Dave Davani

In the 1960s, Dave Davani was a leading purveyor of British Hammond organ-dominated soul-jazz, a genre far less prevalent in the U.K. than it was in America. Though his combos recorded only one album, 1965's Fused!, and a few singles, he played solid and swinging music in this style, somewhat in the mold of Americans like Big John Patton and Jimmy Smith, though at times a little more R&B- and soul-oriented. His use of the Hammond in particular expands his appeal a little beyond jazz listeners to fans of British Swinging London sounds, particularly those of jazzy R&B acts like Georgie Fame and Brian Auger, though unlike Fame, Davani stuck almost exclusively to instrumentals.

Davani first recorded as leader of Dave Davani & the "D" Men in late 1963 on Columbia. A single on Decca appeared in 1964 and in 1965, they were on Parlophone, now using the name the Dave Davani Four. Here they did their most famous recording, a soul-jazz R&B-pop instrumental version of the theme song for the popular BBC television music show Top of the Pops. Also in 1965, they recorded the wholly instrumental Fused!, an effective mix of American jazz covers and original Davani compositions, sometimes leaning toward R&B and soul, but more often toward straight-ahead soul-jazz. In 1966, the Dave Davani Four put out a couple of vocal singles and in 1967, they became the Dave Davani Five when saxophonist Nick Newell joined. However, Davani didn't record again in the 1960s, though his group got plenty of live work. After the 1960s, he did record a final single ("King Kong") in 1972 for Philips, as well as an album, Funky Country.