Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Steve Davis was born in Worcester, Massachusetts on April 14, 1967 but was raised in Binghamton, New York. He grew up with jazz music being played in the household listening to his father’s record collection and his grandparents played. With mentors Doug Beardsley and Al Hamme, he was fortunate to play with his peers Kris Jensen, Tony Kadleck, Tom Dempsey, Dena DeRose and John Hollenbeck among many others.
He went on to study jazz under Dr. Jackie McLean at The Hartt School of the University of Hartford in Connecticut. While in school, Davis also gained valuable experience sitting-in and gigging with Hotep Galeta, Nat Reeves, Don DePalma, Larry DiNatale and others at The 880 Club. A recommendation to Art Blakey saw Steve joining the Jazz Messengers at Sweet Basil in New York City in 1989. Following Blakey’s death, he joined the Hartt faculty in 1991 where he continues to teach today, and taught at The Artist’s Collective in Hartford.
He gained further international recognition playing with McLean’s sextet for five years and for four in Chick Corea’s Origin. Trombonist Steve Davis has played and recorded with Freddie Hubbard and The New Jazz Composers Octet, Benny Golson’s New Jazztet, Hank Jones, Cecil Payne, Horace Silver, Cedar Walton, Harold Mabern, Larry Willis, Eddie Henderson, Roy Hargrove, Avishai Cohen, Wynton Marsalis and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, and Michael Weiss.
Davis has been a member of the cooperative sextet One for All since its inception in 1996, alongside Eric Alexander, Jim Rotondi, David Hazeltine, John Webber and Joe Farnsworth. He also currently plays with Larry Willis’s Quintet, The Dizzy Gillespie Alumni All-Star Big Band/Septet, leads The Steve Davis Quintet and remains a fixture on the New York and Hartford jazz scenes.
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Jazz In Film
Young Dillinger: This 1965 film directed by Terry O. Morse and stars Nick Adams, Robert Conrad and John Ashley. The movie brings together three of America’s most infamous criminals – John Dillinger (Adams), Baby Face Nelson (Ashley) and Pretty Boy Floyd (Conrad) in this uninspired gangster film.
The story goes… John Dillinger lands in jail after attempting to rob his girlfriend’s father at her suggestion. Falling in with the likes of Baby Face Nelson and Floyd, he arranges their escape and together they start on an escalating series of holdups.
This film was notorious in its time for its gratuitous violence, so much so that public outcry prompted CBS to cancel plans to air it in early 1968. In a grim coincidence, star Nick Adams died a few days later.
Trumpeter, arranger and composer Shorty Rogers composes and conducts the music score.
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Jazz In Film
Violer er blå(Violets are Blue) is a 1975 film made in Denmark and directed by Peter Refn. The movie made in Denmark stars Lisbet Lundquist, Annika Hoydal and Lisbet Dahl and is about a group of professional people unable to accept their roles in modern life.
Music Director Bent Fabricius Bjerre uses as source music two Duke Ellington small group recordings featuring Johnny Hodges plus Ben Webster playing How Long Has This Been Going On?
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Requisites
The Last Concert: The Modern Jazz Quartet broke up after this concert documented on this two-fer, double LP recording. After a glorious 22-year career, it would be nearly seven years before the group would come back together but it certainly went out on top. Mostly revisiting their greatest hits, MJQ is heard playing inspired versions of Softly As In A Morning Sunrise, Bag’s Groove, Skating In Central Park, Confirmation, The Golden Striker and Django. This set is a real gem and an essential addition for all serious jazz collections.
Personnel: Milt Jackson – vibraphone, John Lewis – piano, Percy Heath – bass and Connie Kay – drums
Record Date: November 25, 1974
Songs: Disc 1 – Softly, As in a Morning Sunrise, The Cylinder, Summertime, Really True Blues, What’s New?, Blues in a Minor, Confirmation, ‘Round Midnight, A Night in Tunisia, Tears from the Children, Blues in H (B), England’s Carol
Disc 2 – The Golden Striker, One Never Knows, Trav’lin’, Skating in Central Park, The Legendary Profile, Adagio from the Guitar Concerto: Concerto de Aranjuez, The Jasmine Tree, In Memoriam, Django, Bag’s Groove
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Jazz In Film
Top Of The Heap: This 1972 film was written, directed and starred Christopher St. John along with Paula Kelly and Florence St. Peter. The story evolves around a Washington, D.C. cop who is mistrusted and despised by his own black people.
J. J. Johnson scored the excellent and effective music for the film.
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