • Basie Straight Ahead (Dot, 1968) • How About This (Paramount, 1968) • Standing Ovation (Dot, 1969) • Basic Basie (MPS, 1969) • Basie on the Beatles (Happy Tiger, 1969) • High Voltage (MPS, 1970) • Basie Jam (Pablo, 1973) • Mostly Blues...and Some Others (Pablo, 1983) With Billy Butler • Don't Be That Way (Black & Blue, 1976) With Benny Carter • Wonderland (Pablo, 1976 [1986]) With the Kenny Clarke/Francy Boland Big Band • Sax No End (SABA, 1967) With Arnett Cobb • Blow Arnett, Blow (Prestige, 1959) – also released as Go Power!!! (Prestige, 1970) With Gene "Mighty Flea" Conners • Coming Home (Black & Blue, 1976) With Wild Bill Davis • All Right OK You Win (Black & Blue, 1976) With Harry Edison • Just Friends (Black & Blue, 1975) • Edison's Lights (Pablo, 1976) With Red Garland • The Red Garland Trio + Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis (Moodsville, 1959) With Dizzy Gillespie • The Dizzy Gillespie Big 7 (Pablo, 1975) With Al Grey • Shades of Grey (Tangerine, 1965) With Tiny Grimes • Callin' the Blues (Prestige, 1958) With Coleman Hawkins • Night Hawk (Swingville, 1960) With Jo Jones • The Main Man (Pablo, 1977) With Quincy Jones • Golden Boy (Mercury, 1964) With Al Smith • Hear My Blues (Bluesville, 1959) – with Shirley Scott; also released as Blues Shout! (Prestige, 1964) With Sonny Stitt • The Matadors Meet the Bull (Roulette, 1965) ‘’’With Oscar Peterson’’’ • ‘’Oscar Peterson Jam at Montreux, 1977’’
Life and work
Life and work
Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis was born on 2 March 1922 in New York City. Davis held the nationality of United States. Davis worked as saxophonist, jazz musician, composer and recording artist, and the authority record catalogues a further 1 occupations under the same name, among them musician. The fields Davis worked in include jazz and Dixieland jazz. Davis played the saxophone, the tenor saxophone and the banjo. Davis died on 3 November 1986 in Culver City. Davis is buried at Palm Memorial Park Cemetery.
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
Explore 1922–1986
The full dated record · 3 entries
1922
Born at New York City.
1986
Dies at Culver City.
1986
Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis died on 3 November 1986.
Places
Named by the record
Places
Only places the record itself states, plotted where the house gazetteer settles their coordinates. Nothing is inferred from a name or a nationality.
New York City.
Birth place
Culver City.
Death place
Catalogued output
Compositions
It’s All Right with Me. If I Had You. Love Is Here to Stay. Have Horn, Will Blow. It’s a Blue World. It’s a Pity to Say Goodnight. I’m Afraid the Masquerade Is Over.
A Weaver of Dreams
If I Ruled the World
My Old Flame
Baubles, Bangles and Beads
I’ll Remember April
I Wanna Blow
Au bois de mon cœur
La Non‐demande en mariage
I Mean You
Last Train From Overbrook
I Heard You Cried Last Night
Days of Wine and Roses
The complete catalogue · 58
A Weaver of Dreams
If I Ruled the World
My Old Flame
Baubles, Bangles and Beads
I’ll Remember April
I Wanna Blow
Au bois de mon cœur
La Non‐demande en mariage
I Mean You
Last Train From Overbrook
I Heard You Cried Last Night
Days of Wine and Roses
Close Your Eyes
Land of Dreams
My Little Suede Shoes
Night and Day
I Should Care
Go Red, Go
In the Kitchen
Lester Leaps In
From This Moment On
Le Petit Cheval
Everything’s Coming Up Roses
In Walked Bud
Heat 'N' Serve
Mean to Me
Blues Up and Down
Light and Lovely
A Gal in Calico
Comin’ Home Baby
Blow Your Horn
Lowland Bounce (Lowland Shuffle)
I’ve Got a Crush on You
Don’t Blame Me
Midnight at Minton's
Body and Soul
La Marche nuptiale
Night in Tunisia
Here’s That Rainy Day
(I Don’t Stand) A Ghost of a Chance
If I Should Lose You
Darben the Redd Foxx
Le Temps passé
Blues in Lament
A Lot of Livin’ to Do
Dirty Butt Blues
I’m Just a Lucky So and So
Just in Time
Dee Dee's Dance
Don’t Worry ’Bout Me
Celui qui a mal tourné
I Surrender Dear
Hello, Young Lovers
La Ronde des jurons
Oh, Lady Be Good! ’Round Midnight
I Wished on the Moon
Dutch Kitchen Bounce
I Can’t Get Started
Issued recordings, 1958–1983
Primary material
Issued recordings, 1958–1983
These are published sound issues catalogued under the name. Most postdate the works they carry, and an issue is never counted here as a work of composition. 29 issues carry dates between 1958 and 1983. The run opens with The Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis Cookbook and closes with All of Me. The 1960s are the densest part of the run, with 15 titles, and that concentration is a fact about what the registers have catalogued rather than a judgement on the work itself. They belong to a run of 33 titles in all, from 1958 to 1983. A selection is set out below and the complete run may be opened beneath it. The Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis Cookbook, Vol.
Issued recordings without a settled date
Primary material
Issued recordings without a settled date
4 further issues are catalogued under Davis's name without a date the collections agree on, which is why they are set apart from the dated run rather than placed in it. The First Set. The Midnight Show. The Tenor Scene.
Recordings and discography
Primary material
Recordings and discography
The discography assembled here shows how Davis's work has been published in sound, not what Davis made. 82 sound issues are catalogued, carrying dates from 1955 to 2023. An issue is a published recording, distinct from the composition it carries, from a printed score of that composition and from any single performance of it; none of the entries below is counted in the catalogue of compositions above, and several of them carry the same work in different readings. 34 issues were published within the subject's lifetime and 48 after 1986, so the greater part of this record is the work of later performers, editors and labels. The 1990s are the densest decade of publication, with 20 issues. The performers and issuing labels are as the discographic register states them; where it names no performer the article names none.
All Right, OK, You Win
2002
Ebulient Roaring Screaming Big Band Sound
1972
Lock, The Fox / The Fox & The Hounds
2001
I Giganti Del Jazz Vol
70
1981
Jaw's Blues
1986
Midnight Slows, Vol
10
1979
Jazz at the Philharmonic 1983
1995
Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis 1948-1952
2005
Uptown
1958
In Copenhagen
1997
Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis & Sonny Stitt
1991
Chewin' the Fat
1977
The Best Of Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis
1991
Streetlights
1995
There Is No Greater Love
1992
The Complete Sessions
2012
Complete Recordings
2004
Lookin’ at Monk!
1998
Straight Blues
1998
Best Of
2021
Simply Sweets
1996
Battle Stations
2002
Harry "Sweets" Edison - Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis
1997
The Complete Cookbook Sessions
2010
Afro-Jaws
1989
Gentle Jaws
1995
Very Saxy
1959
Bacalao!
2003
Jawbreakers
1962
Montreux '77
1977
Jaws Strikes Again
1987
Harry "Sweets" Edison, Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis & Richard Boone with Leonardo Pedersens's Jazzkapel
1977
Trane Whistle / Afro-Jaws / Smokin'
2013
Tribute to Count Basie
1974
Tough Tenor Favorites
1995
Georges Brassens joue avec Moustache et Les Petits Français
1979
Straight Ahead
1976
The Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis Cookbook, Volume 1
1958
The Heavy Hitter
1998
2 Opus Funk
1982
Blow Arnett, Blow
1959
The Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis Cookbook, Volume 2
1959
The Midnight Show
1964
Prestige Profiles
2004
Sonny, Sweets & Jaws
2000
Live at Minton's
1998
Four Classic Albums Plus
Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis 1946-1947
1998
Love Calls
1995
The Tenor Giants Featuring Oscar Peterson
2001
The Tenor Scene
1961
Moodsville Volume 1
1989
Save Your Love For Me
1988
The Toughest Tenors
1976
Goin' to the Meetin'
2001
Four Classic Albums
2018
"Jaws"
1994
Jaws & Stitt at Birdland
1991
A further 18 recorded entries stand behind this article and are held on the record.
Primary material
Documents and archives
authority file
- Gemeinsame Normdatei 5250209-0, Eddie Lockjaw Davis 4.
General reference · Deutsche Nationalbibliothek
reference work
- “Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
authority record
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q1282884: Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis
General reference · Wikidata
Authority records
References
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
authority file
Gemeinsame Normdatei 5250209-0, Eddie Lockjaw Davis 4.Deutsche Nationalbibliothek
Secondary witnessreference work
Secondary witnessauthority record
General reference
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 15 August 2026.
Elsewhere in Music memorabilia
42,307 published records in this field, each with its sources named.
- Eda RapoportPerson
- Edd KalehoffPerson
- Edda MoserPerson
- Eddie "Guitar" BurnsPerson
- Eddie AlbertPerson
- Eddie AllenPerson
- Eddie AmadorPerson
- Eddie AyresPerson
Best supported in this field
For owners
Own a work by Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis?
A specialist will read what you send and tell you what the house can establish, what it cannot, and whether the object is suited to sale. There is no charge and no obligation. The object stays with you throughout; nothing is shipped to us unless it is arranged in writing beforehand.