Maxwell Davis

by Bill Dahl
As a prolific all-purpose producer/songwriter/sideman, tenor saxman Maxwell Davis filled some of the same pivotal roles on the 1950s Los Angeles R&B scene that Willie Dixon handled so skillfully in Chicago. Davis arranged and produced a myriad of West Coast sessions for Modern, Aladdin, and other postwar R&B indies from the late 40s on, lending his husky sax to scads of waxings.
Davis left Kansas for L.A. in 1937, working in Fletcher Hendersons orchestra before being bitten by the R&B bug. Modern/ Kent probably kept him employed the steadiest throughout the 50s and 60s; he worked with Pee Wee Crayton, Etta James, Johnny Guitar Watson, Lowell Fulson, Z.Z. Hill, and plenty more on the Bihari Brothers star-studded roster. Over at Aladdin, he worked closely with Amos Milburn and Peppermint Harris, among others. Davis didnt have much luck recording as a bandleader, although his instrumentals Look Sharp — Be Sharp (an R&B adaptation of the Gillette march) for Aladdin and Tempo Rock/Cool Diggin on RPM packed a wallop.