Maxwell Davis – This Kansas native came to Los Angeles at age twenty-one in 1937. He quickly made the rounds with his tenor sax. By the time of the war years, he was playing in Central Avenue groups with Marshal Royal, Charles Mingus, and Lee Young.
After the war, he was everywhere on the L.A. blues scene. In 1947, he lent a jaunty tenor line to Amos Milburn’s party classic, “Chicken Shack Boogie.” In 1950, he recorded as part of the bands of Joe Liggins and Percy Mayfield. He arranged and played sax on Jesse Belvin’s first recordings for Specialty in 1952. The Messner brothers’ Aladdin label hired him to arrange for various vocal groups. His band backed Etta James and Johnny “Guitar” Watson on their sides for Modern.
Davis, along with Johnny Otis and Bumps Blackwell, crafted the postwar Los Angeles r&b sound. He retained just enough of a big band sensibility to permit the horns a workout, but incorporated guitar and doo-wop vocal accompaniment early on. When you hear the original versions of “Pink Champagne,” “Please Send Me Someone To Love” or “Hot Little Mama,” you’re hearing the work of Maxwell Davis.
Jesse Stone – This architect of the early sound of Atlantic was a product of the Kansas City scene of the twenties and early thirties. He had been leading bands since 1918. Saxophonist Coleman Hawkins was a member of Stone’s Blue Serenaders and can be heard on the band’s first recordings in 1927. An encounter with Duke Ellington led to an engagement at The Cotton Club in Harlem. From there, he moved to the Apollo Theater, where he arranged for the house band. During these years, he began to have some success as a songwriter, notably with the pop standard “Idaho.” He also recorded for RCA Victor during the 1940s.
