Wallace Davenport

[1] Davenport has been one of the few traditional jazz musicians of the 1930s who later branched out into swing and bop styles, as well as backing gospel and R&B vocalists during an extensive career in eight different decades.

[2] Davenport returned there after World War II, making an easy transition to swing and bop with various bands.

[1] Davenport played and recorded with the Count Basie jazz orchestra (1964–1966), and also toured with singers Ray Charles and Lloyd Price.

In the eighties, Davenport worked with both traditional units as The Alliance Hall Dixieland Band and gospel groups like The Zion Harmonizers and Aline White, and backed the vocalists Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jr.[1] However, he routinely went on impromptu tours in Asia and Europe, and once played expressly for the king Olav V of Norway.

He received numerous awards and recognitions for his musical contributions from the city government and local arts groups, including a plaque from the City of New Orleans and lifetime achievement awards from the Preservation Resource Center's African-American Historic Preservation Council, the New Orleans Streets Arts Council and the Ashe Cultural Center.