Tiny Davis

Ernestine Carroll, better known as Tiny Davis (born 1909 or 1910 – January 30, 1994)^[1] was an American jazz trumpeter and vocalist.

Carroll was born in Memphis, Tennessee, and picked up trumpet at age thirteen while a student at Booker T. Washington High School. She moved to Kansas City in the 1930s and joined the Harlem Play-Girls in 1935, playing with the group until late 1936 (when she left the group to give birth). She became a member of the International Sweethearts of Rhythm early in the 1940s, playing with the group until 1947 (including on USO tours during World War II and in the film How About That Jive). She then formed her own band from erstwhile members of a group called the Prairie Co-Eds, which she called the Hell Divers. This ensemble recorded for Decca Records and toured through 1952, including in the Caribbean and Central America. Among her sidewomen was bassist Ruby Lucas, who became Davis's lover; they opened a club, Tiny and Ruby's Gay Spot, in Chicago, near the end of the decade. She was active in performance into the 1980s, and died in Chicago.

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