Peter Batten remembers jazz man Wild Bill …

Wild Bill who? The name Wild Bill Davison probably means nothing to most readers of The Whistler. If asked to guess they would probably suggest he might be a legendary figure from the Wild West or a friend of the Lone Ranger. Bill [1906-1989] was, in fact, a very great jazz cornet player.

I first fell in love with Bill’s style of cornet playing when I was a student in the 1950s. I was playing the trumpet in a university jazz band. Although I could not hope to achieve the fierce drive and rhythmic confidence of his playing, I did learn a lot from listening to his recordings. In 1957 he came to London and I learned even more from seeing him on stage. Later in life I heard him in person many times and eventually got to meet him.
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