Keeping Out Of Mischief Now – 1970s
Art Hodes and Wild Bill Davison
The two early jazz greats play a Fats Waller tune
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Art Hodes (1904-93) had a long career that began in Chicago in the 1920s, included sessions with Sidney Bechet, Eddie Condon and various swing and trad all-stars, and found him still in prime form up until the early 1990s.
In addition to his playing, Hodes was an informal educator who wrote and gave talks about early jazz; he was also a notable blues pianist with a timeless style.
He hosted several jazz television series in the 1960s and ‘70s including the Just Jazz series which yielded this performance.
Cornetist Wild Bill Davison (1906-89) was one of the most colorful of all trad jazz musicians, both onstage and off, and his playing always had plenty of personality, making most other musicians sound like straight men in comparison.
With bassist Rail Wilson and drummer Don DeMichael, Hodes and Davison perform a relaxed version of a Fats Waller song, “Keeping Out Of Mischief Now.”
-Scott Yanow
Ella Fitzgerald