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Steve Davis

Steve Davis is widely regarded as one of today's leading improvisors on the trombone. His lyrical, hard-swinging style first gained him broad recognition during the 1990's while working with the bands of jazz legends Art Blakey, Jackie McLean, Chick Corea's acclaimed sextet Origin and the renowned cooperative sextet, One For All.

Born in Worcester, MA in 1967, Steve was raised in Binghamton, NY and graduated in 1989 from The Hartt School's Jackie McLean Institute of Jazz (University of Hartford). It was Mc Lean's guidence and recommendation that helped Davis land his first major gig with Art Blakey in NYC in Dec 1989. Steve returned to Hartford in 1992 to join Mc Lean's sextet and begin teaching alongside his mentor at both the Hartt School and Artist's Collective. Davis has resided in Hartford ever since.

In May 2006, Davis presents his 9th CD as a leader, "Update" (Criss Cross) which features the stellar line-up of Peter Bernstein, Anthony Wonsey, Nat Reeves, Joe Farnsworth and special guest Roy Hargrove.

Lately, Steve has been leading his own bands with more frequency including an all-star quintet featuring Steve Nelson, Larry Willis, Nat Reeves and Joe Farnsworth. Davis has also formed a new quartet/quintet featuring rising stars David Bryant (piano), Dezron Douglas (bass) and renowned drummer, Eric McPherson. On occasion, the band is augmented by exciting, frontline-mates Mike DiRubbo - alto sax and/or Ray Mc Morrin - tenor sax, Josh Evans - trumpet.

Steve also continues to perform and record with the well-known, collective unit One For All (feat. Eric Alexander, Jim Rotondi, David Hazeltine, Peter Washington, Nat Reeves or David Williams and Joe Farnsworth). The band has recorded 11 CD's since 1997 for Sharp Nine, Criss Cross and Venus/Japan. Both their recordings and live performances have garnered rave reviews. In 2006, Second Floor Music will be publishing One For All sextet charts in two sets, as recorded on the group's first two CD's, "Too Soon To Tell" (1997) and "Optimism" (1998) for Sharp Nine Records.

Ever in-demand as a sideman, Davis is featured on over seventy recordings and has worked in recent years with a broad range of jazz icons including Horace Silver, Cecil Payne, Larry Willis, Freddie Hubbard (w/ New Jazz Composers Octet), The Dizzy Gillespie Alumni All-Star Big Band/Sextet, Slide Hampton`s World of Trombones, Wynton Marsalis (w/ Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra) and Steve Turre's One 4 J.

Steve has also worked with a variety of his peers over the years including Claudia Acuna, Eric Alexander, Abraham Burton, Avishai Cohen, Mike DiRubbo, Dena DeRose, John Farnsworth, Jimmy Greene, Roy Hargrove, Stefon Harris, Nicholas Payton and Michael Weiss.

Renee Rosnes: Crossing Paths

Read "Crossing Paths" reviewed by Katchie Cartwright

by Katchie Cartwright
December 7, 2024

In the course of an illustrious career that began in the 1980s and continues to flourish, Renee Rosnes has developed an extraordinary sound, both as a composer and as a pianist, one that is readily recognizable whatever the context. With Crossing Paths, she taps into longstanding affinities and affection for Brazilian music, illuminating elements and flavors that distinguish her singular style, animating the band and the material with her arranging magic. She opens the curtain with “Frevo," grabbing ...

Live Review

Steve Davis Quintet at Smoke Jazz Club

by G. Pascal Zachary
November 23, 2024

Steve Davis Quintet SMOKE Jazz & Supper Club New York, NY November 7, 2024 Steve Davis is a compelling trombonist who has gained deserved attention from his periodic gigs at Smoke and for his excellent recent recordings on Smoke's Sessions label, which draws chiefly on live performances from this cozy club on Broadway in upper Manhattan. I heard the opening set on Thursday November 7 when the Davis and his current all-star group released a ...

Album Review

Matt Dwonszyk: Donny Time: The Music of Don DePalma

Read "Donny Time: The Music of Don DePalma" reviewed by Edward Blanco

by Edward Blanco
October 31, 2024

Bassist, composer and educator Matt Dwonszyk, based in New York City since 2023, is actually from Rocky Hill, Connecticut, and for some time was part of the jny:Hartford jazz scene, where he taught and performed with the late pianist and educator Don DePalma. DePalma was a legend of that scene, playing a vital role in its development and becoming a co-founder of the legendary 880 Club. Dwonszyk and friends pay tribute to DePalma on the outstanding Donny Time: The Music ...

Album Review

Michael Dease: Grove's Groove

Read "Grove's Groove" reviewed by Richard J Salvucci

by Richard J Salvucci
October 6, 2024

The story of Michael Dease's journey from sax to trombone and back again is one any parent of a musically talented child could recognize. Dease started out as an alto saxophonist in middle school. Sometime later, he wanted to switch to the baritone sax. He worked at it. And worked at it some more. His combination of talent and practice paid off. Dease became something of a young monster on the horn, outplaying his senior bandmates in high school. But ...

Album Review

Neil Swainson Sextet: Here for a While

Read "Here for a While" reviewed by Pierre Giroux

by Pierre Giroux
September 9, 2024

Neil Swainson's Here For A While is a tutorial in modern jazz composition and ensemble synergy. Swainson, a bassist of profound depth and melodic sensibility, has gathered a formidable sextet for this project, including Brad Turner on trumpet and flugelhorn, Kelly Jefferson on tenor andsoprano saxophones, Steve Davis on trombone, Renee Rosnes on piano and Quincy Davis on drums. Together, they bring to life nine compositions that are as intricate as they are engaging, each a testament to Swainson's skill ...

Album Review

One for All: Big George

Read "Big George" reviewed by Joshua Weiner

by Joshua Weiner
June 5, 2024

Smoke Sessions Records, based out of NYC's Smoke Jazz Club, has a fascinating recording model: artists play a few nights at the club, take a day off, and then go into a studio such as the famous Sear Sound to record their repertoire for release. They been putting out some excellent material, the latest of which is the first album in seven years from the sextet One for All. The title, Big George, reveals what sets this one apart from ...

Liner Notes

One For All: Blueslike

by C. Andrew Hovan
February 13, 2024

As the timeworn adage goes, sometimes the best things come from situations where one is asked to function in less than ideal circumstances. When you have little time to analyze things and go with pure instincts, there's an air of veracity and spontaneity to the results that is seldom arrived at by any other means. Although the hard bop collective One For Allhas forged a shared identity through regular gigs and a growing catalog of recordings for several labels, including ...

Performance / Tour

Announcing Smoke Jazz Club’s November Line-up Celebrating Steve Davis' New Smoke Sessions Records Album, 80th Birthday Of George Cables, Thanksgiving Weekend With Vocalist Tierney Sutton And More

Source: AMT Public Relations
October 3, 2024

SMOKE Jazz Club continues its 25th anniversary season with a month of some of today’s most essential jazz artists. November begins with audience favorites: trumpeter Nicholas Payton leading his improvisational project Nouveau Standards (Oct 30-Nov 3) followed by trombonist Steve Davis at the helm of his All-Star Sextet celebrating a new SMOKE Sessions Records album (Nov 6-10). SMOKE is thrilled to celebrate the 80th birthday of piano giant George Cables (Nov 13-17), the return of pianist Renee Rosnes (Nov 20-24) ...
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Performance / Tour

World-Renowned Smoke Jazz Club Announces October Line-up Including The Goldings/Bernstein/Stewart Trio, Pianist Jacky Terrasson, Trombonist Steve Davis, Saxophonist Melissa Aldana, And More

Source: AMT Public Relations
August 30, 2023

Rated the #1 Jazz Club in New York City (Secret NYC), Smoke Jazz Club welcomes a few of today’s leading Trios to the stage in October. For the first time in 30 years, the Goldings/Bernstein/Stewart Trio returns to SMOKE for a highly-anticipated, long overdue, four-night run (Oct 12-15). Pianist Jacky Terrasson makes a rare New York City appearance with his exciting trio with bassist Kenny Davis and drummer Alvester Garnett (Oct 19-22). The month ends with the master trombonist Steve ...
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Recording

Seasoned Bassist Matt Dwonszyk Releases 'A Year And A Day' on July 1—Notes By Steve Davis

Source: Scott Thompson Public Relations
June 8, 2022

Matt Dwonszyk is an accomplished bassist, composer, arranger and educator from Rocky Hill, CT. Dwonszyk graduated from the Jackie McLean Institute of Jazz studying under his mentor and world-renowned bassist, Nat Reeves and then went on to receive his Masters degree from SUNY Purchase College. Based in Brooklyn, NY since 2015, Dwonszyk still frequents back home to Connecticut to perform and teach. Throughout his career, Dwonszyk has performed and recorded with numerous contemporaries as well as legendary jazz artists including ...
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Event

Neil Burns Trio Featuring Steve Davis Kicks Off Monthly Jazz Series In Enniskillen

Source: All About Jazz
September 11, 2014

Marlbank.net (Ireland’s only daily jazz website) in association with Harnessing Creativity and Jazzeys presents The Neil Burns Trio featuring drummer Steve Davis, Friday 12 September at Jazzeys, Darling Street, Enniskillen. Performing at the first of a new monthly Further Into Jazz Club Night, Further into Jazz shines the spotlight on a music under-exposed locally through the lens and ideas of a new jazz generation. On the first running of this exciting new night, Further into Jazz is proud to present ...
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Recording

10 New CD and DVD Discoveries

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
January 21, 2014

Last week's workload was crushing, forcing me to forgo CD reviews over the weekend. Rather than wait until this coming weekend, I figured why not tell you about my latest favorites now... Frank Wess—Magic 201 (IPO). You might think that the followup to the late Frank Wess' Magic 101 would be replete with tracks that weren't good enough for Magic 101. An absurd thought, since Wess didn't record junk. He knew only one way—smart and soulful. A few noteworthy tracks ...
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Performance / Tour

Jazz This Week: Anita Jackson, Feyza Eren and Steve Davis, Erin Bode, Sarah Jane and the Blue Notes, and More

Source: St. Louis Jazz Notes by Dean Minderman
July 11, 2013

Once again this week, the schedule of touring jazz musicians visiting St. Louis is light to non-existent. And once again, local musicians are more than filling the gap with a variety of events, including some free outdoor shows plus gigs showcasing several of our town's fine female vocalists. Here's what's going on over the next few days... Tonight, the multi-instrumentalist Bosman Twins kick off a four-week series of free outdoor concerts at O'Fallon Park, located on the north side at ...
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Performance / Tour

Jazz This Week: David Sanborn and Brian Culbertson, Steve Davis, Dave Dickey Big Band, and More

Source: St. Louis Jazz Notes by Dean Minderman
August 23, 2012

With the return of one of the best known jazz musicians ever to come out of St. Louis, plus a nice variety of local gigs on tap, this week's jazz and creative music calendar is relatively busy for the end of August, which usually is a fairly slow time of year. So without further ado, let's go to the highlights... The local-boy-made-good is saxophonist and Kirkwood native David Sanborn (pictured), who last performed here a year ago with Marcus Miller ...
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Recording

Steve Davis' Eloquence CD Feat. Hank Jones!

Source: All About Jazz
September 6, 2009

Renowned trombonist Steve Davis has just released a new CD, Eloquence (Jazz Legacy Productions), featuring master pianist Hank Jones and a strong cast including Roy Hargrove, Steve Nelson, Nat Reeves, Joe Farsnworth & John Lee.

Also, Steve will be appearing with his OUTLOOK Quintet (Positone) at Small's Jazz Club Fri/Sat Oct 16-17 in NYC. This exciting group features Mike DiRubbo - alto sax, David Bryant - piano, Dezron Douglas - bass, Eric McPherson - drums.

In addition to his continuing ...
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206

Performance / Tour