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

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.

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...

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

Billie Davies | 12 Volt | CD Baby Music Store

Billie Davies | 12 Volt | CD Baby Music Store
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