Wild Bill Davis

American jazz organist — important bridge figure in the chain that runs from Fats Waller and Count Basie to Jimmy Smith and the modern jazz-organ trio tradition.^[raw/articles/wikipedia-jimmy-smith.md]

Why he matters here

• Part of the gospel-organ to jazz-organ pipeline that grew out of Chicago First Church of Deliverance tradition.^[raw/articles/hammondorganco-hammond-story.md]
• Hearing him play in 1954 was the catalyst that made Jimmy Smith switch from piano to organ permanently.^[raw/articles/wikipedia-jimmy-smith.md]

Confidence: medium — two sources so far but no dedicated biography ingested yet.

Related

• jimmy-smith — his direct descendant in the lineage
• hammond-b3 — the instrument both played