| Biography | Jamies musical education began in the choir of his fathers Pentecostal Church in Mansfield, Ohio. His unique bass-baritone voice brought life to liturgical music sung in Latin, Bach, Schumann, Mahler and Rameaus 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.
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.
Following his outstanding performance in London with the BBCs sixty-four piece Orchestra and Big Band, Sir Michael Parkinson, the BBCs arbiter of important international jazz proclaimed, Jamie as the chocolate voiced baritone.
Sharing his passion for music with his audiences at venues around the Globe, Jamie performs at Yoshis in San Francisco, Dizzys and The Blue Note in New York, Milan, Tokyo, Istanbul and Ronnie Scotts 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 Radios 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.
Davis solo CDs, Its 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. Its 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 Its 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 Barnharts 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 the Jazz and Gospel genres featuring Jamie Davis, Scotty Barnhart, Wycliffe Gordon, Lady Bianca, Ken Miller, Charles McNeal in an all star big band under the direction of Dennis Wilson. Free On The Inside CD/DVD will be released in 2013. |