Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis (March 2, 1922 – November 3, 1986) was an American jazz tenor saxophonist.
Davis played with Cootie Williams, Lucky Millinder, Andy Kirk, Eddie Bonnemere, 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.
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. 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 cancer in Culver City, California, at the age of 64.
1953: Eddie Davis Trio (Roost)1954: The Battle of Birdland (Roost) – with Sonny Stitt1955: Modern Jazz Expressions (King)1957: Jazz with a Horn (King)1957: Jazz with a Beat (King)1957: Count Basie Presents Eddie Davis Trio + Joe Newman (Roulette) - with Count Basie and Joe Newman1958: Eddie Davis Trio Featuring Shirley Scott, Organ (Roulette)1958: The Eddie Davis Trio Featuring Shirley Scott (Roost)1957-58: Uptown (King)1957-58: Big Beat Jazz (King)1958: The Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis Cookbook (Prestige) – with Shirley Scott and Jerome Richardson1958: Jaws (Prestige) – with Shirley Scott1958: The Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis Cookbook, Vol. 2 (Prestige) – with Shirley Scott and Jerome Richardson1958: The Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis Cookbook Volume 3 (Prestige) – with Shirley Scott1958: Smokin' (Prestige) – with Shirley Scott1959: Very Saxy (Prestige) – with Buddy Tate, Coleman Hawkins and Arnett Cobb1959: Jaws in Orbit (Prestige) – with Shirley Scott1959: Bacalao (Prestige) – with Shirley Scott1960: Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis with Shirley Scott (Moodsville)1960: Misty (Moodsville) – with Shirley Scott1960: Afro-Jaws (Riverside)1960: Battle Stations (Prestige) – with Johnny Griffin1960: Trane Whistle (Prestige) – arranged by Oliver Nelson and Ernie Wilkins1960: Tough Tenors (Jazzland) – with Johnny Griffin1960: Griff & Lock (Jazzland) – with Johnny Griffin1961: The First Set (Prestige) – with Johnny Griffin1961: The Tenor Scene (Prestige) – with Johnny Griffin1961: The Late Show (Prestige) – with Johnny Griffin1961: The Midnight Show (Prestige) – with Johnny Griffin1961: Lookin' at Monk! (Jazzland) – with Johnny Griffin1961: Blues Up & Down (Jazzland) – with Johnny Griffin1962: Tough Tenor Favorites (Jazzland) – with Johnny Griffin1962: Jawbreakers (Riverside) – with Harry Edison1962: Goin' to the Meeting (Prestige)1962: I Only Have Eyes for You (Prestige)1962: Trackin' (Prestige)1966: Lock, the Fox (RCA Victor)1967: The Fox & the Hounds (RCA Victor)1968: Love Calls (RCA Victor) – with Paul Gonsalves1970: Tough Tenors Again 'n' Again (MPS) – with Johnny Griffin1975: The Tenor Giants Featuring Oscar Peterson – with Zoot Sims1977: Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis 4 – Montreux '77, (live)1977: Swingin' Till the Girls Come Home, Inner City Records, with Thomas Clausen (p), Bo Stiff (b) and Alex Riel (dr)1979: The Heavy Hitter (Muse Records)1981: Sonny, Sweets and Jaws – Live at Bubbas, (live), (with Sonny Stitt and Harry "Sweets" Edison)1983: Jazz at the Philharmonic – Yoyogi National Stadium, Tokyo 1983: Return to Happiness1986: Jaw's Blues, (Enja Records) – Recorded live at the DOMICILE, Munich (February 11, 1981) – with Horace Parlan (p), Reggie Johnson (b), Alvin Queen (dr)with Mildred Anderson
No More in Life (Bluesville, 1960)Person to Person (Bluesville, 1960)with Count Basie
The Count! (Clef, 1952 [1955])Basie Jazz (Clef, 1952 [1954])Dance Session Album #2 (Clef, 1954)The Atomic Mr. Basie (Roulette, 1957) aka Basie and E=MC2Everyday I Have the Blues (Roulette, 1959) - with Joe WilliamsThe 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 [1998])Sinatra at the Sands (Reprise, 1966) with Frank SinatraBasie's Beatle Bag (Verve, 1966)Basie Swingin' Voices Singin' (ABC-Paramount, 1966) with the Alan Copeland SingersBasie's Beat (Verve, 1967)Broadway Basie's...Way (Command, 1966)Hollywood...Basie's Way (Command, 1967)Basie's in the Bag (Brunswick, 1967)The Happiest Millionaire (Coliseum, 1967)Manufacturers of Soul (Brunswick, 1968) with Jackie WilsonThe Board of Directors Annual Report (Dot, 1968) with The Mills BrothersBasie Straight Ahead (Dot, 1968)How About This (Paramount, 1968) with Kay StarrStanding 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 the Kenny Clarke/Francy Boland Big Band
Sax No End (SABA, 1967)With Arnett Cobb
Blow Arnett, Blow (Prestige, 1959)with Red Garland
The Red Garland Trio + Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis (Moodsville, 1959)with Dizzy Gillespie
The Dizzy Gillespie Big 7 (Pablo, 1975)With Tiny Grimes
Callin' the Blues (Prestige, 1958) – with J. C. Higginbothamwith Coleman Hawkins
Night Hawk (Swingville, 1960)with Al Smith
Hear My Blues (Prestige, 1959; re-mastered 1987 at Fantasy Studios, Berkeley, Ca.)with Sonny Stitt
The Matadors Meet the Bull (Roulette, 1965)