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James Davis
James Davis, a Chicago trumpeter and music maker, is comfortable in and enjoys exploring a wide array of musical environments. As a composer, improviser, and educator he is involved in a diverse blend of musical communities in the Chicagoland area.
In addition to leading different formations of his own groups, James has also recently collaborated and/or recorded with Matt Ulery, The Chicago Jazz Orchestra, Chris Dammann's Restroy, The Metropolitan Jazz Octet, The Heritage Jazz Orchestra, and The New Standard Jazz Orchestra. He has performed at many of Chicago’s premier performance venues including The Chicago Jazz Festival, The Green Mill and Jazz Showcase. James’ playing has been heard at famed venues and festivals around the world including The Kennedy Center, The Montreaux Jazz Festival, The North Sea Jazz Festival, and the Montreal Jazz Festival. James has earned recognition as a finalist both in the 2004 International Trumpet Guild Jazz Improvisation Competition and the 2007 Carmine Caruso International Jazz Trumpet Competition and has completed degrees at the University of Texas at Arlington, and at the University of North Texas. At UNT, James had the opportunity to tour and record with the Grammy nominated One O’clock Lab Band and the UNT Wind Symphony.
In addition to appearing on dozens of other’s Jazz and creative music albums, James’ playing and compositions are featured on his group Beveled’s newest release Arc and Edge, as well as Remain Calm (2021), Disappearing Roads (2018), Beveled (2014), the James Davis Quintet album Angles of Refraction, the avant-rock/jazz/improv band Zing!’s, Magnetic Flux, multiple albums with Albertan drummer Karl Schwonik, among others. He is currently on faculty at Triton College, Wheaton College, and Harold Washington College.
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James Davis' Beveled: Arc and Edge
by Mark Corroto
Trumpeter James Davis' sextet is aptly named Beveled--a word that means transforming a sharp, square edge into something smoother, more refined. That concept of reshaping and softening defines both the ensemble's instrumentation and its sonic character. Davis sets the tone by trading his bright trumpet for the warmer, more introspective voice of the flugelhorn. He deepens this resonance by adding a second flugelhorn, played by Chad McCullough, alongside two bass clarinetists, Geof Bradfield and Michael Salter. The bass clarinet, known ...
Continue ReadingJames Davis' Beveled: Arc and Edge
by Jack Bowers
Beveled, according to Webster's, translates roughly to “slanted" or “grooved." On Arc and Edge, flugelhornist James Davis' Chicago-based sextet clearly has its own slant on contemporary post-bop jazz wherein the groove ranges from typically improvised passages to cutting-edge motifs and classical chamber music, using a second flugelhorn, two bass clarinets and rhythm to flesh out the leader's sonically unique and harmonically sophisticated compositions. The second flugelhorn is that of Chad McCullough. Geof Bradfield and Michael Salter man ...
Continue ReadingMatt Ulery: Mannerist
by Mike Jurkovic
There is a lilting magic to the music of Mannerist that is hard to deny or find fault with. The “Bridge" starts and the whole day changes, eliciting, perhaps, a feeling of being lighter on the feet, lighter in spirit and, most importantly, lighter in the head. Suddenly all the information they want you to swallow goes away and its just you and the music. It is a beautiful thing. It is something bassist/composer/bandleader Matt Ulery sets out to do ...
Continue ReadingMichael Hudson-Casanova: Animus
by Hrayr Attarian
On his second release as a leader, the captivating Animus, saxophonist Michael Hudson-Casanova leads his trio on a cohesive set of eight of his originals. The contemplative, moving music is complex and nuanced, inventive and accessible. Hudson-Casanova, who has already demonstrated his superb compositional skills on his debut, goes further on the current album, creating a unique blend of a haunting ambience and provocative substance. Guitarist Erik Skov begins the title track with reverberating vamps which bounce off ...
Continue ReadingMatt Ulery's Delicate Charms: Live at the Green Mill
by Troy Dostert
One of the central figures of Chicago's thriving jazz scene, bassist Matt Ulery has cultivated fruitful relationships with a core of compatriots who embody the grit and beauty of the music coming out of the Windy City. He maintains a host of projects, one of the foremost being Delicate Charms, a group that released its self-titled debut in 2019 on Woolgathering Records; alto saxophonist Greg Ward, pianist Rob Clearfield, drummer Quin Kirchner and violinist Zach Brock assist Ulery in creating ...
Continue ReadingMatt Ulery: Pollinator
by Mike Jurkovic
What a wonderful lift to an otherwise dismal year is Pollinator, Chicago based bassist Matt Ulery's unabashed revelry in swing jazz circa King Oliver and Jelly Roll Morton. Add a few pops, skips and other random surface noises to the sound of these eight unbridled, hothouse Ulery compositions and you'd swear you were sitting in and listening to the real thing. Because Pollinator sure sounds like your grandad's 78s. Those mysteriously heavy, black platters that set you on this beautiful ...
Continue ReadingWaxahachie's James Davis Releases New CD
Source:
All About Jazz
Considering the music environment that nourished his childhood, it's no surprise James Davis made a career in music. He recently released his first CD, “Angles of Refraction," as part of the James Davis Quintet, a group of jazz musicians. The 1997 Waxahachie High School graduate participated in band from sixth through 12th grade and is one of many family musicians. His mother, Theresa Davis, is a piano teacher and the pianist and organist at St. Joseph Catholic Church, where she ...
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Debut CD by the James Davis Quintet - "Angles of Refraction" - Now Available
Source:
All About Jazz
Angles of Refraction, the debut album of the James Davis Quintet, is now available on ears&eyes Records. This album features nine original compositions by James Davis, who has also composed for the collaborative group Zing!, and the adventurous Tomorrow Music Orchestra. The quintet is grounded in the language of Jazz from the last 30 or so years, and incorporates sounds bordering on pop/rock and even drum 'n bass rhythms. Throughout these stylistic tangents, however, a common thread of patience and ...
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Kind Folk
From: Altus: Animus LiveBy James Davis
What If Everything Is Not Enough
From: AnimusBy James Davis
