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Tuesday, December 17, 2013
Monday, December 16, 2013
BILLIE DAVIES at NOLA's
BILLIE DAVIES at NOLA's
BILLIE DAVIES Ensemble
http://
Billie Davies: drums. Daniel Coffeng: guitar. Will Mack: bass.
Performance at:
Nola's - A Taste of New Orleans
Doors open at 5 pm
Performance Time: 7:00 pm - 9:00pm
Address:
734 E. 3rd Street, Los Angeles, CA 90013
Neighborhood:
Downtown L.A.
Full Details: http://nolasla.com/
http://
Billie Davies: drums. Daniel Coffeng: guitar. Will Mack: bass.
Performance at:
Nola's - A Taste of New Orleans
Doors open at 5 pm
Performance Time: 7:00 pm - 9:00pm
Address:
734 E. 3rd Street, Los Angeles, CA 90013
Neighborhood:
Downtown L.A.
Full Details: http://nolasla.com/
Thursday, November 28, 2013
Billie Davies walking the red carpet of the 23rd Annual LA Music Awards with Mike Davies
to receive the 2013 "Jazz Artist" award.
Billie Davies: 12 Volt (2013) By C. MICHAEL BAILEY,
Billie Davies: 12 Volt (2013)
Drummer Billie Davies' previous recording, All About Love (Self Produced, 2012) was novel and compelling, a trombone trio with the drummer lead. Davies assembled original and standard works, achieving both educational and artistic endpoints. The present recording, 12 Volt, retains the trio format, substituting the guitar for the trombone and pushes the trio envelope out with a moody collection of eight originals, when considered together comprise an avant-garde suite possibly conceived by Grant Green and John Coltrane.
This music is most comparable to Jimmy Giuffre's 1960s trios exploring free jazz using three independent instruments probing jazz's three-dimensional space. Davies directs a very similar interrogation of spatial sound dependence and independent of time. "Collioure" is based on a descending chordal guitar figure, simple and unadorned with brief drum and arco bass support. Guitarist Daniel Coffeng sparsely solos, extending the opening theme. The title piece is a rolicking jam with all instruments hitting their mark. Davies carefully cultivates her cymbals while bassist Adam Levy provides the harmonic roadmap and time over which Coffeng solos most robustly.
"Les Landes" is a good representation of the disc as a whole, an anxious piece with many corners and edges to navigate. Davie's challenge to her bandmates is to glide as smoothly as possible about these corners while she stirs the water with her persistent and restless drumming. The mood is dreamy and slightly soporous, a child of Morpheus and honey, preparing a bed of experiences for the listener.
Track Listing: Collioure; Meeting Manitas; 12 Volt; Les Landes; Tango for Patti; Grapes, Plums and Tomatoes; Gypsy; La Sieste.
Personnel: Billie Davies: drums; Daniel Coffeng: guitar; Adam Levy: bass.
Record Label: Cobra Basement
Style: Beyond Jazz
Friday, November 22, 2013
Dr. Will Smith's Playlist: Review (Avant Garde): “12 Volt” - Billie Davies
Dr. Will Smith's Playlist: Review (Avant Garde): “12 Volt” - Billie Davies:
You can listen to her work here:
Review (Avant Garde): “12 Volt” - Billie Davies
Billie Davies has an interesting story. Her travels have led her to many places. She began her journey in Belgium and grew up
singing, writing, and eventually playing drums at the age of 14. After several awards for her artistic
creations, she became a DJ at 23 and played in clubs in Germany and
Belgium. It was at this time she was
offered a grant to study at Berklee College of Music under Max Roach after he
heard her audition tape. He felt that she “could learn
more fundamental drumming techniques” but he heard “the natural drummer” in
her.
She declined the move to the US at that time but became a
professional drummer at 25 citing Al Foster, Billy Higgins, Billy Cobham, Jack De Johnette, Ed
Thigpen, and Peter Erskine as her biggest influences.
After moving to the US at 32 she settled in Los Angeles,
California and became a US Citizen. She
recorded with several artists and began to compose music for her own
release. Her latest project “12 Volt”
was recorded in April 2013 and released in October. It features Daniel Coffeng on Guitar and Adam Levy on Bass.
The
pieces on the album are inspired by her life in the wine regions of France
where she lived amongst gypsies.
The title comes from the 12 volt battery that ran everything electric in
the RV where she stayed with local blues jazz guitarist Claude Mazet. She remembers her life among the gypsies and
her life in the south of Europe fondly and “It is that bohemian life,
that close to nature life... so close that all the music…everything else you do
or think becomes….a reflection of it.”
The first selection on the album is reminiscent of Miles
Davis’ electric period of the 70s. There
are several themes that are stated initially, these are followed by the
improvisation section which brings in ideas from the themes that were
presented. The piece ends on the same thematic material that it began
with. There are some nice dynamic
changes in the music and Ms. Davies creates some pleasant colors with her
cymbal work. Daniel Coffeng has ample
chops to play a variety of styles and his technique ties the variety of ideas
together.
Her style is definitely of the avant garde school of jazz
which seeks to go beyond the boundaries of the standard elements of music. We are taught that the elements of music: rhythm,
harmony, melody and form, are the key foundational elements of music. Well what happens if you remove these
elements can you still call it music? Is it possible to remove them completely? This is the debate that has been going on in
the jazz community since Ornette Coleman released Free Jazz in 1960.
Ms. Davies is adding her take on that conversation and she
brings an interesting offering to the table with her composition “12 Volt.” Give it a listen and let us know what you
think.
You can listen to her work here:
Sunday, November 17, 2013
Press, Reviews and Accolades for avant garde jazz drummer Billie Davies
Press, Reviews and Accolades for avant garde jazz drummer Billie Davies
BILLIE DAVIES is a recipient of the 2013 23rd Annual Los Angeles, California LA Music Awards
"JAZZ ARTIST" Award. 11/14/2013.
BILLIE DAVIES is a recipient of the 2013 23rd Annual Los Angeles, California LA Music Awards
"JAZZ ARTIST" Award. 11/14/2013.
Tuesday, November 12, 2013
JazzWorldQuest - Jazz News With A Global Perspective: "12 VOLT", a new CD release by Jazz and Avant Gard...
JazzWorldQuest - Jazz News With A Global Perspective: "12 VOLT", a new CD release by Jazz and Avant Gard...: "12 VOLT", a new CD release by Jazz and Avant Garde drummer BILLIE DAVIES. The organic essence of improvisational music. The e...
Tuesday, October 29, 2013
Billie Davies: 12 VOLT
Billie Davies Trio: 12 Volt
Belgium native and Los Angeles based drummer Billie Davies continues to forge her own path in the improvised music world. Endowed with an explorative temperament and unique, yet definite swing sense, Davies pays homage to Gypsy musicians on her fourth release as a leader, 12 Volt.
Just to be clear, this is not an album reinterpreting guitarist Django Reinhardt
's tunes or anyone else's for that matter. It is a cohesive work of bold innovation and free flowing spontaneity in tribute to the unfettered spirit of those individuals. The title track, for instance, opens with Davies' thundering cascade of beats that fall like refreshing rain over guitarist Daniel Coffeng's earthy, slow simmering, chords. Her restless polyrhythms, tempered by the intricately textured, sublime timbres drive Coffeng's electrifying, fiery improvisation along bassist Adam Levy's densely woven rhythmic trails.
One of the thematic threads of the disc is a superb balance of cerebral creativity and a raw, visceral fervor. The passionate "Tango for Patti" is a dramatic piece filled with thrilling harmonic structures and a subtle and effusive assonance. Coffeng's crisp guitar's logical progression echoes over Davies' ardent, sensual rumble and Levy's delightfully angular, percussive bass lines.
The intelligent, spur of the moment extemporizations maintain throughout a definite melodicism. The bluesy "Gypsy" features Coffeng's soulful and mellifluous strings against Levy's agile walking bass and Davies' rocking drums in an enchanting and though provoking three-way dance. The closer, "La Sieste," meanwhile, is an ethereal and fantastical composition with gorgeously elegiac tones. Davies' dexterous alternation of whispering brushes and tapping sticks, peppered with silent pauses, creates a hypnotic ambience filled with Coffeng's quietly poetic phrasing.
As evidenced on this uniformly intriguing disc Davies thrives in the sparse, collaborative setting of the trio. Throughout her recorded legacy, her partners have changed but her artistic imagination and her inspired ingenuity have solidified and matured. The result is a stimulating, original and singularly satisfying oeuvre that, hopefully, will continue to expand and evolve.
Track Listing: Collioure; Meeting Manitas; 12 Volt; Les Landes; Tango for Patti; Grapes, Plums and Tomatoes; Gypsy; La Sieste.
Personnel: Billie Davies: drums; Daniel Coffeng: guitar; Adam Levy: bass.
Record Label: Cobra Basement
Style: Beyond Jazz
Billie Davies Trio: 12 Volt (2013)
Belgium native and Los Angeles based drummer Billie Davies continues to forge her own path in the improvised music world. Endowed with an explorative temperament and unique, yet definite swing sense, Davies pays homage to Gypsy musicians on her fourth release as a leader, 12 Volt. Just to be clear, this is not an album reinterpreting guitarist Django Reinhardt
's tunes or anyone else's for that matter. It is a cohesive work of bold innovation and free flowing spontaneity in tribute to the unfettered spirit of those individuals. The title track, for instance, opens with Davies' thundering cascade of beats that fall like refreshing rain over guitarist Daniel Coffeng's earthy, slow simmering, chords. Her restless polyrhythms, tempered by the intricately textured, sublime timbres drive Coffeng's electrifying, fiery improvisation along bassist Adam Levy's densely woven rhythmic trails.
One of the thematic threads of the disc is a superb balance of cerebral creativity and a raw, visceral fervor. The passionate "Tango for Patti" is a dramatic piece filled with thrilling harmonic structures and a subtle and effusive assonance. Coffeng's crisp guitar's logical progression echoes over Davies' ardent, sensual rumble and Levy's delightfully angular, percussive bass lines.
The intelligent, spur of the moment extemporizations maintain throughout a definite melodicism. The bluesy "Gypsy" features Coffeng's soulful and mellifluous strings against Levy's agile walking bass and Davies' rocking drums in an enchanting and though provoking three-way dance. The closer, "La Sieste," meanwhile, is an ethereal and fantastical composition with gorgeously elegiac tones. Davies' dexterous alternation of whispering brushes and tapping sticks, peppered with silent pauses, creates a hypnotic ambience filled with Coffeng's quietly poetic phrasing.
As evidenced on this uniformly intriguing disc Davies thrives in the sparse, collaborative setting of the trio. Throughout her recorded legacy, her partners have changed but her artistic imagination and her inspired ingenuity have solidified and matured. The result is a stimulating, original and singularly satisfying oeuvre that, hopefully, will continue to expand and evolve.
Track Listing: Collioure; Meeting Manitas; 12 Volt; Les Landes; Tango for Patti; Grapes, Plums and Tomatoes; Gypsy; La Sieste.
Personnel: Billie Davies: drums; Daniel Coffeng: guitar; Adam Levy: bass.
Record Label: Cobra Basement
Style: Beyond Jazz
Thursday, October 10, 2013
Billie Davies | 12 Volt | CD Baby Music Store
Billie Davies | 12 Volt | CD Baby Music Store
THE NEW CD "12 VOLT" - BILLIE DAVIES is now available for your music collections....
Get it at CD Baby: http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/billiedavies
THE NEW CD "12 VOLT" - BILLIE DAVIES is now available for your music collections....
Get it at CD Baby: http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/billiedavies
Thursday, October 3, 2013
Something Else! Reviews: Billie Davies – 12 Volt (2013) Reviewed by S. Victor Aaron.
Jazz, Uncategorized — October 2, 2013 at 9:00 am
The 23rd Annual L.A. Music Awards has recently nominated drummer and bandleader Davies as “Jazz Artist of the Year” for 2013, a mere four years after she set up shop in Los Angeles and made it her home. But this bohemian from Belgium has quickly made positive impressions everywhere she goes, including this reviewer when sizing up her third album all about Love a year ago.
For album #4 12 Volt, Davies assembled a new trio to go along with her new songs, in which she constructed around a concept of simplicity and being closer to nature. In this case, being closer to nature meant deconstructing jazz to its base components. The liner notes for Billie Davies’ upcoming album went into the detail of what makes the jazz of this drummer stand out from the herd, but one sentence seemed to sum it up nicely: “Davies is not countering the modern jazz movement so much but rather stripping it down to its essence.”
Moving on from the trumpet/bass/drums configuration of Love, Davies enlisted Amsterdam guitarist Daniel Coffeng and acoustic bassist Adam Levy to make this album live in the studio in a single day. That’s an approach that has fostered simplicity and natural playing. The airy, free flowing way these songs are played are like that, too. Take the opening cut, “Collioure,” an esoteric melody that moves at a naturally occurring cadence. Davis is making melody right alongside Coffeng, and Levy’s arco bass provides a well-defined harmonic counterpoint. The second part of song descends and ascends, Davies soloing while closely following Coffeng’s moves. With such attention to timbre, space and mood, it’s easy to forget that much of the music here and on the rest of the album is dissonant, because it’s avant-garde in a very embraceable way.
When listening to Davies play, it’s easier to think of her not as a drummer but a tonal painter who swipes brushstrokes with her drumsticks. “Collioure” is a prime example, and also in her subtly guiding ever so incremental changes in intonation on songs such as “Tango for Patti” as well as confidently leading the group through a deconstructed section within “Les Landes.” On angular blues such as “!2 Volt” and “Grapes, Plums and Tomatoes” she swings authoritatively without ever having to resort to brute force.
Coffeng employs the pillowy, sweet tones of Jim Hall, and he demonstrates nifty single note run skills during a solo on “Gypsy.” But his economy of notes is perhaps his greatest asset for this session; it fits in fine with the “less is more” mantra Davies champions and allows her and Levy to be heard as equals. The songs generally follow the head-solos-head format, but the extended solo sections are allowed so much freedom, whole other songs are nearly created between the heads; the group members typically improvise as a unit.
It’s some honor for Billie Davies to be considered for the top jazz musician award in a big musical and cultural center such as Los Angeles, but that the institution pays close attention to the likes of her speaks well for their recognition of outlier talent. And 12 Volt can’t help but to strengthen Davies’ chances for winning it.
12 Volt is due out later this week on CDBaby. Visit Billie Davies’ website for more info.
Billie Davies – 12 Volt (2013)
The 23rd Annual L.A. Music Awards has recently nominated drummer and bandleader Davies as “Jazz Artist of the Year” for 2013, a mere four years after she set up shop in Los Angeles and made it her home. But this bohemian from Belgium has quickly made positive impressions everywhere she goes, including this reviewer when sizing up her third album all about Love a year ago.
For album #4 12 Volt, Davies assembled a new trio to go along with her new songs, in which she constructed around a concept of simplicity and being closer to nature. In this case, being closer to nature meant deconstructing jazz to its base components. The liner notes for Billie Davies’ upcoming album went into the detail of what makes the jazz of this drummer stand out from the herd, but one sentence seemed to sum it up nicely: “Davies is not countering the modern jazz movement so much but rather stripping it down to its essence.”
Moving on from the trumpet/bass/drums configuration of Love, Davies enlisted Amsterdam guitarist Daniel Coffeng and acoustic bassist Adam Levy to make this album live in the studio in a single day. That’s an approach that has fostered simplicity and natural playing. The airy, free flowing way these songs are played are like that, too. Take the opening cut, “Collioure,” an esoteric melody that moves at a naturally occurring cadence. Davis is making melody right alongside Coffeng, and Levy’s arco bass provides a well-defined harmonic counterpoint. The second part of song descends and ascends, Davies soloing while closely following Coffeng’s moves. With such attention to timbre, space and mood, it’s easy to forget that much of the music here and on the rest of the album is dissonant, because it’s avant-garde in a very embraceable way.
When listening to Davies play, it’s easier to think of her not as a drummer but a tonal painter who swipes brushstrokes with her drumsticks. “Collioure” is a prime example, and also in her subtly guiding ever so incremental changes in intonation on songs such as “Tango for Patti” as well as confidently leading the group through a deconstructed section within “Les Landes.” On angular blues such as “!2 Volt” and “Grapes, Plums and Tomatoes” she swings authoritatively without ever having to resort to brute force.
Coffeng employs the pillowy, sweet tones of Jim Hall, and he demonstrates nifty single note run skills during a solo on “Gypsy.” But his economy of notes is perhaps his greatest asset for this session; it fits in fine with the “less is more” mantra Davies champions and allows her and Levy to be heard as equals. The songs generally follow the head-solos-head format, but the extended solo sections are allowed so much freedom, whole other songs are nearly created between the heads; the group members typically improvise as a unit.
It’s some honor for Billie Davies to be considered for the top jazz musician award in a big musical and cultural center such as Los Angeles, but that the institution pays close attention to the likes of her speaks well for their recognition of outlier talent. And 12 Volt can’t help but to strengthen Davies’ chances for winning it.
12 Volt is due out later this week on CDBaby. Visit Billie Davies’ website for more info.
Wednesday, October 2, 2013
JAZZ MUSIC: 12 VOLT - BILLIE DAVIES
BILLIE DAVIES - 12 VOLT
Year: 2013
Style: Jazz
Label: Cobra Basement
Musicians: Billie Davies - drums; Daniel Coffeng - guitar; Adam Levy - bass
CD Review: On the first anniversary of her last CD release: The Billie Davies Trio - All About Love (Cobra Basement: 2012), 'lifelong natural musician' drummer Billie Davies has released another unimpeachable work: BILLIE DAVIES - 12 VOLT. Whereas, All About Love featured some of the music of venerated composers, including Victor Young, Miles Davis, John Coltrane and Mongo Santamaria, 12 VOLT features exclusively original compositions of Billie Davies, revealing yet another formidable creative talent in Davies' impressive artistic arsenal; making this an important CD for Davies, since it adds the crucial tyne of 'composer/arranger' to her sterling artistic fork, augmenting fearless innovation, and superlative drumming technique.
For 12 VOLT, Davies employs again the trio setting, but with a significant change in players. On All About Love, Tom Bone Ralls appeared on trombone, and Oliver Steinberg played bass. Now guitarist Daniel Coffeng supplants Bone Ralls, and bassist Adam Levy takes the place of Steinberg. Davies describes 12 VOLT as an ode to Manitas De Plata, the renowned French-born gypsy guitar master, Django Reinhardt, considered the king of gypsy guitarists., and "all Gypsies, Tsiganes, Manouche and Bohemians all over the world," sure to stir wide appeal, and escalating excitement among her expanding music public.
In 12 VOLT, Davies' trio presents a collection of musical images of the world of the Gypsy in portraits of untouched natural beauty, as well as its untouchable rugged other side, seen in the fierce pride and passion of a forgotten, invisible people, and their way of living; heard in the inspiring Gypsy Flamenco music; felt in the fiery guitar, the dancers' movements and expressions; a mountain of vital culture that demands an odyssey to experience; and Davies went, with her 12-VOLT 'Band on the Run"; no APBs, like the McCartney & Wings 1973 model, but free-spirited bohemians that "... went everywhere the wind was blowing..." (Davies), like (Collioure) with its bewitching European artists' light captured in uncomplicated droplets of color from Daniel Coppeng's guitar, and the easy-listening resonance of Davies' polyrhythmic exchanges.
Davies' other signature contribution to the date, beyond drumming ability, and creative energy, is a remarkable facility to remain unhurried, not irrationally exuberant, but attentive to pristine artistic environments, so as not to provoke uneven corruption or distracting, grainy, biases in the fine textures, natural colors, and flowing sequences of sights and sounds she sees, hears and plays back with impeccable sonic balance, and an almost reverential cadence (Meeting Manitas).
Davies' selection of guitarist Daniel Coffeng, and bassist Adam Levy for this project is noteworthy in its astuteness. Coffeng brings extraordinary facility for transition and energetic flow to avant jazz improvisation (12 Volt) with an extended, progressive, detailed solo, alternating between jazz and rock, but always clear and precise, like the sounds of crickets at night time. Coffeng's musical experience is deeply rooted in music cultures which reach into jazz, blues, soul, reggae, through to classical, rock, Eastern music, Latin American and West African music.
Adam Levy is a well prepared and accomplished upright bass player. His mom was "feeding him boogie woogie piano in their home at a very early age." He gets tons of experience from his brother, Mike, who Levy says is a prodigy on bass. Levy pursued a Jazz degree at the University of South Florida where he studied upright bass. He puts his bona fides in play with a superbly conversant passage depicting peacefulness and harmony, never bitter, (Grapes, Plums and Tomatoes) during exchanges with Davies' expressive drums, and Coffeng's descriptive guitar; reviving the intimate stories of Gypsies toiling in the fields; their loves, lives, prides and passions, against the unending rhythmic drumbeat of moving hands and feet. These two talented players bring to the date, a collective of experience that compliments, and fuels Davies' dauntless search for fertile creative ground to express the varied, but complex experiences unique to her posit as the cutting-edge artist in Neo-Humanistic Expressionist Jazz (Les Landes; Tango for Patti).
But Gypsies can swing too (Gypsy), because Django, "The King" taught them how. They listened, and never forgot. Now sadness, anger, and disappointment are anathema to them: Davies' vivid drumming, Coffeng's uplifting guitar, and Levy's unassailable bass notes, all say so in their precise rhythmic footprints that revisit musical paths Davies traveled while living, and loving the gypsy life all over the South of Europe; footprints now leading toward exciting, unexplored, far-reaching musical frontier space for her muse to continue that restless, relentless quest to create and give musical ears and voice to what is not there...yet!
Track Listing: Collioure; Meeting Manitas; 12 Volt; Les Landes; Tango for Patti; Grapes, Plums and Tomatoes; Gypsy; La Sieste.
Recorded at The Bedrock Room at Bedrock L. A. in Echo Park
Recording Engineer: Eric Rennaker
Recording & Sound Technology/Engineering Management: Mike Davies
Mixing: Mike Davies, Billie Davies, Daniel Coffeng
Mastering: John Vestman at Vestman Mastering in HD format
All Photos by Inez Lewis
CJ Bond, JAZZ MUSIC
Style: Jazz
Label: Cobra Basement
Musicians: Billie Davies - drums; Daniel Coffeng - guitar; Adam Levy - bass
For 12 VOLT, Davies employs again the trio setting, but with a significant change in players. On All About Love, Tom Bone Ralls appeared on trombone, and Oliver Steinberg played bass. Now guitarist Daniel Coffeng supplants Bone Ralls, and bassist Adam Levy takes the place of Steinberg. Davies describes 12 VOLT as an ode to Manitas De Plata, the renowned French-born gypsy guitar master, Django Reinhardt, considered the king of gypsy guitarists., and "all Gypsies, Tsiganes, Manouche and Bohemians all over the world," sure to stir wide appeal, and escalating excitement among her expanding music public.
Davies' other signature contribution to the date, beyond drumming ability, and creative energy, is a remarkable facility to remain unhurried, not irrationally exuberant, but attentive to pristine artistic environments, so as not to provoke uneven corruption or distracting, grainy, biases in the fine textures, natural colors, and flowing sequences of sights and sounds she sees, hears and plays back with impeccable sonic balance, and an almost reverential cadence (Meeting Manitas).
Davies' selection of guitarist Daniel Coffeng, and bassist Adam Levy for this project is noteworthy in its astuteness. Coffeng brings extraordinary facility for transition and energetic flow to avant jazz improvisation (12 Volt) with an extended, progressive, detailed solo, alternating between jazz and rock, but always clear and precise, like the sounds of crickets at night time. Coffeng's musical experience is deeply rooted in music cultures which reach into jazz, blues, soul, reggae, through to classical, rock, Eastern music, Latin American and West African music.
 | ||||||
| L - R: bassist Adam Levy; drummer Billie Davies; guitarist Daniel Coffeng |
But Gypsies can swing too (Gypsy), because Django, "The King" taught them how. They listened, and never forgot. Now sadness, anger, and disappointment are anathema to them: Davies' vivid drumming, Coffeng's uplifting guitar, and Levy's unassailable bass notes, all say so in their precise rhythmic footprints that revisit musical paths Davies traveled while living, and loving the gypsy life all over the South of Europe; footprints now leading toward exciting, unexplored, far-reaching musical frontier space for her muse to continue that restless, relentless quest to create and give musical ears and voice to what is not there...yet!
Track Listing: Collioure; Meeting Manitas; 12 Volt; Les Landes; Tango for Patti; Grapes, Plums and Tomatoes; Gypsy; La Sieste.
Recorded at The Bedrock Room at Bedrock L. A. in Echo Park
Recording Engineer: Eric Rennaker
Recording & Sound Technology/Engineering Management: Mike Davies
Mixing: Mike Davies, Billie Davies, Daniel Coffeng
Mastering: John Vestman at Vestman Mastering in HD format
All Photos by Inez Lewis
CJ Bond, JAZZ MUSIC
Thursday, September 26, 2013
Bop-N-Jazz: Billie Davies 12 Volt 2013
The first review of "12 VOLT", the new album by BILLIE DAVIES is in.
Read all about it...
Bop-N-Jazz: Billie Davies 12 Volt 2013:
The organic essence of improvisational music. The evocative manipulation of sound and silence into a living breathing microcosm of emotion and spontaneous creativity.
Brent Black / www.bop-n-jazz.com
Melodic minimalism...12 Volt is improvisational music stripped down to a bare bones approach of lyrical passion and purpose. Billie Davies is more than a drummer as she possesses compositional skills that have 12 Volt as engaging as perhaps any trio based ensemble working today. Perhaps the most amazing aspect of 12 Volt is that it is a live studio recording. Live studio recordings can be magic or they can be a train wreck.
Strictly as an instrumentalist Billie Davies is one of the more lyrically based drummers in the style of a Max Roach and her work is quickly gaining attention as she was nominated as "Jazz Artist" of the year 2013 by the 23rd annual L.A. Music Awards...The other ensemble members include guitarist Daniel Coffeng and bassist Adam Levy and the collective synergy here is an open ended warmth that seems to radiate from whatever devise you may be using to enjoy this stellar recording. There is a haunting zen like quality here, no notes are wasted while the expressionistic quality embraces a Bohemian like vibe more closely with improvisational music recorded some fifty years previous.
This is a conceptual recording. The stroke of genius here is that the concept is that of abstract nothingness. Musical methodology that is strictly in the moment. Creativity that is unbridled, unchecked and not bound by preconceived notions of what something "should" sound like. Artistic comparisons are inherently unfair. Billie Davies compositions sound like Billie Davies. Daniel Coffeng is an incredibly engaging guitarist in the tradition of perhaps a John Abercrombie. Bassist Adam Levy is the soul pumpkin laying down a bass line reminiscent of a Ron Carter. All three artists are uniquely different but the harmonic exploratory conceived here is performed with a deceptively subtle uniformity while remaining abstract enough to attack the listener on a cerebral front. The perfect marriage of simplicity and complexity.
Tracks: Collioure; Meeting Manitas; 12 Volt; Les Landes; Tango For Patti; Grapes, Plums and Tomatoes; Gypsy; La Sieste.
Personnel: Billie Davies: Drums; Daniel Coffeng: Guitar; Adam Levy: Bass
Read all about it...
Bop-N-Jazz: Billie Davies 12 Volt 2013:
The organic essence of improvisational music. The evocative manipulation of sound and silence into a living breathing microcosm of emotion and spontaneous creativity.
Brent Black / www.bop-n-jazz.com
Melodic minimalism...12 Volt is improvisational music stripped down to a bare bones approach of lyrical passion and purpose. Billie Davies is more than a drummer as she possesses compositional skills that have 12 Volt as engaging as perhaps any trio based ensemble working today. Perhaps the most amazing aspect of 12 Volt is that it is a live studio recording. Live studio recordings can be magic or they can be a train wreck.
Strictly as an instrumentalist Billie Davies is one of the more lyrically based drummers in the style of a Max Roach and her work is quickly gaining attention as she was nominated as "Jazz Artist" of the year 2013 by the 23rd annual L.A. Music Awards...The other ensemble members include guitarist Daniel Coffeng and bassist Adam Levy and the collective synergy here is an open ended warmth that seems to radiate from whatever devise you may be using to enjoy this stellar recording. There is a haunting zen like quality here, no notes are wasted while the expressionistic quality embraces a Bohemian like vibe more closely with improvisational music recorded some fifty years previous.
This is a conceptual recording. The stroke of genius here is that the concept is that of abstract nothingness. Musical methodology that is strictly in the moment. Creativity that is unbridled, unchecked and not bound by preconceived notions of what something "should" sound like. Artistic comparisons are inherently unfair. Billie Davies compositions sound like Billie Davies. Daniel Coffeng is an incredibly engaging guitarist in the tradition of perhaps a John Abercrombie. Bassist Adam Levy is the soul pumpkin laying down a bass line reminiscent of a Ron Carter. All three artists are uniquely different but the harmonic exploratory conceived here is performed with a deceptively subtle uniformity while remaining abstract enough to attack the listener on a cerebral front. The perfect marriage of simplicity and complexity.
Personnel: Billie Davies: Drums; Daniel Coffeng: Guitar; Adam Levy: Bass
Saturday, August 17, 2013
BILLIE DAVIES - 2013 Los Angeles Music Awards Nominee for "JAZZ ARTIST OF THE YEAR"
Billie and Mike Davies are very excited to let you know that...
The 23rd Annual Los Angeles Music Awards has nominated BILLIE DAVIES as "JAZZ ARTIST OF THE YEAR" for 2013.
1. Online: On-line voting system at 99 cents per vote, you can buy however many votes you want... http://www.lamusicawards.net/nominees.html.
2. Paper Ballot Voting: Thursday, September 26th, 2013
Event: The 23rd Annual Los Angeles Music Awards Nominee Night Press Event
Date: Thursday, September 26th, 2013
Venue: The Whisky A Go-Go: 8901 Sunset Bl. West Hollywood
Doors Open: 6:30 pm
Panel Discussion: 7:10 to 7:40
Sound bytes for Voting Process Begins @ : 7:45
Performers: 10 sponsored musical acts.
Media Coverage: Liz at emrmedia.com has confirmed well over a dozen members of the international press will be covering your appearance at this event. These include press photo agencies and both local and national paparazzi, print publications, radio and television.
Sponsors: Music Connection Magazine, Shhh! Media, Konocti Harbor & Resort, Impact Promotions, jdmrubbings.com. Aaron Avenue Records, Soundcheck International, Spyder Pop Records, RainboRecords.com, Shelter Hotels.
Format: Over 140 nominees receive 30 second sound bytes played from ALL artists and bands from 40 ballot categories. A paper balloting system is used for this event. The combined fan bases of every nominee is represented at this event. Every paper ballot vote is counted and tallied.
Panelists: Eric Bettelli: Music Connection Magazine Publisher, Brad Mercer: On Air Rock Radio Personality, Liz from EMR Media and Music Industry luminary Steve Resnik.
Billie Davies
~ A Jazz Musician ~
Los Angeles, CA
Tel: (+1) 310.467.2061
Email: Billie@BillieDavies.com
Booking:
Price Rubin & Partners: 1-866-774-7824 | 310-254-7149 / L.A. | 415-504-3654 / S.F.
Email: jp@pricerubin.com | mp@pricerubin.com
Website: http://www.pricerubin.com
Billie Davies on the Web:
Her website: http://www.BillieDavies.com
Her PRK for "all about Love": http://karionpresskits.com/billiedavies/index.html
Her Press Kit for "Billie Davies": http://www.reverbnation.com/rpk/billiedavies
Her blog: http://BillieDavies.blogspot.com
Like her Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/BillieDaviesJazz
Follow her on Twitter: @BillieDavies
Fan her on AllAboutJazz: http://musicians.allaboutjazz.com/musician.php?id=43171
Buy Billie Davies Music:
at CDBaby: http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/thebilliedaviestrio
on iTunes: http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/all-about-love-feat.-tom-bone/id532658118
at Reverbnation: http://www.Reverbnation.com/BillieDavies
~ A Jazz Musician ~
Los Angeles, CA
Tel: (+1) 310.467.2061
Email: Billie@BillieDavies.com
Booking:
Price Rubin & Partners: 1-866-774-7824 | 310-254-7149 / L.A. | 415-504-3654 / S.F.
Email: jp@pricerubin.com | mp@pricerubin.com
Website: http://www.pricerubin.com
Billie Davies on the Web:
Her website: http://www.BillieDavies.com
Her PRK for "all about Love": http://karionpresskits.com/billiedavies/index.html
Her Press Kit for "Billie Davies": http://www.reverbnation.com/rpk/billiedavies
Her blog: http://BillieDavies.blogspot.com
Like her Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/BillieDaviesJazz
Follow her on Twitter: @BillieDavies
Fan her on AllAboutJazz: http://musicians.allaboutjazz.com/musician.php?id=43171
Buy Billie Davies Music:
at CDBaby: http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/thebilliedaviestrio
on iTunes: http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/all-about-love-feat.-tom-bone/id532658118
at Reverbnation: http://www.Reverbnation.com/BillieDavies
Friday, August 16, 2013
Female Jazz drummer BILLIE DAVIES. A 2013 Los Angeles Music Awards Nominee, Jazz Artist of The Year.
Female Jazz drummer BILLIE DAVIES. A 2013 Los Angeles Music Awards Nominee, Jazz Artist of The Year.
The 23rd Annual L.A. MUSIC AWARDS has nominated BILLIE DAVIES as "JAZZ ARTIST OF THE YEAR" for 2013.
Vote BILLIE DAVIES as Jazz Artist Of The Year!
http://www.lamusicawards.net/nominees.html
The 23rd Annual L.A. MUSIC AWARDS has nominated BILLIE DAVIES as "JAZZ ARTIST OF THE YEAR" for 2013.
Vote BILLIE DAVIES as Jazz Artist Of The Year!
http://www.lamusicawards.net/nominees.html
Wednesday, July 31, 2013
The Billie Davies Band schedule: Working on New CD "12 VOLT" - Avant-Jazz Spirit Coming Soon.
Working hard on the re-recording and finalizing "12 VOLT" in Los Angeles.
The "12 VOLT" Recording has been re-scheduled.
Billie Davies schedule: Working on New CD "12 VOLT." - Avant-Jazz Spirit Coming Soon.
The "12 VOLT" Recording has been re-scheduled.
Billie Davies schedule: Working on New CD "12 VOLT." - Avant-Jazz Spirit Coming Soon.
Sunday, June 9, 2013
Monday, June 3, 2013
Thursday, May 30, 2013
Sunday, May 19, 2013
Billie Davies @ All About Jazz
Due to unforeseen circumstances I felt unable to release & publish the most recent "12 VOLT" recording at Bedrock.LA. Please bare with me as we are continuing forward towards the "12 VOLT" album recording, release and publication.
In the meantime, let me introduce you to ~ 12 VOLT ~ (Promotional Version), you should be hearing it when you read this... :)
A version that serves as a true introduction to The Billie Davies Band's music and serves as a proof of concept for what's to come on the next album "12 VOLT"
Love,
Billie Davies
Billie Davies @ All About Jazz
In the meantime, let me introduce you to ~ 12 VOLT ~ (Promotional Version), you should be hearing it when you read this... :)
A version that serves as a true introduction to The Billie Davies Band's music and serves as a proof of concept for what's to come on the next album "12 VOLT"
Love,
Billie Davies
Billie Davies @ All About Jazz
Wednesday, May 8, 2013
Thursday, May 2, 2013
The Billie Davies Band ~ Photos ~ Recording 12 VOLT.
Photos of Billie Davies & The Billie Davies Band "12 VOLT" recording session at Bedrock LA
!~ Have Been Posted ~!
BillieDavies.com
BillieDavies.com
Photos of Billie Davies & The Billie Davies Band "12 VOLT" recording session at Bedrock LA
!~ Have Been Posted ~!
BillieDavies.com
BillieDavies.com
Monday, April 29, 2013
Sunday, April 21, 2013
Billie Davies & The Billie Davies Band: About The Music.
Billie Davies & The Billie Davies Band: About The Music.
The Billie Davies Band is bringing something radically new to the idiom of modern jazz in various ways which, in its purest essence, incorporates everything in its collective subconscious amalgam that has come before.
It draws influences and ideas from both classical music and jazz in a modern and unique way which would appeal to audiences and aficionados of both these types of music. Besides these two major exponents it also encompasses what’s referred to as “world music” (Indian, African, Middle Eastern, Asian, South American and European ethnic music)
As with most jazz and classical music, every new style or period is a clear, direct reaction against the movement which has come before and often draws from a period prior to the movement it rebels against.
Contemporary jazz has taken the form of extreme dense harmonic development, parallel chord movements, very advanced rhythms, odd meters and an almost “inside only” improvisation, a primarily right brain, academic approach. The music of the Billie Davies band can be said to have an element of rebellion and simplification, similar to the abstract CoBrA art movement, which painters decided to express themselves through colors rather than objects.
In abstract painting the look and feel of a piece is what’s important and viewing the piece with an analytical mind set does not work. The art happens when a piece prompts a reaction, good or bad, the individual experience is what’s important. A surrealist piece can stand on its own due to the fact that it is based on objects which can be analyzed. An expressionist piece cannot.
For this type of art to exist a piece needs to be viewed whereas a musical piece needs to be performed and listened to.
To Read the Entire Article...
The Billie Davies Band is bringing something radically new to the idiom of modern jazz in various ways which, in its purest essence, incorporates everything in its collective subconscious amalgam that has come before.It draws influences and ideas from both classical music and jazz in a modern and unique way which would appeal to audiences and aficionados of both these types of music. Besides these two major exponents it also encompasses what’s referred to as “world music” (Indian, African, Middle Eastern, Asian, South American and European ethnic music)
As with most jazz and classical music, every new style or period is a clear, direct reaction against the movement which has come before and often draws from a period prior to the movement it rebels against.
Contemporary jazz has taken the form of extreme dense harmonic development, parallel chord movements, very advanced rhythms, odd meters and an almost “inside only” improvisation, a primarily right brain, academic approach. The music of the Billie Davies band can be said to have an element of rebellion and simplification, similar to the abstract CoBrA art movement, which painters decided to express themselves through colors rather than objects.
In abstract painting the look and feel of a piece is what’s important and viewing the piece with an analytical mind set does not work. The art happens when a piece prompts a reaction, good or bad, the individual experience is what’s important. A surrealist piece can stand on its own due to the fact that it is based on objects which can be analyzed. An expressionist piece cannot.
For this type of art to exist a piece needs to be viewed whereas a musical piece needs to be performed and listened to.
To Read the Entire Article...
Wednesday, April 17, 2013
Jazz. Female Jazz drummer Billie Davies & The Billie Davies Band. all that jazz.
Jazz. Female Jazz drummer Billie Davies & The Billie Davies Band. all that jazz.
Will be offline for a while as we are getting ready for the recording of 12 VOLT on Monday, April 22 at Bedrock L.A. Studios... C U after... Love, Billie G Davies
Will be offline for a while as we are getting ready for the recording of 12 VOLT on Monday, April 22 at Bedrock L.A. Studios... C U after... Love, Billie G Davies
Sunday, March 31, 2013
UPDATE to: Billie Davies & The Billie Davies Band Updates !!!
Billie Davies & The Billie Davies Band Updates:
Well, well, as it often seems to happen... Due to our guitar player turning sick we have had to reschedule our recording date to: MONDAY APRIL 22, 2013.
1. We have signed the contracts and will be added to the Jazz Roster of Price Rubin & Partners Management in about a month ~ http://www.PriceRubin.com/
2. With a new look and new music we have completely revamped the website with lots of new current photos ~ http://www.BillieDavies.com/ - http://www.BillieDavies.com/Media.html - http://www.BillieDavies.com/TheBillieDaviesBand.html/
3. We are going in the RECORDING studio on APRIL 22, 2013 to record the new album "12 VOLT" at Bedrock L.A. studios in Echo Park ~ Stay tuned... http://www.billiedavies.com/Music.html –
There will be a Pro Photo Shoot with Inez Lewis and... other Photographers and Videographers are always welcome to surprise us! ... ~~~ We might even have a little party~~~.
4. We will be ready for performances as of May, 2013.
Billie Davies
~ A Jazz Musician ~
Los Angeles, CA
Tel: (+1) 310.467.2061
Email: Billie@BillieDavies.com
Web:
Her website: http://www.BillieDavies.com
Her PRK for "all about Love": http://karionpresskits.com/billiedavies/index.html
Her Press Kit for "Billie Davies": http://www.reverbnation.com/rpk/billiedavies
Her blog: http://BillieDavies.blogspot.com
Like her Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/BillieDaviesJazz
on Twitter: @BillieDavies
Fan her on AllAboutJazz: http://musicians.allaboutjazz.com/musician.php?id=43171
Buy her Music:
at CDBaby: http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/thebilliedaviestrio
on iTunes: http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/all-about-love-feat.-tom-bone/id532658118
at Reverbnation: http://www.Reverbnation.com/BillieDavies
at BillieDavies.com: http://www.billiedavies.com/Music.html
~ A Jazz Musician ~
Los Angeles, CA
Tel: (+1) 310.467.2061
Email: Billie@BillieDavies.com
Web:
Her website: http://www.BillieDavies.com
Her PRK for "all about Love": http://karionpresskits.com/billiedavies/index.html
Her Press Kit for "Billie Davies": http://www.reverbnation.com/rpk/billiedavies
Her blog: http://BillieDavies.blogspot.com
Like her Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/BillieDaviesJazz
on Twitter: @BillieDavies
Fan her on AllAboutJazz: http://musicians.allaboutjazz.com/musician.php?id=43171
Buy her Music:
at CDBaby: http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/thebilliedaviestrio
on iTunes: http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/all-about-love-feat.-tom-bone/id532658118
at Reverbnation: http://www.Reverbnation.com/BillieDavies
at BillieDavies.com: http://www.billiedavies.com/Music.html
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