Jamie Davis
“A proper singer of real talent and style. He can sing blues and ballads to the manner born and boy, does he swing. A must for any lovers of great music.” Sir Michael Parkinson – BBC and iTV Broadcaster, Journalist and chat show host.
Vocalist
Jamie Davis holds a position amongst the pantheon of great male vocalists with a compelling full deep, baritone voice and passion for his craft that leaves his audiences uplifted and “feelin’ good... really good”.
Jamie’s musical education began in the choir of his father’s Pentecostal Church in Mansfield, Ohio. His unique bass-baritone voice brought life to liturgical music sung in Latin, Bach, Schumann, Mahler and Rameau’s French compositions. There followed a spell in the US Army where he sang not only the memorable ‘show tunes’, but also a wide range of swing, jazz and blues for the Special Services elite group.
After studies under the renowned New York vocal coach Edward Boatner, he moved to San Francisco securing opportunities to perform with Milt Jackson, Eddie Henderson, Melba Moore and Pharaoh Saunders. The year 2000 brought exhilarating performances with The Count Basie Orchestra. On that experience Davis reflects, “Having all that sound behind you is just amazing. You’ve got to ride that current.”
A repertoire from Cole Porter to Stevie Wonder to Charles Mingus, confirms he possesses the flexibility and sexy sophistication by his effortless delivery to stand with any of the great masters. Jamie Davis has been described as a fine wine which has stood the test of time, constantly innovating jazz classics, ‘rolling out’ the blues and performing with one foot in the past and the other in ‘today’.
Performances
Following his outstanding performance in London with the BBC’s sixty-four piece Orchestra and Big Band, Sir Michael Parkinson, the BBC’s arbiter of important international jazz proclaimed, Jamie as the ˜chocolate voiced baritone”. Clint Eastwood is another fan of Jamie and inspired by his performance at the Monterey Jazz Festival, exclaimed “...Jamie Davis is one of my favorite singers.”
Sharing his passion for music with his audiences at venues around the Globe, Jamie performs at Yoshi’s in San Francisco, Dizzy’s and The Blue Note in New York, Milan, Tokyo, Istanbul and Ronnie Scott’s in London and recently the Union of Composers Jazz Club, Moscow. Monterey, Sacramento, Aspen, Lake Tahoe, Dubai, Cheltenham, Edinburgh, Annecy and Serbia Jazz festivals and not forgetting the popular Holland America Jazz cruises.
Jamie can be seen on television shows: ‘Parkinson’ in UK, Sweden and Australia, The Jerry Lewis Telethon in Las Vegas and a ‘60th Anniversary Show’ with The HRTa Big Band in Zagreb, Croatia. BBC Radio’s 2 ‘Friday Night Is Music Night’ and ‘Big Band Special’ are broadcast live and on digital.
In 1997 Jamie narrated ‘A Time to Remember,’ a docudrama which won the ‘Black American Independent Filmmakers Award’.
Recording Artist/Producer
Davis’ solo CDs, ‘It’s A Good Thing’ and ‘Vibe Over Perfection’ on the Unity Music label, reunited Jamie with members of the Count Basie Orchestra and Los Angeles’ finest instrumentalists producing a full big band. ‘It’s A Good Thing’ was chosen as ‘Album of the Week’ on the digital radio station Thejazz.com (now Jazz.FM) and for the in-flight audio programs of British Airways, Scandinavian, Aer Lingus and British Midland. ‘Vibe Over Perfection’ reached No 18 in the US Jazz Charts and a favourite of jazz station WBGO. The ten track CD ‘It’s All About Love’ was a labor of love for Jamie singing romantic ballads with a quintet. In 2009 singing ‘Young At Heart’ Jamie was featured with Clark Terry, Wynton and Ellis Marsalis and Marcus Roberts on the acclaimed trumpeter Scotty Barnhart’s CD, ‘Say It Plain’. The recording reached no 3 in the charts and attracted enthusiastic reviews.
The latest project from the catalogue of Unity Music and Jamie Davis is a live recording from inside Louisiana State Penitentiary. ‘Free On The Inside’ CD/DVD blends together Jazz and Gospel genres featuring Jamie Davis, Scotty Barnhart, Wycliffe Gordon, Lady Bianca, Charles McNeal in an all star big band under the direction of Dennis Wilson. ‘Free On The Inside’ CD/DVD will be released late 2010.
At the 51st Monterey Jazz Festival “The Jamie Davis Big Band delighted the Garden Stage crowd with his rich vocals.” www.ejazznews.com
More information can be found at:
www.jamiedavis.com
www.unity-music.net
www.myspace.com/jamiedavisunity
www.last.fm/music/Jamie+Davis
www.youtube.com/jamiedavismusic Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.
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