Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Rex Stewart was born on February 22, 1907 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and learned to play the cornet. He developed a half-valving technique that created quartertones that Duke Ellington would later showcase along with his muted sound and forceful style.
After stints with Elmer Snowden, Fletcher Henderson, Horace Henderson, the McKinney’s Cotton Pickers and Luis Russell, he joined the Ellington band in 1934, replacing Freddie Jenkins.
Stewart co-wrote “Boy Meets Horn” and “Morning Glory” while with Ellington, and frequently supervised outside recording sessions by members of the Ellington band. After eleven years Stewart left to lead his own little swing bands, that were a perfect setting for his solo playing.
He also toured Europe and Australia with Jazz At The Philharmonic from 1947 to 1951. From the early 1950s on he worked in radio and television and published highly regarded jazz criticism. The book Jazz Masters of the Thirties is a selection of his criticism.
Cornetist Rex Stewart passed away on September 7, 1967.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
De De Pierce was born Joseph De Lacroix Pierce on February 18, 1904 in New Orleans, Louisiana. A trumpeter and cornetist, his first gig was with Arnold Dupas in 1924. During his time playing in New Orleans nightclubs he met Billie Pierce, who became his wife as well as a musical companion. They took residence as the house band at the Luthjens Dance Hall from the 1930s through the 1950s.
They released several albums together but stopped performing in the middle of the 1950s due to illness, which left De De Pierce blind. By 1959 they had returned to performing with De De touring with Ida Cox and playing with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band before further health problems ended his career.
On November 23, 1973, De De Pierce, best remembered for the songs “Peanut Vendor” and “Dippermouth Blues”, passed away at the age of 69.
Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Wild Bill Davison: The Cornetist Who Played by Ear and Lived by Fire
William Edward Davison entered the world on January 5, 1906, in the small town of Defiance, Ohio—a fitting birthplace for a man who would spend his life defying musical conventions. From his earliest days, young Bill displayed both a deep love for music and an uncanny ability to master whatever instrument he touched.
A Musical Prodigy Finds His Voice
His journey began with the mandolin, guitar, and banjo, but Bill had his sights set higher. Ever resourceful, he joined the Boy Scouts specifically to learn the bugle. By age 12, he had graduated to the cornet—the instrument that would become his lifelong companion and voice.
What made Davison truly remarkable wasn’t technical training—his ability to read music remained limited throughout his career. Instead, he possessed something far rarer: a photographic musical ear. After hearing a song just once, he could reproduce its melody with perfect accuracy, then spontaneously weave in complex chord progressions and harmonic improvisations that left audiences spellbound.
From Obscurity to Icon
Though Davison emerged as a fiery jazz cornetist during the roaring 1920s, widespread recognition eluded him for two decades. When it finally arrived in the 1940s, it was explosive. His distinctive sound—marked by tonal distortions, heavy vibrato, and an almost urgent intensity—proved remarkably versatile. Whether playing alongside the mercurial Sidney Bechet or in more traditional settings, Davison’s cornet could adapt while losing none of its power.
His greatest musical partnership came when he joined forces with Eddie Condon. From the mid-1940s through the 1960s, this association produced some of Davison’s finest work, capturing both his hot, powerful attack and his surprisingly delicate melodic sensibility.
The Man Behind the Legend
On the bandstand, Wild Bill cut an unforgettable figure: seated in a chair with legs casually crossed, playing his horn from the side of his mouth with nonchalant mastery. But his colorful nickname didn’t come from his blazing cornet style—it was earned through his equally legendary appetite for whiskey and women, living the jazz life to its fullest and most reckless extent.
Wild Bill Davison brought his distinctive sound to audiences for over six decades before passing away on November 14, 1989, in Santa Barbara, California. He left behind a legacy that proved you don’t need to read music to speak its language fluently—you just need to listen with your whole soul.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Peter Ecklund was born on September 27, 1945 in Woodbridge, Connecticut. In 1967 he received a degree from Yale University.
He went on tour with singer Paula Lockheart and started a jazz band. Additionally, he worked with many pop and rock bands in the 1970s and 1980s. He became a substitute for the Nighthawks Orchestra led by Vince Giordano and a member of the Orphan Newboys led by Marty Grosz.
He recorded six albums as a leader and another forty-five with David Bromberg, Marty Grosz, Geoff Muldaur, Leon Redbone, Paul Butterfield, Doveman, Bob Dylan, Howard Fishman, Steve Forbert, Gloria Gaynor, Steve Goodman, Hello People, Ian & Sylvia & the Great Speckled Bird, Keith Ingham, Michael Jerling, George McCrae, Martin Mull, Alex Pangman, Bonnie Raitt, Tom Sancton, Cynthia Sayer, Johnny Shines, Paul Siebel, Siegel–Schwall Band, Eric Von Schmidt, Andrea True Connection, Terry Waldo, Loudon Wainwright III, and Mitch Woods.
Cornetist Peter Ecklund died on April 8, 2020 from Parkinson’s disease.
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Isidore Jean “John” Barbarin was born September 24, 1871 in New Orleans, Louisiana. He began learning cornet at age 14, then played in various New Orleans brass bands, like the Onward Brass Band, the Excelsior Brass Band, and Papa Celestin’s Tuxedo Brass Band.
He did not make it on to record until 1945, when he recorded with Bunk Johnson; in 1946 he recorded with the Original Zenith Brass Band. He was a mainstay of the New Orleans jazz scene in the decades around the turn of the 20th century.
Cornet and alto horn player Isidore Barbarin died on June 12, 1960 in New Orleans.
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