BILLIE DAVIES Music

10/16/12     Albums      By Geannine Reid Billie Davies Trio, All About Love All About Love The term slow burn has been used to describe sensuality in music for decades. Billie Davies Trio is just that, a slow burn of improvisational ideas, coupled with complex rhythms and harmonic colors. Female Drummer Billie Davies, who originally hails from Belgium is at the helm, leading her trio through a well-balanced program of standards re-arranged and originals that complement each other in the context of this recording with ease. The main theme throughout is spaciousness, it permeates the overall concept of the album. Take the opening track “Stella by Starlight” a well-known standard that has been well-documented, but when in the hands of this apt trio it becomes like a firework show that bursts with originality. Trombonist Tom Bone Rails adds a clear yet inviting tone that cuts through nicely, yet adds a sense of warmth at the same time. ...

Billie Davies is reviewed by JazzMusic JAZZMUSIC by:  CJ Bond The Billie Davies Trio: All About Love. Year: 2012 Style: Jazz Label: Cobra Basement Musicians: Billie Davies - drums; Tom Bone Ralls - trombone; Oliver Steinberg - bass. CD Review: Jazz combos without chordal accompaniment (pianoless) are rareties these days- if they exist at all. Gerry Mulligan's 1950 quartet, with trumpeter Chet Baker, bassist Bob Whitlock, and drummer Chico Hamilton; along with The Sonny Rollins Trio 1957 "Way Out West"  album, featuring Ray Brown on bass, and Shelly Manne on drums, are two of the quintessential jazz aggregations that set the standard for this grouping. The Billie Davies Trio is a pianoless ensemble that manages to overcome the challenges that are inherent in such an arrangement: maintaining stimulating textures and colors without generating chaos; keeping clear harmonic structures; and eschewing loss of place by musicians an...

The Billie Davies Trio is reviewed by The Borderland THE BORDERLAND by:  John M. Peters The Billie Davies Trio - All About Love (Cobra Basement) All About Love could equally have been called All About Improv as this album is all about the spontaneous moment that jazz is created. A trio of musicians set in a circle facing each other in a small recording studio and playing off each others creativity. With Billie Davies on drums, Tom Bones Ralls on trombone and Oliver Steinberg on bass, this is a trio that stretches the boundaries beyond the norm. The album contains a mix of original music by the trio and several covers by the likes of Miles Davis, Mongo Santamaria and John Coltrane. Ms Davies hails from Belgium but is veteran traveler around the world and has been long settled in the USA, where she has absorbed a lot of jazz and mastered the drums. I think this may be her first album as leader, but it has a confidence hewn from m...