Katherine McDonald Wimp née Katherine McDonald stage name Kay Davis (born December 5, 1920) was an American jazz

Jazz

Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...

 singer best known for her time with the Duke Ellington Orchestra.

Davis was born in Evanston, Illinois

Evanston, Illinois

Evanston is a suburban municipality in Cook County, Illinois 12 miles north of downtown Chicago, bordering Chicago to the south, Skokie to the west, and Wilmette to the north, with an estimated population of 74,360 as of 2003. It is one of the North Shore communities that adjoin Lake Michigan...

 and went to Evanston Township High School

Evanston Township High School

Evanston Township High School District 202, is a four-year, comprehensive high school occupying a campus in Evanston, Illinois, a Chicago suburb along the Lake Michigan shore. ETHS serves the multiracial city of Evanston and a small portion of the neighboring village of Skokie, for a total...

 before she studied voice and piano at Northwestern University

Northwestern University

Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston and Chicago, Illinois, USA. Northwestern has eleven undergraduate, graduate, and professional schools offering 124 undergraduate degrees and 145 graduate and professional degrees....

, where she earned her bachelor's degree in 1942 and her masters in 1943. Her grandfather, William H. Twiggs, was a civic leader for whom a park in Evanston is named.

In 1944 she joined Duke Ellington

Duke Ellington

Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington was an American composer, pianist, and big band leader. Ellington wrote over 1,000 compositions...

's orchestra, where she sang alongside Joya Sherrill

Joya Sherrill

Joya Sherrill was an American jazz vocalist and children's television show host....

 and Al Hibbler

Al Hibbler

Albert George "Al" Hibbler was an American baritone vocalist, who sang with Duke Ellington's orchestra before having several pop hits as a solo artist. Some of his singing is classified as rhythm and blues, but he is best classified as a bridge between R&B and traditional pop music...

. She is best known for her wordless vocals in pieces such as "Transblucency" and "On a Turquoise Cloud". She also sang many pieces with lyrics. She is the only person Ellington allowed to reprise Adelaide Hall

Adelaide Hall

Adelaide Hall was an American-born U.K.-based jazz singer and entertainer.Hall was born in Brooklyn, New York and was taught to sing by her father...

's famous wordless vocal on "Creole Love Call

Creole Love Call

"Creole Love Call" is a jazz standard, most associated with the Duke Ellington band.Ellington first recorded it in 1927 and was issued a copyright for it as composer the following year. However the main melody appears earlier in the Joe "King" Oliver composition "Camp Meeting Blues" which Oliver...

". Her tenure in Ellington's band coincided with their increasing exposure on film

Film

A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...

, especially for Universal Pictures

Universal Pictures

-1920:* White Youth* The Flaming Disc* Am I Dreaming?* The Dragon's Net* The Adorable Savage* Putting It Over* The Line Runners-1921:* The Fire Eater* A Battle of Wits* Dream Girl* The Millionaire...

. Davis and Billy Strayhorn

Billy Strayhorn

William Thomas "Billy" Strayhorn was an American composer, pianist and arranger, best known for his successful collaboration with bandleader and composer Duke Ellington lasting nearly three decades. His compositions include "Chelsea Bridge", "Take the "A" Train" and "Lush Life".-Early...

 gave the first performance of Strayhorn's "Lush Life

Lush Life (song)

"Lush Life" is a jazz standard with lyrics and music written by Billy Strayhorn from 1933 to 1938. However, the song was only performed privately by Strayhorn until he and vocalist Kay Davis performed it on November 13, 1948 with the Duke Ellington Orchestra at Carnegie Hall...

" on November 13, 1948 at Carnegie Hall

Carnegie Hall

Carnegie Hall is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States, located at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east stretch of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street and West 57th Street, two blocks south of Central Park....

—even though the song had been written in the 1930s.

She toured England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 with Ellington alongside Ray Nance

Ray Nance

Ray Willis Nance was a jazz trumpeter, violinist and singer.Nance is best known for his long association with Duke Ellington through most of the 1940s and 1950s, after he was hired to replace Cootie Williams in 1940...

in 1948 and in Europe with the full band in 1950. After leaving Ellington's orchestra in 1950, she married Edward Wimp, and later retired to Florida.