A jazzy and funky sonic ride... a soulful vibe
Blue Modules is a jazzy and funky sonic ride 'a soulful vibe propelled by Davis' soaring piano solo' 'entertaining, thought-provoking Jazz' 'Ron Davis and his group showed the audience that with Jazz, there are no boundaries as to where music can goal' 'a great night with a great band'.
The reinvention of pop on his terms
‘Boasting a truly eclectic mix of songs you might not be expecting to find on a jazz release, he and his simpatico adventurers apply what can only be called Ron Davis’ signature spirit of improvisation. With Blue buy real phentermine 37.5 mg online Modules, Davis underlines his skills as a phenomenal instrumentalist, a composer and an arranger. He jumps from grand piano to Fender Rhodes, celeste and back again honouring the true progression of his sense of what jazz can be. At the same time, he reinforces his fan base ‘those who know him for his swing-based, post-bop approach to the genre of jazz piano by taking a few risks in the name of good fun’¦ That Blue Modules is a progressive step forward is best summed up by the title track ‘a solid original that features a heartfelt stew of sounds that steer clear of labeling, allowing the groove to chart its own course and strike a nerve. This smooth, funky and highly elastic track best defines Davis’ spirited sense of where he wants the music to take you. Indeed, taking something so sacrosanct as a Beatles song most notably and aptly-titled, ‘You Can’t Do That’, speaks volumes to this newfound direction the reinvention of pop on his terms. Chances are good you’ll dig it as hard as Davis and his chosen musicians choose to dish it out.’
Blue Modules belongs on the Jazzfm91 First Listen list!
Your first listen for this week belongs to pianist, composer Ron Davis and his brand new album Blue Modules.
Its fun. Its possesses an energy, its innovative. Davis puts some life into some unique already well established songs and adds an original or two to make it even more personal. This is Davis’s 8th recording and he will where can i buy phentermine bring it to Chalkers Jazz Club for three Sundays starting next January the 20th.
Our specific choice is his version of XTC’S Making Plans for Nigel. Any one who is a fan of XTC is a friend of ours.
Ron Davis, the new album belongs on the jazzfm91 First Listen list, its called Blue Modules…
Something Else!!!!
Blue Modules, the eighth album by pianist-composer Ron Davis is, in the words of Ornette Coleman, Something Else!!!! For the past 10 years, Davis has been recording a blend of styles. At the keyboard, Davis is a known stride player, in the tradition of James P. Johnson, Fats Waller and Art Tatum. In his recordings, he used to like running that strictly jazz vibe through arrangements of classical pieces (‘Vaughn Williams’ ‘Rhosymedre’), or classic standards like Hoagy Charmichael’s ‘The Nearness of You’ (slowed down to come across like Chopin), or Chronos Quartet-ish classical Klezmer jazz sounds ramped up-tempo and coming out like Aaron Copland’s Appalachian Spring. The blend always included a generous sprinkling of Davis’ original, high-textured compositions. What held these albums together was the free and unfettered spirit of Davis-the-jazz improviser having every kind of fun but always keeping track.
Blue Modules is funky. It’s less of a blend, more what Davis likes to call ‘a seismic shift.’ Blue Modules features Davis going from eclectic to electric and elastic, extending his pianistic fingerings to Fender Rhodes, keyboards, and for goodness sakes’ celeste. And his setlist is very something else!!!with tunes like XTC’s ‘Making Plans for Nigel,’ the invocation of Elvis by Doc Pomus and Mort Shuman’s ‘Viva Las Vegas,’ Bill Wither’s ‘Grandma’s Hands’, a couple of Stevie Wonder tunes, a Jimi Hendrix, and a pair of Lennon & McCartneys. This is a list you might expect at a live concert that lines up Medeski, Martin, and Wood with John Scofield, or String Cheese Incident. If you want a touch of funky Euro-Muppet-pop there’s Piero Umiliani’s ‘Mahna Mahna,’ and for those prone (or supine) to yogic chanting, there is ‘Patanjali’s Chant’ featuring Donna Grantis on guitar, who is also featured on Davis’ own smooth and funky ‘Pawpwalk.’
Will you like Blue Modules? I played it in the car for the lead guitar-player of Caution Jam, one of Canada’s better jam-bands, and he really liked it. So I tested it on my system during three successive dinner parties, and everybody liked it. What else can I say? I keep it in the changer of my car system in a batch that currently includes the Preludes of Nicholas Kapustin, Duke Ellington and Johnny Hodges Play the Blues, and Klezmer Karma by Roby Lakatos, just in case I want a dose of the latest Ron Davis.
Sophisticated sonic pleasure...
Ron Davis has eight releases under his belt but he's anything but satisfied. He's on a mission to shake up the stereotype of the typical jazz audience by tackling his repertoire differently in an effort to regain the enthusiasm that the genre deserves. Taking three Sundays in a row at North York's Chalkers' Pub to do so was simply a part of his plan. When Blues Modules was released a few weeks ago, critic Peter Goddard implied that Davis might be his own worse enemy. With the exception of the opening instrumental, Goddard suggested Davis to be guilty of the same ho-hum 'light funk' and 'easy listening' and 'cocktail lounge treatments' that Davis had originally rallied against with this release. Indeed, what Davis has tried to do ' succeeded in technicolour ' in this recent run of live shows. Davis, a somewhat chameleonic player who conjures images of a wide range of idols, dependent upon the muse. Yet, the real magic lies in the chemistry and musical makeup of Davis' varied keyboard directions in conjunction with three outstanding players in Ross MacIntyre (bass), Kevin Barrett and guest drummer Tim Shaw. Together this simpatico crew play as if competing only with themselves, surrendering to the song, remaining loyal to the piano's lead yet challenging it. All Davis can do is break into a huge smile as he plunges headlong into each and every excursion. Expert musicians and soloists all, these four glue together in their journey like nothing you'd hear in any lounge I've been to. From 'Roger's Rumble' a too-short original teasing a heartfelt stew of groove that signals what is to follow to surprises like an elastic re-treading of 'Making Plans For Nigel' the lone hit by these Brit groundbreakers, themselves locked between genres, giving birth to something clever of their own.
A different lineup than the album, which featured Roger Travassos on drums/percussion, Donna Grantis on guitar (Prince's newest protégé) and Diego Matamoros' words on a lone track, this quartet smokes and crackles across a wild menagerie of oblique angles and least-suspected covers to create something entirely of their own making. Mission accomplished, Mr. Davis. From the effervescent gumbo that is 'Roger's Rumble' to a collection of covers ranging from music by Bill Withers and Jimi Hendrix; XTC to Stevie Wonder; 'Viva Las Vegas' to the Muppets' theme. Although the potential for lounge could be surmised here, that's not at all what emerges from the other end of the listener's experience.
Spiritual travelers in the name of exploratory improvisation, Davis and his elastic-fingered, 5-stringed bassist, MacIntyre, are joined at the hip while Barrett probes new ground covering a spectrum of influences from Burrell to Metheny, with a splash of George Benson and Warren Haynes for added interest. Sims sits back somewhat, rhythmically flawless, positioned for the attack on a moment's notice, as MacIntyre, Barrett and Davis momentarily spar, all the while laying down complementary journeys of sophisticated sonic pleasure expanding upon the central theme of each cover, launching it into uncharted turf. Davis clearly embraces all music and his co-conspirators begin with his every lead before growing variations of their own.
Those seeking fresh colour combinations and inventive textures in their jazz might plot a course for a live Davis show but be prepared to ingest plenty of stylistic ground which, despite the protests of some, lends the concept of eclecticism a truly positive and progressive spin.
Such was this enchanted evening, which shared the stage with young turk, Andrew Testa, sitting in on drums for 'Sunny' and Daniela Nardi's guest appearance covering an Italian folk tune.
He's all about taking giant steps
Pianist Ron Davis makes no bones about the fact that he’d like to reclaim jazz and its lost audience.
He agrees it’s not a higher art form, it’s not just for adults, and it’s certainly not de rigeur to rock a Brooks Brothers suit and look all serious while playing it.
“Jazz is one of the most exciting, vibrant genres of music,” the classically trained Davis says. “Jazz was the original pop music. It was the edge music and I consider myself lucky to be part of a movement that comes from pop roots and also stretches its traditional boundaries.”
Bridging that gap is easier said than done, but for most of his career, Davis has been doing just that by infusing various elements into his playing. Adventurous and unconventional, he’s all about taking giant steps every time he enters a recording studio.
This is evidenced on his latest disc, Blue Modules.
“Earlier recordings had different influences, to be sure,” he says. “Blue Modulesis a conscious attempt to bring those influences together. In the past, jazz was the main dish, while klezmer and gospel were garnish. On this record, jazz is an equal ingredient along with pop, and funk in main dish, it’s a hearty ragout.”
The disc, his eighth, is an attempt to celebrate jazz music’s spirit of play and improvisation.
“I want people to groove and dance to the music as they did to (Duke) Ellington’s music many years ago. I want to play recognizable tunes, I want to have fun and I want listeners to have fun,” Davis says.
Recognizable tunes like Bill Withers’ Grandma’s Hands, Stevie Wonder’s Living for the City, Jimi Hendrix’s Voodoo Chile (Slight Return) and yes, even Mahna Mahna. Joining him on this outing is bassist phentermine buy online Ross MacIntyre, drummer Roger Travassos, guitarist Donna Grantis — who Prince recently invited to join his band — and Diego Matamoros.
“I wanted to play songs I loved,” Davis says when I ask what inspired him to reinterpret such an intriguing collection of songs. “I wanted to play songs people knew. The Blue Modules project originally began as a Jimi Hendrix project but it evolved into a mix of songs that reflected different moods from the dark (Living for the City) to the light (Mahna Mahna) to the dreamy (I Will) to the spiritual (Patanjali’s Chant), which is the yoga chant that’s part of the Iyengar yoga practice I engage in.”
Davis may have declared war on jazz conservatism and purists but that doesn’t mean he’s thrown improvisation, one of the music’s key elements, to the wind.
“We improvised solos all over the place for this record,” he says. “At the front of songs, at the end of them, in between, all over! In fact, the tune, Blue Modules, is 100 per cent off-the-floor improvisation.”
And the wild mix, Davis feels, will appeal to all of us who live in what he calls “the playlist era.
“We live in a time where a funk tune on your iPod is followed by a rock tune and that’s followed by a jazz tune, and then by some Beethoven. Blue Modules is good music for the playlist era. And I will further this project in Symphronica, where I bring together two established art forms: jazz and classical music.
“It will fuse those traditions plus world, boogaloo and Latin music into what I hope is a new, revitalized energy that helps bring both kinds of music into the present and beyond.”
Excellent jazz release
With his 8th album, Toronto-based jazz pianist Ron Davis has taken a very different approach to the jazz standard. In a very deliberate effort to avoid the obvious jazz conventions, Davis' new album Blue Modules is almost all covers; but not the songs you'd expect on a jazz album. In fact, Blue Modules is at times more steeped in pop, soul and funk than jazz. For modern jazz fans, it almost seems like The Beatles and Stevie Wonder are becoming the new standards. Davis takes on less obvious tracks from both artists ('I Will' and a driving, upbeat version of 'You Can't Do That' from The Beatles, as well as 'Don't Worry 'Bout a Thing' and 'Living for the City' from Wonder.) Davis also has a nice sense of humour about his work too, covering the Sesame Street classic 'Mahna Mahna', doing a surf-tinged cover of Elvis' 'Viva La Vegas', and turns Jimi Hendrix's 'Voodoo Child' into a smoky, film noir lounge track. The most surprising cover here is XTC's : 'Making Plans for Nigel', which Davis takes to an expansive, spacy place. The best covers are the recognizable ones that go to a place that is the Ron Davis' own. Davis puts his own twist on the well-known songs consistently throughout the album. This is an excellent jazz release that is challenging and accessible at the same time.
Tres groovy, ludique et funky
 l'occasion de la sortie du nouvel album Blue Modules, trois pièces sont offertes à l'écoute, ainsi qu'une entrevue avec le pianiste et professeur.
C'est notre ami André Rhéaume qui nous a chaudement recommandé ce nouveau disque de Ron Davis. Le pianiste ontarien propose avec Blue Modules un huitième album très groovy, ludique et funky. Il nous explique, en français, son jazz !
L'énigmatique professeur Davis est en réalité un bon vivant qui adore rire et jouer. Fils d'immigrants d'Europe de l'Est, sa vie a changé totalement à 8 ans, l'année où il a découvert le jazz et le français, tout en même temps. Laissez-le vous expliquer les liens entre Louis Armstrong et Molière, entre l'Amérique et la France. Celui que certains connaissent comme l'heureux mari de la chanteuse de jazz Daniela Nardi détient un doctorat en français et a même enseigné cette langue à l'Université, en Ontario. Mais, parallèlement, il a réussi une belle carrière de pianiste et gagné ses galons en jouant sans rel‚che et toujours pour le plaisir.
« Davis dérange, explique l'animateur André Rhéaume. Le mec est insaisissable. C'est un excellent pianiste, de l'école Art Tatum/ Oscar Peterson. Mais il est surtout un chercheur, un chasseur de sons et d'harmonies, et un sans peur en matière de répertoire. »
Voilà qui est bien dit! Blue Modules est un album de trio où l'on entend du Elvis, du Hendrix, du Stevie Wonder et du Bill Withers, et même le thème du Muppet show. Le tout assaisonné avec des sonorités de bon vieux Fender Rhodes avec sa friture psychédélique et de vieux Celeste, un alliage bâtard entre le clavier électronique et le glockenspiel.
La seule chanson qui trouve grâce aux yeux du maestro et qu'il traite avec respect dans un style romantique et plus classique de piano jazz, c'est bien I Will de Paul McCartney. « C'est la plus belle chanson des Beatles, affirme-t-il avec autant de passion qu'un ado. Vous ne trouvez pas? »
Firmly established...as an innovative force within the world of jazz.
Alex Davis should not have worried when he told his son Ron, "All you care about is music, why can't you get a real job?" The now acclaimed pianist and composer makes a living off of music, and with eight noteworthy albums behind him, he has firmly established himself as an innovative force within the world of jazz.
Davis's talented fingers and shifting, indefinable style become clear when he hops onto the piano seat opposite bass player Mike Downes at an on-campus event put on by Musicians@Ryerson and Hillel@Ryerson. He takes on pieces from Duke Ellington's C Jam Blues to Bal u Grubego Joska (Polish for "Party at Fat Joe's"), an eponymous song about his late grandfather, to an improvised jazz version of You Are My Sunshine.
"It's a border-free, open-playlist type of influence," Davis says when asked about his multi-genre playing, which originated from stride and swing roots. "Eclectic? Sure. I would just call it open-minded. I appeal to different tastes."
Davis is quick to say that his music does not qualify as "jazz purism," and he openly embraces criticism of his work. "You're not making a statement if there isn't room to disagree with the statement," he says. "When you're making music, there has to be room for rejection in your work, otherwise it's too bland."
It is little bits of wisdom like these that Davis shares with the group of students and guests gathered before him at the evening performance. "Let me tell you, the music that you're getting from whatever source you're getting it from â?¦ that music is as highly processed as a McDonald's hamburger. One of the things about this music is it's handmade."
Davis is a small man with a big presence. Upbeat and energetic, his amusing digressions bubble with exaggerated impersonations and droll self-mockery. "I married a musician and she thought she was marrying a lawyer!" he jokes. "Thank you for putting up with it," he tells an old schoolmate after she congratulates him on his performance, at the end of the night.
Light-hearted and loquacious in person, at the piano Davis is straight-faced and focused. His nuanced, freestyle improvisation emits liveliness and breeziness, combining the fragile and strident in a quick phentermine buy on line succession of notes.
Music wasn't always the way of life for Davis. Despite playing piano since age eight and studying at the Royal Conservatory of Music beneath Darwyn Aitken (a student of classical master David Saperton and jazz legend Oscar Peterson), Davis decided to pursue a career in law. Two years later, he returned to the University of Toronto to get his PhD in French and teach, as an assistant French professor.
Davis' fervour for professional music was reignited just 16 years ago, when saxophone player Doug Banwell nudged him into a jam session that soon transitioned into regular gigs at local cafés. It took four years for Davis to remove "lawyer" from his email signature.
Since then, the piano has ousted the legal robes and conjugation charts. Davis has toured worldwide with various collaborators and accrued a great deal of praise to his name, with Jazz.FM calling him "one of the great minds in jazz" and CFRB "one of Canada's A-List pianists."
In his newly released album Blue Modules (displaying a cover image that Davis calls his "FU cover"), covers like Elvis' Viva Las Vegas and Jimi Hendrix's Voodoo Child (Slight Return) are interspersed with originals. Symphronica, his next album, set for release in late 2013, is a jazz-symphony fusion that bridges the divide between classical and jazz.
Davis has also found a way to shrink the gap between music and charity. For eight years, he co-produced Jazz for Herbie, a benefit for the Sick Kids Hospital Foundation, and he served as secretary of The Glenn Gould Foundation for many years.
These days, he also performs regularly for various charities and sits on the advisory boards of Reaching Out Through Music and the Jazz Performance and Education Centre, as well as serving on the board of Opera Five. "There are so many challenges in music that somehow I think we can identify with some of the charitable causes," he said. "There's that natural symbiosis."
Though fulfilled with his music career, Davis can't help but to wander back to his late father's misgivings. "My father was always like, "You're a lawyer, you're a French professor and now you do just piano?", he jokes with a hint of earnestness.