Eddie“Lockjaw”Davis is frequently seen as a tenor saxophonist who provides a direct link from the Big Band era of the 1940s and the soul jazz phenomena of the later 1950s.
Davis is certainly not the only such link (Illinois Jacquet and Gene Ammons spring to mind), but he certainly was one of the most popular and beloved.
Davis also recorded a series of collaborations with Johnny Griffin that were released on Prestige and reissued by Fantasy under the OJC imprint, but no selections are included here from those discs.
Davis was at a bit of a crossroads when the two albums- I Only Have Eyes for You and Trackin- were birthed at the Van Gelder compound on the single day in 62.
Davis' toothsome tone slow-dissolves with the pleasing piquancy of a sugar-dusted lemon drop, though hes never one to apply syrup or saccharine sentimentality in his robust voicing of a line.
Davis is one of the few artists whose work brings out the completist impulse in me (a nigh impossible pursuit given his proliferation of sideman appearances over a four decade-plus career).
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