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Bryan Davis

Bryan Davis is a trumpet and flügelhorn player and teacher, originally from the UK, now residing in New York City, USA. He has gained an international reputation as a Lead Trumpeter, and is also highly regarded as a Jazz soloist. He received his formal musical training at Leeds College of Music but considers “the road” as his true education. With over 20 years of professional experience to his credit, Bryan continues to learn from the thousands of musicians he has performed with around the world. His trumpet teachers include J. Brian Brown, Richard Iles, Dick Hawdon, Gerard Presencer, Brian Lynch and Roger Ingram. In his early career, Bryan Davis had long associations with a number of groups, ranging from the National Youth Jazz Orchestra of Great Britain, to nightclub band Jazz Amiga and salsa group Casa Latina All-Stars. The latter, in particular, afforded him a busy period in the late ‘90s where he performed with most of the greatest ‘Latin’ bands in the UK, as well as visiting groups from the USA and South America. These included Jesus Alemany, Cubanismo, Sierra Maestra, Jimmy Bosch, Isaac Delgado, Roberto Pla, Robin Jones and King Salsa, and Salsa Celtica. In addition, he played support gigs for Tito Puente and Tania Maria. Bryan performed with a number of Theatre companies from 1999 onwards, including: 42nd Street (European Tour), Cabaret (European Tour), The Official Tribute to… The Blues Brothers (Europe & UK), The Rat Pack – Live from Las Vegas (West End, UK and Europe), The Rat Pack – Live From The Sands (US National). He is, perhaps, best known for his association with The Rat Pack, having toured regularly with them from mid 2004 to late 2009. This was an important developmental period for him as a Lead Trumpeter. The numerous European tours were spent largely in Germany and Austria. This led to his association with a number of groups from these countries, most notably Thomas Gansch’s Gansch & Roses, the Lower Austrian Concert Jazz Orchestra and Otto Sauter’s Ten of the Best. In addition, he has performed with Jazz Big Band Graz, Horst-Michael Schaffer’s Flying Brass Circus and others. Other freelance work in the UK included: the Glenn Miller Orchestra UK, the Syd Lawrence Orchestra, the BBC Big Band, Phil Woods, Bill Watrous, Rob McConnell, Andy Prior Big Band, the Three Degrees, the Supremes, the Brasshoppers and numerous other big bands, jazz groups and production shows.

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24
Album Review

Angela DeNiro: Swingin' with Legends 2

Read "Swingin' with Legends 2" reviewed by Jack Bowers


On Swingin' with Legends 2, her fourth recorded collaboration with arranger (and husband) Ron Aprea's big band, vocalist Angela DeNiro sings beautifully--and receives a lot of help from her friends, especially guests Ken Peplowski on clarinet, Randy Brecker on trumpet and Lew Tabackin on tenor sax and flute. And what a band! Well-stocked with stars who are eager to fly whenever Aprea raises his baton. Not that DeNiro needs much help. She is quite simply a marvelous ...

4
Album Review

Angela DeNiro: Swingin' with Legends 2

Read "Swingin' with Legends 2" reviewed by Pierre Giroux


Vocalist Angela DeNiro sings with blue-ribbon vocal abilities. This is evident in her release Swingin' With Legends 2 . Accompanied by the Ron Aprea Big Band, supplemented by special guests Randy Brecker, Ken Peplowski and Lew Tabackin, she sails through fourteen love songs written by some of the greatest composers of the American Songbook, providing a deep understanding and command of the material she performs. The album opens with “New York City Blues," a not frequently ...

2
Album Review

Angela DeNiro with the Ron Aprea Big Band: Swingin' with Legends 2

Read "Swingin' with Legends 2" reviewed by Nicholas F. Mondello


Swingin' with Legends 2 from Angela DeNiro with the Ron Aprea Big Band, is a follow-up to their first Legends effort in 1988. The album, as was its Grammy-entered predecessor, is a quintessentially classic big band recording featuring a fine female vocalist. The fourteen tunes here are predominantly from the Great American Songbook, with jazz greats Randy Brecker, Lew Tabackin, and Ken Peplowski delivering outstanding cameos. The opener “New York Blues" is a flat-out swinger with DeNiro belting ...

37
Album Review

Eyal Vilner Big Band: The Jam!

Read "The Jam!" reviewed by Jack Bowers


Simply leading a big band in 2022 is cause for celebration. Leading a big band as sharp and talented as Eyal Vilner's New York- based ensemble is cause for far more than that. Vilner, an Israeli-born composer, arranger and woodwind specialist, formed the band in 2008, one year after arriving in New York City. He has been busy since then shaping its identity and refining its style, and his persistence pays off big-time on the band's second album, The Jam! ...

20
Album Review

Chad Lefkowitz-Brown and the Global Big Band: Open World

Read "Open World" reviewed by Jack Bowers


There are times, thanks to the indestructible human spirit, when even the most horrendous scourge--say, a global pandemic that has claimed millions of lives in countries around the world--can lead to the occasional silver lining, a small yet persistent light at the end of a very dark tunnel. Case in point: Open World, a superlative new album by saxophonist Chad Lefkowitz-Brown (commonly known as Chad LB) and the Global Big Band, whose name describes exactly what it is: an ensemble ...

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Album Review

Arturo O'Farrill: Virtual Birdland

Read "Virtual Birdland" reviewed by Jack Bowers


Whenever an obstacle presents itself--even one as devastating and disruptive as a global pandemic--it's a sure bet that musicians will find a way around it, a way to keep making music even in the most grievous circumstances. Jazz musicians have been especially creative during the Covid-19 scourge, using social media, the internet and any other means at their disposal to share their music with the world. True, the paychecks aren't as large or as regular as once they were, but ...

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Album Review

Schapiro 17: Human Qualities

Read "Human Qualities" reviewed by Jack Bowers


Following its splendid premiere recording, an exploration of Miles Davis' unrivaled album Kind Of Blue (Capitol Records, 1959), composer/arranger Jon Schapiro's 17-member ensemble broadens its horizons on Human Qualities, pairing seven of the maestro's astute and adventurous charts with the Roberta Flack best-seller, “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face." This time around, Schapiro proves that he need rely on nothing more than his own considerable experience as a jazz artist to create an album that expresses his point ...

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Primary Instrument

Piano

Location

New York City

Willing to teach

Intermediate to advanced

Photos

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Swingin' with Legends...

Early Autumn Productions
2023

buy

The Jam!

Self Produced
2022

buy

Human Qualities

Summit Records
2021

buy

Virtual Birdland

Zoho Music
2021

buy

Open World

Self Produced
2021

buy

I Love The Life I Live

From: Bluesville
By Bryan Davis

Videos

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