<back - BILL DOGGETT - The hit 'Honky Tonk' started off as an impromptu musical conversation, turning into a jam that would yield such intoxicating grooves that those patented riffs and responses would soon become incorporated into the basic vocabulary of any respectable R&B, Blues, Soul, or half-aware Rock instrumentalist. Although Bill Doggett sensed that 'Honky Tonk', with its tantalizing groove, was a special crowd pleaser, he never imagined it would put him on the map forever. Committed to wax on June 16, 1956, 'Honky Tonk' would become a gigantic #1 R&B hit and those ascendant white teenagers also locked firmly into that irresistible vibe this classic song created.

A versatile musician, juggling roles as arranger, sideman, composer, pianist/organist, publisher, studio reliable, and a bandleader. Bill Doggett was born 1916 in Philadelphia, and his poise and talent were apparent at an early age. At 22 he led his own band, and in 1939 he did his first recordings with Jimmy Mundy.  When the Lucky Millinder Band was reformed for touring, Doggett got aboard as both pianist and arranger, being involved in 8 releases including All Aboard and Little Old Lady From Baltimore. Doggett also wrote 'Shout Sister Shout' for Sister Rosetta Tharpe, a featured vocalist with Millinder. By 1942, he’d hooked up with the Ink Spots, playing a major role as pianist/arranger on 5 of their biggest hits, including Cow Cow Boogie, and I’m Making Believe collaborations with Ella Fitzgerald, who Doggett would later renew significant acquaintance with. Doggett recorded and toured with Johnny Otis, Helen Hume, Wynonie Harris, and Illinois Jacquet, among many others. By 1949, he’d joined Louis Jordan (replacing Wild Bill Davis), becoming a featured performer on such Jordan classics as Saturday Night Fish Fry and Blue Light Boogie. After leaving Jordan, and doing sessions with Ella on organ in 1951-52. convinced Doggett that an organ-based, as opposed to piano-based, combo was the wave of the future. Between 1952 and 1956 the Bill Doggett Combo released a dozen instrumental singles on the King label. An especially enticing original was Leaps and Bounds. Groove city! Doggett’s bag was Soulful Jazz with a Bluesy feel, and it was a marvelous extrapolation later explored by such eminences as Jimmy Smith, Jimmy McGriff, Boogaloo Jo Jones, Jack McDuff, and several thousand others. By the mid-60's, Rock n’ Roll had undergone a radical change. Its eclectic forms of the 50's had become less commercially viable, convincing Bill Doggett to return to his Jazz roots for the next couple of decades. He passed away in 1992. History reminds us that Bill Doggett not only gave the organ/tenor saxophonist combo to the world, but that he also possessed such discerning taste, that his name is now synonymous both as an innovator and consummate band leader. Bill Doggett received the R&B Foundation's Pioneer Award in 1994. -Gary Tate/LivinBlues   MP3- The Kicker | Honky Tonk |