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Orbert Davis

Trumpeter, composer Orbert Davis is co-founder, conductor and artistic director of CHICAGO JAZZ PHILHARMONIC, a 55+ piece jazz-symphonic orchestra dedicated to multi-genre projects. Orbert is also clinical associate professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Winner of the 1995 Cognac Hennessy National Jazz Search, Orbert was chosen one of Chicago Tribune's "1995 Arts People of the Year". Chicago Magazine named him "Y2k Best Trumpeter in Chicago" and "Chicagoan of the Year for 2002".

Along with his business partner Mark Ingram, Orbert owns and operates ORBARK PRODUCTIONS. Their credits include projects for Atlantic, Capitol, CBS, Epic, MCA, the Warner Brothers record labels and several feature films. He was jazz consultant for Academy Award winning director, Sam Mendes, on the DreamWorks Pictures feature film "Road to Perdition", starring Tom Hanks and Paul Newman, where he also had a cameo appearance.

Recent projects includes the critically acclaimed documentary “Beauty Rises: Four Lives in the Arts”, produced by WTTW and the Illinois Arts Council and “Concierto for Generation I”, a work commissioned by Nissan/Infiniti, inspired by the 2007 Infiniti G35 Sedan. “Concierto for Generation I” was part of the 2007 “Infiniti In Black” national advertising campaign which included a 2-page full-color ad of Orbert and the G35 in Ebony, Vibe, Essence and Black Enterprise magazines as well as online video documentary presentations.

Orbert's 2004 CD release entitled "Blue Notes", was the follow-up to his critically acclaimed "Priority" CD, which garnered an LA Times 4-star review, hit Top-50 "most played on national radio" Jazz CDs in 2002 and was named Top-10 best Jazz CDs of 2002 by the Chicago Tribune. His latest CD, Chicago Jazz Philharmonic’s “Collective Creativity” (2009), an amalgamation of classical music and jazz, is receiving rave reviews on the national stage as well.

In 1998 Davis and Ingram founded “Jazz Alive,” (formerly known as “MusicAlive” and now the Arts Education outreach arm of Chicago Jazz Philharmonic) an interdisciplinary enrichment program that focuses on teaching life and academic skills through music and the Arts. Currently running in 7 Chicago Public Schools, the program also seeks to create and develop “jazz bands” at the elementary school level.

Mr. Davis has a Bachelor’s degree in trumpet performance from DePaul University and a Master’s degree in Jazz Pedagogy from Northwestern University. He lives in Chicago with his wife Lisa, their two daughters, Zoe and Sydney, and their son, Donovan.

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4
Album Review

Chicago Jazz Philharmonic Chamber Ensemble: Havana Blue

Read "Havana Blue" reviewed by Jack Bowers


With diplomatic relations between the U.S. and Cuba warming, the chances for musical reciprocity have escalated apace. As one who has long admired the music of our neighboring island the the south, Chicago-based trumpeter / composer Orbert Davis was quick to seize the initiative, spending nine days in Havana with Cuban-born choreographer Frank Chavez in October 2012 and returning with the outline of his seven-part “Havana Blue Suite," which explores and delineates the tantalizing harmonies and rhythms that are a ...

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One LP

Orbert Davis: Clifford Brown with Strings

Read "Orbert Davis: Clifford Brown with Strings" reviewed by William Ellis


Orbert Davis: Symphony Centre, Buntrock Hall, Chicago. 15th May, 2013 This is Clifford Brown with Strings (EmArcy, 1955). I was a teenager when I first heard this incredible album—the depth is in its subtleties—and Clifford is so perfect with the string writing of Neal Hefti. It's a true blending of classical and jazz. The first thing I knew—this is funny—I recognized the name Neal Hefti from the Batman theme! For me as a trumpet ...

6
Album Review

Chicago Jazz Philharmonic: Sketches of Spain Revisited

Read "Sketches of Spain Revisited" reviewed by Jack Bowers


One by one, the trio of classic big-band collaborations by Miles Davis and Gil Evans is being rediscovered and reinvented by contemporary jazz ensembles: Miles Ahead, Porgy & Bess and last but not least, the tasteful and picturesque Sketches of Spain, reappraised here by trumpeter Orbert Davis (no relation to Miles) and the splendid Chicago Jazz Philharmonic. Besides composing, adapting and orchestrating the music, Orbert Davis sits in for his celebrated namesake on solo trumpet. What makes ...

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Interview

Orbert Davis: Trumpeting All Kinds of Music

Read "Orbert Davis: Trumpeting All Kinds of Music" reviewed by R.J. DeLuke


Orbert Davis is one of the most active trumpet players on the music scene, heard in tons and tons of contexts and not just by jazz fans. He's credited with performing on something like 2,500-plus commercials. He's done film music, most recently helping arrange music in “Road to Perdition" with Tom Hanks and Paul Newman. His work with pop acts includes Stevie Wonder, Dionne Warwick, Duran Duran, Gladys Knight, The Temptations and others.

He is known as a guy who ...

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Album Review

Orbert Davis: Blue Notes

Read "Blue Notes" reviewed by Jack Bowers


Orbert Davis, one of the Chicago area's favorite sons and best-kept secrets (although that status is rapidly changing), hasn't tinkered much with his third and latest album--it's essentially straight-ahead small-group jazz--but has managed to place the engine where the caboose should be.

What I mean is, when you're a mind-bending trumpeter and have programmed songs like the sepulchral “Blue Notes and Parker/Gillespie's lightning-quick archetype “Shaw'Nuff, it's quite clear (to me, at least) which one to lead with if you wish ...

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Album Review

Orbert Davis: Blue Notes

Read "Blue Notes" reviewed by AAJ Staff


No pretense surrounds Chicago trumpeter Orbert Davis's third effort, Blue Notes. The album eulogizes the hard bop ethos of the '60s Blue Note catalog. Davis covers classics from that period like Wayne Shorter's “Hammer Head" and Herbie Hancock's “Driftin'." The trumpeter's own composition, “Back in the Day," sounds like a cross between “Watermelon Man" and “The Sidewinder."

This is isn't to say that Blue Notes is a sterile recycling of another era's sound. Davis imbues the tunes ...

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Album Review

Orbert Davis: Priority

Read "Priority" reviewed by Jack Bowers


Trumpeter Orbert Davis may have let the cat out of the bag with Priority, an album that is almost sure to blow his cover as one of the Chicago area"s best-kept secrets.

Davis, who has recorded before with strings and voices and as a member of William Russo's Chicago Jazz Ensemble, unleashes the full arsenal on this spectacular studio date, showcasing his prodigious talents as player, composer and arranger in a colorful program of small"group Jazz that is at once ...

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Performance / Tour

Chicago Jazz Philharmonic Presents Grammy Winning Artists Trio Globo

Chicago Jazz Philharmonic Presents  Grammy Winning Artists Trio Globo

Source: Maggy Fouche

The Chicago Jazz Philharmonic (CJP) explores the rich global influences in jazz in two concerts on Friday April 24 at the North Shore Center for the Arts in Skokie, and on Sunday April 26 at the Beverly Arts Center in jny: Chicago. “Four Corners of the World” will feature the CJP Chamber Ensemble performing with internationally acclaimed artists Trio Globo. The evening will include repertoire from both groups as well as new works created especially for this event. A highlight ...

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Performance / Tour

Orbert Davis' Orchestra And Vocalists To Sing The Praises Of Ella

Orbert Davis' Orchestra And Vocalists To Sing The Praises Of Ella

Source: Ted Ricci

Music lovers probably will argue for all time over whether Ella Fitzgerald or Billie Holiday was the greatest female jazz vocalist of the 20th century. But whichever side of that debate you take, there's no question that Fitzgerald set a still- unmatched standard for scat singing and improvisational techniques of her own making. That she conquered both the swing and bebop eras, while also crossing over into mass popularity via the “Songbook" albums she recorded for Norman Granz, attests to ...

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Music Industry

Jazz Trumpeter Orbert Davis To Perform January 11th at New York's Kavehaz During 2006 IAJE

Jazz Trumpeter Orbert Davis To Perform January 11th at New York's Kavehaz During 2006 IAJE

Source: All About Jazz

Chicago, IL - One of Chicago's busiest and most sought after musicians, Orbert Davis, will perform with his quintet on Wednesday, January 11, 2006 at Kavehaz in Chelsea. Davis' appearance at this Eastern European NYC jazz club piggybacks off his participation in this year's International Association of Jazz Educators Conference (IAJE) at the Hilton New York, where he will conduct two clinics entitled “Connecting with Kids in the Classroom" and “Connecting with Kids in Concert." Davis, also a educator and ...

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Education

Orbert Davis to expand jazz program at UIC

Orbert Davis to expand jazz program at UIC

Source: All About Jazz

University of Illinois at Chicago Office of Public Affairs (MC 288) 601 S. Morgan St., Chicago, IL 60607-7113, (312) 996-3456, www.news.uic.edu August 23, 2005 Media Contact: Anne Brooks Ranallo, (312) 355-2523, [email protected] Jazz Artist Orbert Davis Joins UIC Faculty Orbert Davis, jazz trumpeter, composer and educator, has been appointed associate professor of performing arts at the University of Illinois at Chicago, beginning this fall. He will teach jazz history, direct the UIC Jazz Ensemble, and expand the jazz curriculum. “Orbert ...

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Music Industry

Orbert Davis, Jazz Consultant to "Road to Perdition"

Orbert Davis, Jazz Consultant to "Road to Perdition"

Source: All About Jazz


Primary Instrument

Trumpet

Location

Chicago

Photos

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Havana Blue

3Sixteen Records
2016

buy

Sketches of Spain...

3Sixteen Records
2014

buy

Blue Notes

3Sixteen Records
2005

buy

Priority

3Sixteen Records
2002

buy

Priority

3Sixteen Records
2001

buy

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