WALTER DAVIS - So Long Baby - WLPRO RCA 45rpm - PREVUE - Blues Piano - rare

$

41

 
This item is one original pressing 45 rpm vinyl record:

LABEL:  RCA Victor

ARTIST:  Walter Davis

ISSUE No:  47-5168

SIDE A:  So Long Baby  -  [Walter Davis]

SIDE B:  What May Your Trouble Be  -  [Walter Davis]

MATRIX No:  E2-VW-6866 / 6867

YEAR:  1952

NOTES:  White label, RECORD PREVUE coming attractions,

CONDITION:  Good or better.

CONDITION NOTES:  This record unfortunately spent much of its life without a paper sleeve. It has been cleaned in an ordinary manner, and a placed into a new white paper sleeve.

GRADING:  Visual only, with a bright light.

WE HAVE A NO RETURN POLICY:

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BACKGROUND INFORMATION:

Walter Davis (1912 – 1963) was an African American blues singer and pianist.

Davis had a rich singing voice that was as expressive as the best of the Delta blues vocalists. His best-known recording, a version of the train blues standard "Sunnyland Blues", which he released in 1931, is more notable for the warmth and poignancy of his singing than for his piano playing. Two more of his best known songs were "Ashes In My Whiskey" and "Blue Blues".

Career:

Davis was born on a farm in Grenada, Mississippi, United States, and ran away from home at about 13 years of age, landing in St. Louis, Missouri. During the period from the late 1920s through the early 1950s he played club dates in the South and the lower Midwest, often with guitarist Henry Townsend and fellow pianist Peetie Wheatstraw, and recorded prolifically. Roosevelt Sykes accompanied him on his first records (1930–33); thereafter he had the ability or confidence to play for himself.

He was among the most productive and popular recording artists in blues, cutting about 180 sides between 1930 and 1952, several of which ("M&O Blues", "Angel Child" and "Come Back Baby") have been taken up by other singers.

Davis appears to have stopped performing professionally around 1953. Suffering from health problems, primarily a stroke, he settled in St. Louis, Missouri, supporting himself as a night clerk at a hotel and as a preacher. He died in St. Louis in 1963, aged 51.

He was posthumously inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 2005.

Davis is no relation to the jazz pianist, Walter Davis, Jr.

Biography:

While never a contemporary superstar or latter-day legend on a par with many of his peers, singer/pianist Walter Davis was among the most prolific blues performers to emerge from the pre-war St. Louis scene, cutting over 150 sides between 1930 and 1952. Born March 1, 1912 in Grenada, Mississippi, Davis' two-fisted piano style bore the heavy influence of Leroy Carr, although he was better known for his funereal vocal style. He first attracted attention upon relocating to St. Louis during the mid-'20s, and soon made the first of his many recordings for the Victor label. Despite its abundance, his work -- much of it recorded in conjunction with guitarist Henry Townsend -- was solid but unspectacular, eclipsed by the likes of associates including Roosevelt Sykes and Peetie Wheatstraw. Still, he enjoyed a fair amount of success before a stroke prompted him to move from music to the ministry during the early '50s. Davis was still preaching at the time of his death on October 22, 1963.
by Jason Ankeny

~~~from the internet