Beiderbecke, in some old photo or other, dented cornet pointed resolutely to the floor. "Nope. This guy is seated, one leg crossed casually over the other, drink on an upended barrel in front of him. He sweeps the cornet into the side of his mouth to expel some supercharged phrase, then jerks it away as if it's too hot to keep there. And I realize, awe-struck, he's chewing *gum*! Where in the world does he *keep* that stuff when he's blowing? "In short, he looked just the way he sounded - like a guy from Ohio (a town named, aptly, Defiance) with a fierce, uninhibited way of attacking the beat, driving a band of whatever size halfway into tomorrow. The music comes out as from a flame-thrower, but with a density and momentum only suggested by even the best (of his) records". Sources Willard, Hal, The Wildest One (1996) Armstrong, Doug, Wild Bill Davison: A Celebration (Leith Music, 1991) References External links William Edward "Wild Bill" Davison papers, photographs, and ephemera, Institute of Jazz Studies, Rutgers University Dixieland cornetists People from Defiance, Ohio American jazz cornetists Savoy Records artists 1906 births 1989 deaths 20th-century American musicians Jazz musicians from Ohio Black Lion Records artists Columbia Records artists London Records artists Jazzology Records artists Fontana Records artists Chiaroscuro Records artists Philips Records artists Storyville Records artists