Name Mel Davis Role Musician | Children Amy Davis | |
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Albums It's About Time!, Bangkok 1956 Similar People Maggie Nicols, Benny Goodman, Peanuts Hucko, Budd Johnson, Israel Crosby | ||
Music director Fame Whore, Scumrock | ||
Ev3a7417 mel davis on organ at the trumpets jazz club 01 31 2014
Mel Davis was a multi-talented musician and arranger, best known for his trumpet playing. In addition to trumpet, he played piano, violin, drums, tuba, bass, accordion and ocarina. He was also known as a vocalist. He was born in Philadelphia in 1931 and died in Florida on Dec. 28th, 2004.
Contents
- Ev3a7417 mel davis on organ at the trumpets jazz club 01 31 2014
- Mel davis just another smile breakbeat
- Early career
- Session work
- References
Mel davis just another smile breakbeat
Early career
Davis began his musical apprenticeship under Seymour Rosenfeld, who was a long-time trumpet player with the Philadelphia Orchestra. He played in clubs from the age of twelve but completed high school before taking a job playing with the St. Louis Symphonette.
While continuing to play club gigs, Davis furthered his musical knowledge by studying at Curtis Institute and Temple University.
He recorded many albums, including "Trumpet with a Soul", released on the Epic music label in 1956. It featured jazz legends Milt Hinton on bass and Osie Johnson on drums.
Later he formed a band called "The Lease Breakers" with Buddy Morrow, Harvey Phillips, Tony Mottola and Sol Gubin.
Then in the mid-1950s, he left Philadelphia for New York where he joined the Benny Goodman band as lead trumpet player, travelling with the band on their tour of the Far East in 1956.
Session work
Davis' modesty and reliability saw him taking up unsung positions as a session musician. He was the house trumpeter with Command Records and worked a stint as one of NBC's staff musicians, as well as being one of the original and long time Sesame Street band-members, where he stayed for seventeen years. Davis also appeared on the "Tonight Show" with Doc Severinsen, as well as the Perry Como Show.
He appeared on many well-known albums including Billie Holiday’s "Lady in Satin" (1958), Neal Hefti's "Pardon my Doo-Wah" (1958), George Benson's "The other side of Abbey Road" (1969) and Lynn Roberts' tribute to Harry James.
Mel Davis also provided scores for at least two independent films, both directed by Jon Moritsugu, Fame Whore (1997) and Scum Rock (2002).
He became a club owner himself and retired to Florida where he died in 2004, aged 73.