Musician Billie Davies (Drums) @ All About Jazz

Musician Billie Davies (Drums) @ All About Jazz

Billie Davies: All About Love (2012)

By

HRAYR ATTARIAN,

Published: September 21, 2012

Idiosyncratic drummer Billie Davies is mostly an autodidact whose natural talent, relentless, explorative spirit and multifaceted experiences have led to an innovative approach to jazz. Her bold individualism is showcased on All About Love, a collaborative effort that has her democratically guiding an unusual, bottom-heavy ensemble with lyrical trombonist Tom Bone Ralls and versatile bassist Oliver Steinberg.
Davies creates complex motives and blurs the distinction between melody and rhythm on such pieces as John Coltrane's "Naima" and the minimalistic second take of the Mongo Santamaria classic "Afro Blue Too." Her rich harmonies contrast nicely with the atonality of her own "High Noon" that flirts with the avant-garde. The tune also demonstrates the intense camaraderie that drives the intrepid and unpredictable group interplay.
These intelligent three-way conversations, with their musical twists and turns, endow the two short originals, "Green Cheese" and "Burst," with a deliciously surreal atmosphere as Ralls' earthy and expansive trombone blows over the rapidly evolving tapestry of tight bass and drum cadences.
Ralls angular style does not sacrifice any of his warmth and lyricism on "Stella by Starlight," and his bluesy embellishments remain highly cerebral on "Afro Blue." His muted sound still swaggers on Miles Davis' fusion-esque "Jean Pierre." The track also features Steinberg's soulful electric bass and Davies' edgy and swinging kit work.
Steinberg is equally adept on the acoustic version of his instrument, as he amply demonstrates with a complex pizzicato solo on "Stella by Starlight Too." His cool and dependable grooves anchor band mate Ralls' theme, "Downtown in the Rain."
On this third release as a leader, the Belgium native/California-based Davies demonstrates a mature temperament as she skirts the edges of modal and free extemporizations with her delightfully singular trio. The intimate yet progressive music on this too brief album is like modern poetry, mordant yet sublime.
Track Listing: Stella By Starlight; Downtown in the Rain; Jean Pierre; Naima; Afro Blue; Green Cheese; Burst!; High Noon; Afro Blue Too; Stella By Starlight Too.
Personnel: Billie Davies: drums; Tom Bone Ralls: trombone; Oliver Steinberg: bass.
Record Label: Self Produced | Style: Modern Jazz

Billie Davies Trio is reviewed by Something Else... http://somethingelsereviews.com/2012/09/15/the-billie-davies-trio-all-about-love-2012/

Billie Davies Trio is reviewed by Something Else... http://somethingelsereviews.com/2012/09/15/the-billie-davies-trio-all-about-love-2012/

Belgium native Billie Davies first started drumming at the age of three, and even though she dabbled in a number of other artistic endeavors, like singing and DJ’ing, her skills behind the kit were notable enough to garner the attention of Max Roach, who offered her a scholarship at the Berklee School of Music. It was at a time of her life when she was having too much fun to engage in serious studies, so she turned it down.
Eventually though, Davies devoted herself full time toward drumming, picking up innumerable styles that she has mastered, including soul/funk, blues, classical, and all shades of jazz. In the last few year, though, she’s immersed herself into jazz forms exclusively, moving to Hollywood and forming a trio, the Billie Davies Trio. The fruits of her collaboration with trio members Tom Bone Ralls (trombone) and Oliver Steinberg (bass) are set forth in this new CD, all about Love.
all about Love is all about relaxed improvisation, with a hard swing coming from Davies and a distillation of each song’s melody down to only its crucial notes. That leaves vast, wide open spaces in which to stretch out. What sets Davies’ record apart from other drummer-led records is this: she doesn’t have to play so hard nosed to get herself noticed, because there’s only a bass and a tactfully played trombone in front of her. She’s able to attract attention by playing naturally.
Davies, as noted, swings her ass off, but is always layering it with polyrhythms and tasteful fills, a style not terribly afar from the great Elvin Jones’ or the subtle complexity of Peter Erskine. There are a lot of well-worn standards here: “Naima,” “Jean Pierre” (Youtube below) and two renditions a piece of “Stella By Starlight” and “Afro Blue.” That might typically trouble me, but the performances themselves make too much hay for me to pay much mind to what standards have been chosen. In addition to these tunes, Ralls turns in a melodic original “Downtown In The Rain,”(Youtube below) and there are a couple of brief group improvs “Green Cheese” and BUrst!,” as well as a bluesy jam “High Noon.”
The loose feel of all about Love and the effortless mastery of rhythms displayed by Davies make this an easy album to sink your ears into, even though it’s also a record that pushes out the songs to abstract places. Billie Davies has been around a lot of places doing a lot of different things, but on this record, she seems to have settled into the comfy environs of modern jazz.
Author: S. Victor Aaron

all about Love is scheduled for release by Cobra Basement Production Services.
Visit Billie Davies’ website for more info.

Billie Davies Trio Enjoy Their 3rd Week on the CMJ Top 40 Jazz Chart at #14.

Billie Davies Trio Enjoy Their 3rd Week on the CMJ Top 40 Jazz Chart

Peaking at #14 So Far

The Billie Davies Trio: “All About Love”, jazz review by C. Michael Bailey

The Billie Davies Trio: “All About Love”, jazz review by C. Michael Bailey

Fw: Congrats!!! Billie Davies debuts at #28 on the CMJ Jazz Chart

From: Kari-On Productions, LLC

Sent: Thursday, August 30, 2012 5:47 AM

To: Billie Davies ; Mike Davies ; James Moses

Subject: Congrats you debut at #28 on the CMJ Jazz Chart

The first chart where Billie Davies debuted at #1 was a Top Adds Chart (which is where new releases debut) and the current chart is the Top 40 Jazz Chart. To get on the Top 40 National Chart at all is not a given especially since there are hundreds of titles that are vying for space and there are only 40 slots. This is an above average result.

Jazz #1263

TW	LW	2W	PK	WKS	Artist	Recording	Label
1	2	1	1	11	RAVI COLTRANE	Spirit Fiction	Blue Note
2	1	4	1	4	DR. LONNIE SMITH	The Healer	Pilgrimage
3	8	11	3	4	CHRISTIAN SCOTT	Christian ATunde Adjuah	Concord
4	5	2	1	12	PAT METHENY	Unity Band	Nonesuch
5	-	-	5	1	CHICK COREA AND GARY BURTON	Hot House	Concord Jazz
6	19	9	6	4	MARCUS MILLER	Renaissance	Concord Jazz
7	6	7	5	4	JOHN ABERCROMBIE	Within A Song	ECM
8	7	5	5	7	ODD TRIO	Birth Of The Minotaur	Odd Trio
9	3	8	3	4	HOT CLUB OF DETROIT	Junction	Mack Avenue
10	4	3	2	11	BELA FLECK AND THE MARCUS ROBERTS TRIO	Across The Imaginary Divide	Rounder
11	13	16	7	7	GRANT GEISSMAN	Bop! Bang! Boom!	Futurism
12	20	15	6	10	CORY WEEDS	Up A Step	Cellar Live
13	10	6	2	12	CASSANDRA WILSON	Another Country	eOne
14	14	20	14	3	SHUFFLE DEMONS	Clusterfunk	Linus
15	9	25	9	4	HAFEZ MODIRZADEH	Post-Chromodal Out!	Pi
16	12	19	11	6	TYSON NAYLOR TRIO	Kosmonauten	Songlines
17	29	24	17	3	ULI GEISSENDOERFER	Colors	Black Coffee
18	40	-	18	2	BOBBY SANABRIA BIG BAND	Multiverse	Jazzheads
19	-	13	7	9	DR. MICHAEL WHITE	Adventures In New Orleans Jazz Part 2	Basin Street
20	27	28	1	15	JAZZ PUNKS	Smashups	Foam at the mouth
21	-	-	21	1	GREG LEWIS	Organ Monk	Self-Released
22	36	-	22	3	CONNIE EVINGSON	Sweet Happy Life	Minnehaha
23	39	-	23	2	ANNA ESTRADA	Volando	Feral Flight
24	-	-	8	9	STEVE LEHMAN TRIO	Dialect Fluorescent	Pi
25	11	12	11	5	JOHNNY HODGES	Yeah...About That	Veritas
26	26	26	5	15	WADADA LEO SMITH	Ten Freedom Summers	Cuneiform
27	30	-	7	10	STACEY KENT	Dreamer In Concert	Blue Note
28	-	-	28	1	BILLIE DAVIES TRIO	All About Love	cobra basement
29	17	10	7	5	DANIEL MCBREARTY	Clarinet Swing	DanMcB
30	-	-	30	1	CAROL ROBBINS	Moraga	Jazzcats
31	-	-	31	1	ERIC VAUGHN	Minor Relocation	Self-Released
32	18	18	18	3	NICKY SCHRIRE	Freedom Flight	circavision
33	15	17	15	4	LAILA BIALI	Live In Concert	Self-Released
34	16	-	16	2	DONALD VEGA	Spiritual Nature	Resonance
35	-	-	7	9	BRIAN BROMBERG	Compared To That	Artistry
36	-	-	36	1	BILL ANSCHELL/BRENT JENSEN/CHRIS SYMER	Blueprints	Origin
37	-	-	5	8	HENRY THREADGILL	Tomorrow Sunny / The Revelry, Spp	Pi
38	25	29	25	5	PETER APPLEYARD	Sophisticated Ladies	Linus
39	-	-	28	2	MIGUEL ZENON AND LAURENT COQ	Rayuela	Sunnyside
40	-	-	40	1	LIANNE LA HAVAS	Is Your Love Big Enough?	Nonesuch

Kari Gaffney

Kari-On Productions, LLC

www.karigaffney.com