Thomas Maxwell Davis was born in Independence, Kansas in 1916, and like so many other great performers, he joined the musical fold very early indeed. At eight, he was studying the violin intensively in his native Kansas; at sixteen he was playing piano with his High School orchestra; and at eighteen he had formed his own group, setting himself as lead tenor sax and playing school dances throughout the entire state. His reputation for skillful arrangements and zestful compositions was spreading, meaning he was in demand both as an artist and a writer.

Having attained true musical stature, in 1937 Maxwell went to California to join Gene Coy’s band as tenor sax soloist and arranger. For five years he appeared in clubs all over the state stirring the flames for his everexpanding legion of enthusiastic followers.

In 1944 he appeared in a Jazz at the Philharmonic concert, sharing the tenor sax spot with Illinois Jacquet, and backed by a rhythm section with Nat King Cole, Red Callender and Lee Young.

While he initially participated in some jazz recordings with Charles Mingus and Helen Humes, from 1945 on his career became more involved in the West Coast R&B scene, where he became a regular session musician and arranger for the fast-growing number of independent record labels such as Excelsior, Aladdin, Black & White, Atomic, Capitol, Swingtime, Miltone, Federal, Specialty, Imperial, Hollywood, or Modern.

Between 1945-1958, he appeared as a soloist on recordings by Jesse Price, Amos Milburn, Percy Mayfield, Ernie Andrews, Jo Evans, Big Joe Turner, Jimmy Witherspoon, Mabel Scott, Jimmy Liggins, Crown Prince Waterford, Pete Johnson, Kitty White, Damita Jo, Marshal Royal, T-Bone Walker, Red Callender, Gene Parrish, Louis Jordan, Willard McDaniel, Etta James, Donna Hightower, as well as in several sessions with his own groups. As an arranger he also contributed to the libraries of among others the jazz bands of Fletcher Henderson, Jimmy Lunceford, Jay McShann and those of Artie Shaw, Ike Carpenter, Ray Anthony, and Louis Jordan.

In 1955, Maxwell Davis had joined the Bihari brothers at Modern Records (and its subsidiaries RPM, Crown, and Kent) as musical director and producer. With signs of a resurgence of interest in big bands in the late 1950s, Maxwell Davis came up with the idea of producing a series of albums for Crown Records recorded in the finest Stereophonic sound, in a tribute to such legendary bandleaders as Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Lionel Hampton, Woody Herman, Charlie Barnet and Stan Kenton, among others. For this purpose, he wrote all new arrangements and reimagined and conducted a number of tribute bands to perform the music with the signature spirit that made their original leaders famous. The personnel for each album consisted primarily of prominent members and soloists who performed with the original bands, with additional valuable contributions from some of the best jazz musicians working in the Hollywood and New York studios.

Maxwell Davis' writing was as fresh for these sessions as it was when it inspired the work of the early arrangers. Thanks to his efforts, each of these albums retains the lush, individual sound of those notable bands. Listening to these performances brings us joy and memories from the golden age of big bands, which up to this day illuminate the music scene every time that a good band charges and swings through timeless material.

Although his success rate started to diminish thereafter, he became regarded as an elder statesman and as “the father of West Coast R&B.” His final recording activity was in 1969, as the producer for soul singer Z.Z. Hill.

Maxwell Davis died from a heart attack, in Los Angeles, California, in September 1970.

—Jordi Pujol (Taken from the inside liner notes of FSRCD 1051, 1052 and 1053)