Billie Davies Trio: Perspectives II By Jerome Wilson

Billie Davies Trio: Perspectives II
By JEROME WILSON
December 17, 2018

The spiritual jazz tradition, as exemplified by John Coltrane, Alice Coltrane and Pharoah Sanders, has been having a resurgence over the past few years in places like Los Angeles and Great Britain. Now here is evidence that some musicians in New Orleans are going down that path as well. Billie Davies is a drummer from Belgium who now lives and works in the Big Easy and this recording, available only in download form, captures a live performance of her trio, plus added guests, creating over an hour of heady, uplifting music.

Most tracks build slowly. "Nature" starts with lonely flute trills by Ari Kohn and sparse electric piano notes from Evan Oberla that slowly coalesce into a wavy tropical rhythm. Craggy, harp-like piano and the soothing voices of Allie Porter and Iris P weave in and out of each other while Davies and bassist Oliver Watkinson maintain a light, rolling undercurrent that keeps the music buoyant. "Life" continues in the same manner with the vocalists talking and singing aphorisms like "Don't be afraid to be be who you are" and "Have no fear to live passionately" as Davies and the band cruise through mesmerizing grooves. "Happiness" changes the overall sound as Kohn switches to baritone sax and Oberla moves to trombone. Both start by moaning long notes over the bass and drums but eventually the four players become a crisp, punchy ensemble that works its way into a lurching Caribbean groove.

The tracks "Love" and "Freedom" bring synthesizers into play. The first is a shorter breeze of springy synthesizer sounds embellished by flute and the rhythm section while the vocalists gently sing about love while on "Freedom" buzzy synth sounds are tossed around with baritone, drums and bass in a turbulent, rock-flavored stew. These two tracks, in particular, resemble some of Sun Ra's more scaled down recordings where Pat Patrick's baritone sax and June Tyson's voice dueled with Ra's keyboard eruptions.

"Art" starts out with a free improv trio of flute, synthesizer and drums. Then electric piano and bass come in to build melody, Porter and Iris P dialog about art and the music morphs into a spell of swinging cool jazz led by flute and trombone as the women spin out poetry like they were in a Beat-era coffeehouse. Finally "Rhythm" is just what it says, a careening synth and baritone avalanche that quickly turns into a rolling, up-tempo jam that nods in the directions of hip hop and dub. Oberla swoops and burns on the electric keyboards, Watkinson walks furiously and Davies leads from the back, constantly switching the tempo and feel with little seeming effort.

This music never stays in one place for long, progressing naturally through straight jazz, jazz-rock, free jazz and other sub-genres, with the voices of Allie and Iris P dramatically shouting or sensually cooing as the mood dictates. This is a loose, free-flowing concoction not quite like anything else out there. Like the best forward-thinking music, Billie Davies' work reminds you of many different things but in the end, it is its own original beast, as powerful as anything more well-known musicians have created this year.


Track Listing: Nature; Life; Happiness; Love; Freedom; Art; Rhythm.

Personnel: Billie Davies: drums; Evan Oberla: piano, keyboards, trombone; Oliver Watkinson: bass; Ari Kohn: woodwinds; Iris P, Alie Porter: vocals.

Title: Perspectives II | Year Released: 2018 

BILLIE DAVIES - A NU EXPERIENCE -On Hollywood Boulevard - Jazz Views

Corrected link to a beautiful review of #OnHollywoodBoulevard on Jazz Views​.

#JazzBuzz​ #Jazz​

http://www.jazzviews.net/billie-davies---a-nu-experience--on-hollywood-boulevard.html

BILLIE DAVIES - A NU EXPERIENCE -On Hollywood Boulevard 

Self Release

Billie Davies: electronic drums; IRIS P: vocals; Oliver Watkinson:  electric bass; Evan Oberla:  keyboards, synth, trombone.
Recorded New Orleans, September 26, 2016

On the one hand this set represents a very new direction for Billie Davies, working in Nu Jazz, which bridges jazz and contemporary R&B and hip hop.   Her choice of an electronic drum kit also lends some really interesting textures to the sounds she produces.  On the other hand, the drumming is as solid, nuanced and captivating as ever.  Interestingly, the approach taken to recording was similar to that of her ‘Hand in Hand in the Hand of the Moon’ CD; the music is recorded in front of a small, live audience in a single take with images relating to the music projected behind the band.  This captures an exciting, slightly edge-of-the-seat performance that conveys the sense of improvisation while maintaining a well-balanced interplay between the artists.
​
The lyrics, written by Davies, reminisce on her time living on Hollywood Boulevard, and have that blend of story-telling and heartfelt poetry that you find in, say, Joni Mitchell.  During this time (in 2013), Davies was awarded the Los Angeles Music Awards Jazz Musician of the Year, and moved to New Orleans the following year. The delivery of the lyrics by IRIS P (Catherine Poree) is beautifully jazzy, and she sings soulfully across the rhythm in an understated way that gives a sardonic edge to some of the stories and memories and a bittersweet longing to others.  This could easily have been a duet between IRIS P’s singing and the swing of Davies’ drumming.  Davies relishes the electronic drum kit, moving from snare and toms to harsher metallic sounds, and uses it creatively to add texture to the vocals.  You can almost get the stories from the drumming alone. The playing of Watkinson and Oberla, who have played and recorded regularly with Davies over the past few years,  bring a driving edge to the music and work superbly off the mood of the lyrics and the subtle shifts in emphasis that Davies gives from her drum seat.  Throughout the set, Davies leads the music, pushing the pulse and emphasising the words in ways that encourages keys and bass to find the gaps and cleverly work around and within them.  I particularly liked the evocative playing of Oberla on trombone on several of the tracks.  The group is a winning combination and one that promises an exciting change of direction for Davies.

Reviewed by Chris Baber

BILLIE DAVIES - A NU EXPERIENCE -On Hollywood Boulevard - Jazz Views

Billie Davies, "A Nu Experience: On Hollywood Boulevard" (Independent) - OffBeat Magazine

Billie Davies, "A Nu Experience: On Hollywood Boulevard" (Independent) - OffBeat Magazine

OffBeat Magazine
Billie Davies, “A Nu Experience: On Hollywood Boulevard” (Independent) 
By Robert Fontenot
Published: February 08, 2017
Despite the best efforts of James M. Cain, Chinatown and BoJack Horseman, L.A. noir still doesn’t get the respect it deserves next to what goes on in Gotham. This is doubly true for jazz, where a combo of experimentalism, perceived lack of gravitas and the general laid-back vibe of West Coast Cool doom it to second-fiddle status, seemingly forever. All these years later, and when folks want to feel how La La Land destroys the dreams of its citizens, they dig out “Hotel California,” not Chet Baker. Shame, really.
If anyone could change that perception, it’s pioneering avant-garde drummer Billie Davies, a disciple of fellow “California Hard” stylist Max Roach and someone who, true to her gypsy resume, actually lived on Hollywood Boulevard for a time. Her latest release is typically daring, capturing the perfectly frightening freedom of being lost in El Lay, largely thanks to the cool glissandos and lonely brass of keyboardist Evan Oberla and the kind of youthful energy you need for this sort of piece: new vocalist IRIS P, who brings some R&B flair to tracks like “Jacaranda” and “Yellow Sunshine” (which is not the kind of nature you’re thinking of, maybe). Meanwhile, Billie as usual plays counterpoint, creating the menace simmering under the surface naiveté that makes all that ambition seem weighted down, if not doomed, by reality. The set’s only major flaw is her decision to use electronic drums on half the album, augmenting and sometimes replacing her usual setup entirely; they just don’t have the expressiveness of a trap kit, turning Billie’s wise Greek chorus into a drunken party crasher. Ironically, a little more traditionalist grounding is just what the album and its subjects need most.
~Robert Fontenot, OffBeat Magazine

Billie Davies – ‘On Hollywood Boulevard’ – Skope Entertainment Inc

Billie Davies – ‘On Hollywood Boulevard’ – Skope Entertainment Inc

Billie Davies – ‘On Hollywood Boulevard’
by Admin • December 19, 2016

“On Hollywood Boulevard” is a glamorous, gorgeous mixture of jazz and funk displaying Billie Davies’s deft skill. Luxurious textures dominate the collection as Billie Davies draws from a wide variety of sources. Everything simply glistens as the attention to tone and texture are of the utmost importance. Bass works wonders alongside the rather loose, careful rhythms that adorn the album. Mood serves an important function as Billie Davies explore vast terrains, oftentimes delving into surreal, otherworldly soundscapes.

Things start off on an impassioned note with the phenomenal opener “On Hollywood Boulevard 1”. With almost a noir take on jazz, the mysterious shadowy nature of the piece results something deeply compelling. Vocals accompany the laid-back attitude of “The Girl In The Window”. Delivered with a sultry sensibility, the way the song builds itself up is quite wonderful as the song unfurls in a rather celebratory spirit. Careful grooves define the ritualistic work of “Jacaronda”. Some of the detail, such as the tactile percussion, gives the song a quiet intimate feeling. Funk dominates over the spirited performance, as the synthesizer sweeps give the song a chilled hue to it. Electronics and jazz come together on the narrative of “Hollywood Boulevard” where its hip-hop structure adds to the song’s cache. Returning to the album’s beginnings in jazz is the spacious sprawl of “On Hollywood Boulevard 2”.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/on-hollywood-boulevard/id1174033049

Billie Davies offers a cool confident update on jazz with the playful nature of “On Hollywood Boulevard”.

http://www.billiedavies.com/

By – beachsloth.com