All Topics  
Bill Doggett

 

 
   Email Print
   Bookmark   Link
 

 

Bill Doggett
 
 
  Topics Bill Doggett Topic Home

William Ballard Doggett (February 16, 1916 – November 13, 1996) was an American
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
 jazz
Jazz

Jazz is a primarily American musical art form which originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States from a confluence of African and European music traditions....
 and rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues

Rhythm and blues is the name given to a wide-ranging genre of popular music first created by African Americans in the late 1940s and early 1950s....
 pianist
Pianist

A pianist is a musician who plays the piano. A professional pianist can perform solo pieces, play with an musical ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers, solo instrumentalists, or other performers....
 and organist
Organist

An organist is a musician who plays any type of organ . An organist may play organ repertoire, play with an musical ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers or instrumentalist....
.

Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Philadelphia is the largest city in Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population city in the United States. It is the fifth-largest metropolitan area and fourth-largest urban area by population in the United States, the nation's fourth-largest consumer media market as ranked by the Nielsen Media Research, and the 49th-most...
, his mother, a church pianist, introduced him to music when he was 9 years old. By the time he was 15, he had joined a Philadelphia area combo, playing local theaters and clubs while attending high school.

He later sold his band to Lucky Millinder
Lucky Millinder

Lucius Venable "Lucky" Millinder was an United States rhythm and blues and swing music bandleader. Although he could not read or write music, did not play an instrument and rarely sang, his showmanship and musical taste made his bands successful....
, and worked during the 1930s and early 1940s for both Millinder and arranger Jimmy Mundy
Jimmy Mundy

Jimmy Mundy was an United States jazz Tenor saxophone, arranger, and composer, best known for his arrangements for Benny Goodman, Count Basie and Earl Hines....
.






Discussion
Ask a question about 'Bill Doggett'
Start a new discussion about 'Bill Doggett'
Answer questions from other users
Full Discussion Forum



Encyclopedia


William Ballard Doggett (February 16, 1916 – November 13, 1996) was an American
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
 jazz
Jazz

Jazz is a primarily American musical art form which originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States from a confluence of African and European music traditions....
 and rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues

Rhythm and blues is the name given to a wide-ranging genre of popular music first created by African Americans in the late 1940s and early 1950s....
 pianist
Pianist

A pianist is a musician who plays the piano. A professional pianist can perform solo pieces, play with an musical ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers, solo instrumentalists, or other performers....
 and organist
Organist

An organist is a musician who plays any type of organ . An organist may play organ repertoire, play with an musical ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers or instrumentalist....
.

Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Philadelphia is the largest city in Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population city in the United States. It is the fifth-largest metropolitan area and fourth-largest urban area by population in the United States, the nation's fourth-largest consumer media market as ranked by the Nielsen Media Research, and the 49th-most...
, his mother, a church pianist, introduced him to music when he was 9 years old. By the time he was 15, he had joined a Philadelphia area combo, playing local theaters and clubs while attending high school.

He later sold his band to Lucky Millinder
Lucky Millinder

Lucius Venable "Lucky" Millinder was an United States rhythm and blues and swing music bandleader. Although he could not read or write music, did not play an instrument and rarely sang, his showmanship and musical taste made his bands successful....
, and worked during the 1930s and early 1940s for both Millinder and arranger Jimmy Mundy
Jimmy Mundy

Jimmy Mundy was an United States jazz Tenor saxophone, arranger, and composer, best known for his arrangements for Benny Goodman, Count Basie and Earl Hines....
. In 1942 he was hired as The Ink Spots
The Ink Spots

The Ink Spots were a popular African American vocal group that helped define the musical genre that led to rhythm & blues and rock and roll, and the subgenre doo-wop....
' pianist and arranger.

In 1949, he replaced Wild Bill Davis
Wild Bill Davis

Wild Bill Davis was the stage name of United States jazz Piano, organist, and arranger William Strethen Davis.Davis was born in Glasgow, Missouri....
 in Louis Jordan
Louis Jordan

Louis Jordan was a pioneering United States jazz, blues and rhythm & blues musician, songwriter and bandleader who enjoyed his greatest popularity from the late 1930s to the early 1950s....
's Tympany Five
Tympany Five

Tympany Five was a successful rhythm and blues and jazz dance band founded by Louis Jordan in 1938. The group was composed of a horn section of three to five different pieces and also drums, double-bass, guitar and piano....
. It was there that he first achieved success playing the Hammond organ
Hammond organ

The Hammond organ is an electronic organ which was invented by Laurens Hammond in 1934 and manufactured by the Hammond Organ Company. While the Hammond organ was originally sold to Church as a lower-cost alternative to the wind-driven pipe organ, in the 1960s and 1970s, it became a standard keyboard instrument for jazz, blues, Rock and r...
 and he is also reputed to have written one of Jordan's biggest hits, "Saturday Night Fish Fry", for which Jordan claimed the writing credit.

In 1951, he organized his own trio and began recording for King Records
King Records (USA)

King Records is an United States record label, started in 1943 by Syd Nathan and headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio. At first it specialized in country music, at the time still known as "hillbilly music." King advertised, "If it's a King, It's a Hillbilly -- If it's a Hillbilly, it's a King." One of the label's most important hits was "I'm Usi...
. His best known recording is "Honky Tonk," a rhythm and blues hit of 1956 which sold four million copies, and which he co-wrote with Billy Butler
Billy Butler (guitarist)

Billy Butler He played with The Harlemaires, Houston Person, Harry "Doc" Bagby, Jimmy Smith , David "Fathead" Newman, Bill Doggett, King Curtis and others....
. He won the Cash Box
Cash Box magazine

Cash Box magazine was a weekly publication devoted to the music and coin-operated machine industries which was published from July 1942 to November 16, 1996....
 award for best rhythm and blues performer in 1957, 1958, and 1959. He also arranged for many bandleaders and performers, including Louis Armstrong
Louis Armstrong

Louis Daniel Armstrong , nicknamed Satchmo or Pops, was an American jazz trumpeter and singer.Coming to prominence in the 1920s as an innovative cornet and trumpet player, Armstrong was a foundational influence on jazz, shifting the music's focus from collective improvisation to solo performers....
, Count Basie
Count Basie

William "Count" Basie was an United States Jazz piano, organist, bandleader, and composer. Widely regarded as one of the most important jazz bandleaders of his time, Basie led his popular Count Basie Orchestra for almost 50 years....
, Ella Fitzgerald
Ella Fitzgerald

Ella Jane Fitzgerald , also known as "Jazz royalty" and the "First Lady of Song", is considered one of the most influential jazz vocalists of the 20th century....
, and Lionel Hampton
Lionel Hampton

Lionel Leo Hampton , was an American jazz vibraphonist, pianist, percussionist, bandleader and actor. Like Red Norvo, he was one of the first jazz vibraphone players....
. He continued to play and arrange until he died of a heart attack in New York City
New York City

The City of New York is the List of United States cities by population in the United States, while the New York metropolitan area ranks among the List of urban areas by population....
.

As a jazz player Doggett started in swing music and later played soul jazz
Soul jazz

Soul jazz was a development of hard bop which incorporated strong influences from blues, gospel and rhythm and blues in music for small groups, often the organ trio which featured the Hammond organ....
, a field in which rhythm and blues organists were highly sought after. His band included saxophonists Red Holloway
Red Holloway

Red Holloway , born in Helena, Arkansas on May 31, 1927, is a well-known blues and jazz saxophonist.He started playing banjo and harmonica, switching to tenor sax when he was twelve years old....
, Clifford Scott, Percy France, David "Bubba" Brooks, Floyd "Candy" Johnson, guitarists Floyd Smith, Pete Mays, and singers Toni Williams and Betty Saint-Clair.

Discography

  • Honky Tonk (1956)
  • Dame Dreaming with Bill Doggett (1956)
  • Salute To Ellington (1956)
  • As You Desire Me (1958)
  • Dance Awhile with Doggett (1958)
  • Doggett Beat for Dancing Feet (1958)
  • The Many Moods of Bill Doggett (1961)
  • Prelude to the blues (1962)
  • Finger-tips (1963)
  • Wow!
    Wow! (Bill Doggett album)

    Wow! is 1956 album by Bill Doggett. ...
     (1965)
  • Mister Honky Tonk (1980)
  • The Right Choice (1991)


See also

  • Chicago Blues Festival
    Chicago Blues Festival

    The Chicago Blues Festival is an annual event that features four days of performances by top-tier blues musicians, both old favorites and the up-and-coming....


External links