* En anglais uniquement
No, he never hung out with
the Rat Pack on the martini-stained Vegas strip, and it's highly doubtful that he honors requests for "The Candy Man." This
Little Sammy Davis is a veteran harp blower with a discography dating back to 1952 and a fine '90s debut album on Delmark, I Ain't Lyin'. Where's he been all these years? Poughkeepsie, NY, of course.
Davis learned his way around a harmonica at age eight. He eventually exited Mississippi for Florida, where he worked in the orange groves and met immaculate guitarist
Earl Hooker.
Davis cut four sides in 1952 for
Henry Stone's Rockin' label in Miami as
Little Sam Davis (with
Hooker providing classy accompaniment) that comprised the bulk of his discography until many years later. He visited Chicago in 1953, hanging out with harp genius
Little Walter,
Jimmy Reed, and
Muddy Waters. But
Davis rambled on, eventually settling in Poughkeepsie.
Other than a 45 for
Pete Lowry's Trix logo, things were pretty quiet for the hero until 1995, when he joined forces with guitarist Fred Scribner and got back into playing. He became a favorite guest of popular New York morning radio personality
Don Imus, had his own band and an album on the shelves, and hopefully, nobody mistook him for another diminutively proportioned entertainer by the same name. ~ Bill Dahl