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Jazz Articles about Jesse Davis
About Jesse Davis
Instrument: Saxophone, alto
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by Jack Bowers
Alto saxophone master Sonny Stitt always chafed when he was called little Bird," a reference to the greatest alto of them all, Charlie Parker. I'm not a little Bird," he would say, I'm me; Sonny Stitt." In similar fashion, Jesse Davis would probably shrug off any comparison to another of the instrument's esteemed patriarchs, the late Julian “Cannonball" Adderley. Even so, such a connection is hardly misplaced. To some ears, Davis is the nearest thing to Cannonball since...well, Cannonball himself. ...
read moreCharles Tolliver: Connect
by Chris May
Put out more flags. Connect, the first release from trumpeter Charles Tolliver in over a decade, is a monster. From the Saturday-night goodtime opener Blue Soul" through to the intense, Spanish tinged, serpentine closer Suspicion," the album finds Tolliver still at the top of his game in a recording career which began in the mid 1960s. He fronts a US quintet which brings with it the grit and groove of a mid-1960s Blue Note hard-bop band while sounding totally 2020. ...
read moreJesse Davis: The Setup
by Russ Musto
This is the real thing: an authentic, unpretentious set of bebop, ballads and blues played with the profound feeling and burning intensity that many artists strive for but few achieve. Saxophonist Jesse Davis was a featured player in Robert Altman's Kansas City and on this date he seems to be on a mission to revitalize jazz with the energy and excitement of a real" jazz club, as depicted in that film. The group, featuring Davis' frequent collaborator Peter Bernstein on ...
read moreJesse Davis: The Setup
by C. Michael Bailey
Jesse Davis is a meat and potatoes alto saxophonist. He sounds like the living extension of that part of Julian Adderley and Sonny Stitt which was unaffected by Charlie Parker. He has a beautifully virile, muscular tone brimming with confidence. On The Setup, Davis chooses a guitar trio for his rhythm section, lead by plectrist Peter Bernstein perfectly balancing Davis’s brawn with grace and intelligence.
Davis’s choice of repertoire for this recital is tasteful and smart. From the standards bin, ...
read moreJesse Davis: Second Nature
by Jim Santella
In Robert Altman’s 1996 film Kansas City, Jesse Davis is a member of the band at a fictional Hey Hey Club where Lester Young and Coleman Hawkins battle it out for satisfaction. In the subsequent video and tour, he’s paired with fellow alto saxophonist David Fathead" Newman, playing mostly post-bop passages and adding excitement to the jam, which still employs a 1934-ish jazz scene. Born in New Orleans and starting his professional career with Illinois Jacquet’s big band, the 34-year-old ...
read moreJesse Davis: First Insight
by Jack Bowers
Jesse Davis, one of the country's finest post-Cannonball boppers, plays with splendid precision on First Insight, all of whose nine compositions he wrote - but I can remember his having played with more intensity on other occasions (High Standards, for example, or From Within). While there is warmth peeking through here from time to time, the session seldom catches fire. One problem lies with the rhythm section, especially Miller's forceful piano, which is too conspicuously front-and-center (Carter's bass, which is ...
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