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Eddie “Lockjaw” Davis was born on March 2, 1922 in New York, New York. I couldn’t find any information about his family and childhood or even his early musical experiences. He started when he was a bit older though because several sites say that 8 months after purchasing his first saxophone, he started playing professionally [...]

William “Count” Basie was born in Redbank, New Jersey on August 21, 1904. His mother started teaching him piano at a young age. Later on he studied informally with Fats Waller. When he was a teenager Basie decided that he wanted to be a drummer, but after being consistently outplayed by Sonny Greer, he decided [...]