Results for "Xavier Davis"

Xavier Davis

Xavier Davis is an accomplished pianist, composer and arranger. His debut recording "Dance of Life" was released on Metropolitan Records in 1999. The CD features the talents of Don Braden, Dwayne Burno and Carl Allen. Xavier's compositions, "Dance of Life" and "The Plan Unknown," appear on the CD along with his arrangements of some classic standards. "The pianist [Xavier Davis] simply knows how to make every note on his instrument sing, and he invariably finds the richest area of the keyboard for voicing his chords." said writer Bob Blumenthal. Jazz Times reviewer John Murph reviewed the CD in the January/February 2000 issue of the magazine and said "...the music exudes a mature, nonchalant ease and cozy empathy that make this...a rewarding listen." Down Beat gave the CD, "Dance of Life," four stars in its January 2000 issue and said, "Davis steps out with an accomplished debut." Xavier's second recording as a leader, "Innocence of Youth," was released in April of 2002 by Fresh Sounds New Talent

Truth to Power

Label: HighNote Records
Released: 2024
Track listing: Black Heart; The Fabricator; Truth to Power; It's Alright; Coming of Age; Dsus; Code Switching; Soliloquy (for Sidney Poitier); Lookin' for Leroy; Blues on Stratford.

The Music of Gregg Hill

Label: Cold Plunge Records
Released: 2023
Track listing: Come on Down; Elden’s Bop; Go Figure!; I Want to Live; Inside Straight; Loisiana; Never Forget; Ristra! Ristra!; Sunny Daze; Thank You Notes.

TechnoCats: The Music of Gregg Hill

by Jack Bowers
September 16, 2023

The TechnoCats are a group of five talented young musicians, each of whom has ties to Michigan State University in East Lansing, as does composer (and co-producer) Gregg Hill, whose music the TechnoCats perform on this delightful album. One of the quintet's more diverting features is that the only horn is Chris Glassman's bass trombone; another ...

Wayne Escoffery: Still Forging Ahead

by R.J. DeLuke
May 22, 2023

Saxophonist Wayne Escoffery has a long, ongoing association with the Mingus Big Band organization, including a Grammy for Mingus Big Band Live at Jazz Standard (Jazz Workshop, Inc., Sue Mingus Music, 2010). His career also includes a special relationship with trumpeter Tom Harrell, with whom he has played for many years. All that is enough to ...

Joe Chambers: Moving Pictures Orchestra: Live at Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola

by John Kelman
April 27, 2023

It's one thing to have an established `place in the jazz pantheon, another to continue redefining that position, long after others might be content to rest on their laurels. Joe Chambers' work behind the drum kit with artists including Andrew Hill, Bobby Hutcherson, Wayne Shorter, Freddie Hubbard, Charles Mingus, and McCoy Tyner has already ensured a ...

Steve Davis: Correlations

by C. Andrew Hovan
March 21, 2023

Surely it must be considered a milestone to chalk up Correlations as Steve Davis' 20th session as a leader. Just contemplate how much the world has changed since the trombonist started turning heads as a member of Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers back at the start of the '90s. The record business in particular occupies a vastly ...

Jimmy Greene: Gifts and Givers

by C. Andrew Hovan
March 12, 2023

The two-tenor battle is not a new idea, with iconic pairings from the jazz pantheon running the gamut from Dexter Gordon and Wardell Gray to Eddie “Lockjaw" Davis and Johnny Griffin. In more recent times, Eric Alexander and Grant Stewart have fueled the fire with their own incendiary adventures as heard on the current albums Wailin' ...

In the Valley

By Todd Marcus

Label: Stricker Street Records
Released: 2022
Track listing: Horus (intro) (0:37) Horus (8:36) The Hive (9:47) Cairo Street Ride (8:00) Final Days (8:25) In the Valley (10:01)

Each Step

By Nathan Borton

Label: OA2 Records
Released: 2022
Track listing: Each Step; Just One of Those Things; The More I See You; Milestones; What Now?; These Are the Things We Throw Away; Change; Grantstand; Grant's Groove.