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

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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.

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