Davenport, “Cow Cow” (actually, Charles Edward)

Davenport, “Cow Cow” (actually, Charles Edward) , distinctive boogie-woogie pianist, singer;b. Anniston, Ala., April 23, 1894; d. Cleveland, Ohio, Dec. 2,1955. One of eight children, the son of a preacher, Davenport began studying at a theological school, but was expelled for playing ragtime piano. On his way back to Anniston he began working in Birmingham. He joined a traveling carnival troupe, later leaving to work as a solo act. He then teamed with singer Dora Carr, and they appeared in vaudeville as “Davenport &Co.” The partnership ended when Dora Carr married. “Cow Cow” worked as a single in Chicago, then temporarily teamed up with Ivy Smith. During the mid-1920s he acted as talent scout for Vocalion Record Company, while continuing to tour in vaudeville. After a disastrous tour, he spent six months in prison in Montgomery, Ala. In the early 1930s, he moved to Cleveland where he made an unsuccessful attempt to run a music and record shop. He returned to theater work until 1935 when he opened his own cafe in Cleveland. He suffered a stroke in 1938, which temporarily affected his right hand; during that year he was featured as a vocalist

with a pick-up recording unit. After his health returned, he moved to N.Y. and worked for a time as the washroom attendant at the Onyx Club, but was helped by Art Hodes who featured him on WNYC broadcasts. In the mid-1940s, he recorded for several small N.Y. labels. He left N.Y. and worked for a time at the Plantation Club in Nashville, then returned to Cleve-land to play at the Starlite Grill. Late in his life (with Art Hodes’s help) he gained ASCAP ratings for his part in the compositions “Mama Don’t Allow” and “I’ll Be Glad When You’re Dead You Rascal You,” He also composed the famous “Cow Cow Boogie,” which was a swing hit in the 1940s, and was associated with the boogie-woogie classic “Cow Cow Blues,” with its distinctive imitation of a freight train. During the last year of his life, he played at the Pin Wheel Club in Cleveland.

Discography

Cow Cow Blues (1978); Alabama Strut (1979); Cow Cow Davenport 1926–38 (1988); Cow Cow Davenport 1927–29 (1989); The Accompanist 1924–29 (1993).

—John Chilton/Lewis Porter