To Jazz or not to Jazz, there is no question. (Louis Armstrong)

BILLIE DAVIES New Orleans, LA Jazz / Avant Jazz / Avant Garde PLAY SONGS » SHARE SONGS » VISIT PROFILE » "To Jazz or not to Jazz, there is no question." (Louis Armstrong) It has been a while and a lot has happened... :) Never a dull moment with Billie Davies :) A New Line-up for the BILLIE DAVIES Ensemble debuted for the performance at Music At The Mint on March 6th where we had a great turn out for a Friday afternoon. L to R: Branden Lewis on trumpet, Evan Oberla on trombone, Alex Blaine on sax, Ed Strohsahl on bass, Billie Davies on drums. Audio and Video of this performance will be available soon. The first 8 songs on Billie Davies' playlist at http://www.billiedavies.com/ or on ReverbNation are by the new BILLIE DAVIES Ensemble and are part of the performance set list for current performances (including the performance at Music At The Mint). The BILLIE DAVIES Ensemble is very busy in the studio now working on the new album "Hand In Hand In The Hand Of The Moon" (Release date to be determined). The Performance at the Blue Nile Balcony Room for the OPEN EARS music series on Tues May 19th will be introducing the new album "Hand In Hand In The Hand Of The Moon" to the general public. Billie Davies decided to change the line-up for the ensemble after the performance at The Louisiana Music Factory: Click on the photo to hear and see a live video on YouTube of performing "12 Volt". Get the "12 VOLT" CD at Louisiana Music Factory.  The Performance at the Red Bastille Lounge gave us a nice video and a unique perspective: The performance line-up was Billie Davies on drums, Daniel Coffeng on guitar and Stoo Odom on bass (substituting for Jonathan Solomon). Video should very soon be available for your viewing pleasure on YouTube. See Ya Later Gator :-D !!! MUSIC STORES  ITUNES       AMAZON MP3       CD BABY       GOOGLE PLAY      PRESS "Billie Davies: 12 Volt (2013) By C. MICHAEL BAILEY, Published: November 22, 2013 Billie Davies: 12 Volt 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."  C. Michael Bailey, All About Jazz "BILLIE DAVIES - 12 VOLT : HIGH VOLTAGE avant-garde JAZZ by Jan Hocek December 5, 2013 She was born in Bruges, Belgium, eccentric , avant-garde jazz drummer - self-taught, relentless and explosive style of playing, jazz innovator, living in Los Angeles since 2009 only, she is this year's winner of the prestigious LA Music Awards in the category "Jazz Artist of the Year 2013" - BILLIE DAVIES! This award helped her to the greatest degree with her last (the fourth one) album "12 VOLT", which was released on their own label Cobra Basement. Original article language: Czech. For English:http://www.billiedavies.com/Press_12VOLT"  Jan Hocek, JazzPort "She was born in Bruges, Belgium, eccentric , avant-garde jazz drummer - self-taught, relentless and explosive style of playing, jazz innovator, living in Los Angeles since 2009 only, she is this year's winner of the prestigious LA Music Awards in the category "Jazz Artist of the Year 2013" - BILLIE DAVIES! This award helped her to the greatest degree with her last (the fourth one) album "12 VOLT", which was released on their own label Cobra Basement. Billie Davies came to the United States when she was 32. Before that, from the age of 19, she was playing avant-garde jazz and free improvisation throughout Europe, especially France, Spain and the Mediterranean. She learned from recordings that included drummers such as Al Foster, Billy Higgins, Billy Cobham, Peter Erskine, Billy Hart and Jack DeJohnette. In doing so she got herself sucked into the various ethnic influences, particularly Roma music. Original language: Czech - English version:http://www.billiedavies.com/Press_12VOLT.html"  Jan Hocek, his VOICE UPCOMING SHOWS Blue Nile New Orleans, LA Tue May 19 2015 10:00 PM > SEE MORE / DETAILS LINKS  FACEBOOK       YOUTUBE       FACEBOOK       REVERBNATION       ARTIST WEBSITE

Award Winning, Belgium Born Jazz Drummer Leaves Career in California for a Career in New Orleans!

PRESS RELEASE

Award Winning, Belgium Born Jazz Drummer Leaves Career in California for a Career in New Orleans!

Billie Davies (born Billie Goegebeur, December 10, 1955 in Bruges) is an American female jazz drummer and composer best known for her Avant-garde jazz compositions, as well as her improvisational drumming techniques which she has performed in Europe and in the US since the mid-nineties.

Billie and her, recording/producer husband, Mike, moved to New Orleans this last March to achieve her dream of being a New Orleans based musician.  She has been working with local, like-minded sidemen, Shan Kenner on guitar and Pete Olynciw on upright bass to form her New Orleans Ensemble.  They have created a suite of new music entitled Downman Road.

Her 2012 release of “all about Love” solidified her position as a professional jazz musician.  This recording of standards and original music, charted #1 in CMJ Jazz College Radio Charts for ‘top jazz add’ in new albums and went on to stay there for 4 weeks.  “all about Love” was also very well received in Canada where the album ended up in the Top 10 on three different! Earshot Jazz charts.

In October, 2013 Billie released “12 VOLT” which also garnered national and international attention. CJ Bond, JAZZ MUSIC (an online jazz journal), wrote the following… “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 as well. 

In September of 2013, Billie Davies was nominated for the top Jazz Artist award from the 23^rd Annual Los Angeles Music Awards; she received the award on November 14.  Five months later she moved to New Orleans and is now ready to present her show to the New Orleans audience.

Her guitar player on “12 VOLT,” Daniel Goffeng, describes Billie as …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. Billie Davies' music is unapologetically moving in the direction of “true art” and plays with colors, moods, movements, feelings and interactions, a paradoxically more advanced concept of expression...

S. Victor Aaron tells us that "Davies is not countering the modern jazz movement so much but rather stripping it down to its essence. 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."

l-r: Gary Washington- bass, Billie Davies- drums, Shan Kenner- guitar.

We are looking for any and all opportunities to help promote her New Orleans debut and to officially introduce her to New Orleans’ music scene. 

For more information about Billie Davies, her music, and more reviews, please check her out by   following this link for Billie Davies Website.  To schedule appointments for interviews, please contact Glinda Mantle at 504-453-5533 or via email at glinda.mantle@gmail.com. 

Thank you.

BILLIE DAVIES at NOLA's

BILLIE DAVIES at NOLA's

BILLIE DAVIES Ensemble
http://www.billiedavies.com/BillieDavies_Ensembles.html
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/billie-davies-group/

Billie Davies: 12 Volt (2013) By C. MICHAEL BAILEY,

Billie Davies: 12 Volt (2013)

By

C. MICHAEL BAILEY,

Published: November 22, 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

Dr. Will Smith's Playlist: Review (Avant Garde): “12 Volt” - Billie Davies

Dr. Will Smith's Playlist: Review (Avant Garde): “12 Volt” - Billie Davies:

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:

http://www.reverbnation.com/billiedavies

Billie Davies: 12 VOLT

Billie Davies Trio: 12 Volt

Billie Davies Trio: 12 Volt (2013)

By

HRAYR ATTARIAN,

Published: October 29, 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

Django Reinhardt
1910 - 1953
guitar

'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

Something Else! Reviews: Billie Davies – 12 Volt (2013) Reviewed by S. Victor Aaron.

Jazz, Uncategorized — October 2, 2013 at 9:00 am

Billie Davies – 12 Volt (2013)

by S. Victor Aaron

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.

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.

L - R: bassist Adam Levy; drummer Billie Davies; guitarist Daniel Coffeng

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