Description
Stewart, S. Slamboree, p1997. (piano)
Washington Post, 08-27-95: (William “Wild Bill” Davis, jazz organist and arranger; d. 08-24-95, Morristown, N.J.)
New Grove dict. of jazz: (Davis, Wild Bill (William Strethen); b. Nov. 24, 1918, Glasgow, MO; organist, pianist, and arranger)
Grove music online, Mar. 21, 2006: Jazz (Davis, Wild Bill (William Strethen); b. Nov. 24, 1918, Glasgow, MO, d. Aug. 17, 1995, Moorestown, NJ; American organist, pianist, and arranger)
African American National Biography, accessed December 12 2014, via Oxford African American Studies Center database: (Davis, Wild Bill; William Strethen Davis; jazz musician, organist; born 24 November 1918 in Glasgow, Missouri, United States; he matriculated at Alabama’s Tuskegee Institute, likely in the middle to late 1930s, and later at Wiley College in Marshall, Texas; sometime around the late 1930s; relocated to Chicago, made the acquaintance of Earl “Fatha” Hines and even penned a number of arrangements for him; he played piano with Louis Jordan and his orchestra, the Tympany Five; in the 1950s he abandoned the piano for what would become his signature instrument, the Hammond organ., continued performing and recording until the early 1990s, toured with the Duke Ellington Orchestra, performed also in Europe; died 17 August 1995 in Moorestown, New Jersey, United States)