William Davis; Arranger for Duke Ellington

William Strethen (Wild Bill) Davis, 77, jazz organist, pianist and arranger for such performers as Duke Ellington, Count Basie and Earl (Fatha) Hines. Davis was perhaps best known as an arranger for Hines, bandleader Louis Jordan and Basie’s orchestra. But he also did much to popularize the Hammond organ as a jazz instrument, playing it in full orchestral style in solo performances throughout the United States and Europe. Davis was credited with the Basie band’s 1955 version of “April in Paris,” one of its biggest hits. He joined Ellington in 1969 for a two-year stint as arranger and organist. It was Ellington who gave Davis the tag “Wild Bill.” Born in Glasgow, Mo., and brought up in Parsons, Kan., Davis studied music with his father, a professional singer, and at Tuskegee Institute and Wiley College. He did not begin playing the organ, which was to become his trademark instrument, until 1949. In the 1950s, he toured with his own trio, which included a guitar and drums. On Thursday in Moorestown, N.J., of a stroke.