Ted Davidson

Frank Sterling (“Ted” or “Teddy”) Davidson, saxophonist, popular singer (born 21 June 1914 in Sudbury, ON; died 7 August 1983 in Toronto, ON). Ted Davidson attended Albert College in Belleville and began playing jazz as a teenager. He occasionally sang for Luigi Romanelli's orchestra, and in 1932 sang for Don Romanelli and later Leo Romanelli. In 1934 he played alto sax in Montreal with Stan Wood's dance band, and the following year returned to Toronto, playing for Luigi Romanelli and then for the Rex Battle band. He joined his brother Jimmy (Trump) Davidson's band in 1936, and played with them in England for the Ray Noble Orchestra. Later he played and sang with Jimmy Davidson's chief competitor, Bert Niosi, in Toronto 1938-42, and did a spell as bandsman in the Royal Canadian Navy. He lived in Winnipeg 1950-6, one of several periods during which he explored other employment and played jazz part-time. Back in Toronto, he played with the Trump Davidson Band through the 1950s-60s. In the years after his brother's death, Ted Davidson continued with the band (under Harvey Silver) and enjoyed some celebrity as one of the city's veteran jazzmen, playing at the club Bourbon Street alongside his US contemporaries Vic Dickenson and Yank Lawson in 1979 and 1980 respectively.

Teddy Davidson recorded with Bobby Gimby (CTL 5045) in 1964 and Harvey Silver (CBC LM 477) in 1980. The jazz critic Mark Miller stated in Jazz in Canada: Fourteen Lives that "Trump (Jimmy) and Teddy Davidson must be counted among the first Canadian musicians to play jazz."