Kevin G. Davy (born 29 October 1961,

Nottingham, UK Nottingham ( , locally ) is a city and unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east of Sheffield and north-east of Birmingham. Nottingham has links to the legend of Robin ...

) is a British

jazz trumpeter The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard ...

flugelhorn The flugelhorn (), also spelled fluegelhorn, flugel horn, or flügelhorn, is a brass instrument that resembles the trumpet and cornet but has a wider, more conical bore. Like trumpets and cornets, most flugelhorns are pitched in B, though some ...

player,

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...

arranger In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orches ...

and

bandleader A bandleader is the leader of a music group such as a rock or pop band or jazz quartet. The term is most commonly used with a group that plays popular music as a small combo or a big band, such as one which plays jazz, blues, rhythm and blues or ...

. He has recorded with and toured with

Finley Quaye Finley Quaye (born 25 March 1974, Edinburgh, Scotland) is a Scottish musician. He won the 1997 MOBO Award for best reggae act, and the 1998 BRIT Award for Best Male Solo Artist. Life Finley Quaye is the son of vaudeville pianist Cab Kaye and t ...

Lamb Lamb or The Lamb may refer to: * A young sheep * Lamb and mutton, the meat of sheep Arts and media Film, television, and theatre * ''The Lamb'' (1915 film), a silent film starring Douglas Fairbanks Sr. in his screen debut * ''The Lamb'' (1918 ...

Adam F Adam Fenton (born 8 February 1972) is an English record producer and DJ who has worked across various genres. He is also the co-founder of the drum and bass label Breakbeat Kaos along with DJ Fresh. He found initial success with the 1990s dru ...

and

Lemn Sissay Lemn Sissay FRSL (born 21 May 1967) is a British author and broadcaster. Sissay was the official poet of the 2012 London Olympics, has been chancellor of the University of Manchester since 2015, and joined the Foundling Museum's board of trus ...

Secret Society A secret society is a club or an organization whose activities, events, inner functioning, or membership are concealed. The society may or may not attempt to conceal its existence. The term usually excludes covert groups, such as intelligence a ...

. He has led the Kevin Davy Quartet (KDQ), D’Semble, and Kevin Davy's Monster Jam . In 1992 Davy was given the Manchester Jazz Musician of the Year Award by

BBC Radio Manchester BBC Radio Manchester is the Local BBC Radio, BBC's local radio station serving Greater Manchester. It broadcasts on frequency modulation, FM, Digital Audio Broadcasting, DAB, digital TV and via BBC Sounds from studios at MediaCityUK in Salford ...

show ''The People''. Relocating to Manchester in 1986, Davy studied at the

Manchester Metropolitan University Manchester Metropolitan University is located in the centre of Manchester, England. The university has over 40,000 students and over 4,000 members of staff. It is home to four faculties (Arts and Humanities, Business and Law, Health and Educat ...

, attaining a Bachelor of Arts Degree (B.A) in General Arts (Humanities) in 1990. While enrolled there he attended the weekly

jazz improvisation Jazz improvisation is the spontaneous invention of melodic solo lines or accompaniment parts in a performance of jazz music. It is one of the defining elements of jazz. Improvisation is composing on the spot, when a singer or instrumentalist inv ...

workshops organized by

Colin Stansfield Colin Stansfield is an English former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1940s. He played at representative level for England, and at club level for Hunslet, as a , i.e. number 11 or 12, during the era of contested scrums. ...

in the nearby All Saints College, subsumed into the campus of

Career

Davy remained in Manchester until 1994, playing at venues such as Band on the Wall and PJ Bells, where he was booked for residencies. He also led open jam sessions for musicians and vocalists of varying skills to participate. These sessions ran for nine years. In 1994, after being recommended by the late Colin Goddard, former studio owner of Moonrakers Studio, Manchester, Davy relocated to London, where he took up the post of trumpet chair and actor/musician at the

Donmar Warehouse The Donmar Warehouse is a 251-seat, not-for-profit theatre in Covent Garden, London, England. It first opened on 18 July 1977. Sam Mendes, Michael Grandage and Josie Rourke have all served as artistic director, a post held since 2019 by Micha ...

on their production of the Brecht/Weil, work;''

The Threepenny Opera ''The Threepenny Opera'' ( ) is a "play with music" by Bertolt Brecht, adapted from a translation by Elisabeth Hauptmann of John Gay's 18th-century English ballad opera, ''The Beggar's Opera'', and four ballads by François Villon, with music ...

'' directed by

Phyllida Lloyd Phyllida Christian Lloyd, (born 17 June 1957) is an English film director and producer, best known for '' Mamma Mia!'' (2008) and '' The Iron Lady'' (2011). Her theatre work includes directing productions at the Royal Court Theatre and Royal N ...

, and under the musical direction of

Gary Yershon Gary Bernard Stewart Yershon (born 2 November 1954) is an English composer. His works include music for theatre, radio, television, film, and dance. He is an Associate Artist of the Royal Shakespeare Company. Born in London, he began his career a ...

, and Kate Edgar. Collaborations with writer

SuAndi SuAndi OBE is a British performance poet, writer and arts curator. Based in North West England, she is particularly acknowledged for raising the profile of black artists in the region as well as nationally. Since 1985 she has been Cultural Dire ...

followed, leading to Davy's participation in community-driven projects and a long-standing international tour with the show '' Afrika Afrika'' (Oct 2008 – March 2009), conceived by

André Heller Franz André Heller (; born 22 March 1947 as Francis Charles Georges Jean André Heller-Hueart) is an Austrian artist, author, poet, singer, songwriter and actor. Biography Heller was born in Vienna into a wealthy Jewish family of sweets manufac ...

and choreographed by Georges Mamboye. Produced by Matthias Hoffman. Davy has continued to develop his own writing and producing, via his group the Kevin Davy Quartet (KDQ). This unison resulted in the album ''The Thoth Project'', which has been performed at several venues in the UK, including in the Attic at the Hackney Picturehouse. Davy has collaborated with jazz musicians from several countries, including Sangoma Everett (the US, now based in France), Pibo Marquez(Venezuela), Paul Shigihara (Japanese-German), Doudou Gouirand (France), Roman Rahut (Poland), Krzesimir Debski (Poland), and

Claude Deppa Claude Deppa (born 10 May 1958) is a South African jazz trumpeter born in Cape Town, South Africa, probably best known for his work with the Brotherhood of Breath and Carla Bley. Early life Claude Deppa was born in Cape Town, South Africa, and ...

(South Africa). He has also worked with

Crass Agenda Last Amendment, formerly known as The Crass Collective and Crass Agenda, is the working title of a series of collaborations by ex-members of the anarcho-punk band Crass and others. Although Crass had formally split up in 1984, Penny Rimbaud, G ...

. Following work on his album, The Thoth Project, Davy resumed freelancing on trumpet in London with a number of artists, including

, and more recently,

Cymande Cymande (pronounced ) is a British funk group that was originally active in the early 1970s. The band name derives from a calypso word for "dove", which symbolises peace and love; "Dove" is also the title of one of their best-known songs. Wi ...

. He has also periodically held revivals of "Kevin Davy's Monster Jam", at various London venues, combining musicians and vocalists from around the U.K. Most recently he has hosted jam sessions at the Rich Mix venue in Bethnal Green, and at the Cat's Back in Wandsworth. During one of the original Monster Jams held at Band On The Wall, in Manchester between 1995–96, he met Andy Barlow and Lou Rhodes of Lamb, leading to touring and recording sessions; playing on Lamb's first two albums. Davy began playing in the emerging

drum and bass Drum and bass (also written as drum & bass or drum'n'bass and commonly abbreviated as D&B, DnB, or D'n'B) is a genre of electronic dance music characterized by fast breakbeats (typically 165–185 beats per minute) with heavy bass and sub-ba ...

and

trip hop Trip hop (sometimes used synonymously with "downtempo") is a musical genre that originated in the early 1990s in the United Kingdom, especially Bristol. It has been described as a psychedelic music, psychedelic fusion of hip hop music, hip hop ...

genres. He remains an occasional guest performer with Lamb, and featured on their recent album: "The Secret of Letting Go". Kevin also worked with producers, Adam F,

Sugizo , born and better known by his stage name Sugizo, is a Japanese musician, singer-songwriter, composer and record producer. He is best known as the lead guitarist and violinist of the rock band Luna Sea since 1989. Sugizo started his solo care ...

, and Hideaki Takahashi aka MJUC. He has more recently performed in the UAE, India and Sri Lanka, in tribute to the Trumpet legend;

Miles Davis Miles Dewey Davis III (May 26, 1926September 28, 1991) was an American trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. He is among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the history of jazz and 20th-century music. Davis adopted a variety of music ...

, on jazz festivals, also headlining at London's Jazz Cafe, in a tribute to the great

Dizzy Gillespie John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie (; October 21, 1917 – January 6, 1993) was an American jazz trumpeter, bandleader, composer, educator and singer. He was a trumpet virtuoso and improviser, building on the virtuosic style of Roy Eldridge but addi ...

. Davy is also in demand for recordings and studio work as well as live performances. Kevin G Davy, has been a presenter on Jazz London Radio for the last three years, with his weekly podcast entitled; Kevin Davy's D'semble, which is a reprise of the moniker he used for his group formed in Manchester in 1990.

Discography

* ''Savage Utopia'' - Crass Agenda (

Babel Label Babel Label is a jazz record label founded in 1994 by Oliver Weindling. It released more than 130 recordings in its first 20 years, two of which were nominated for the Mercury Prize. Formation Weindling was a banker in England in the 1980s whe ...

, 2004) * ''Grand Cross'' -

(

Polydor Polydor Records Ltd. is a German-British record label that operates as part of Universal Music Group. It has a close relationship with Universal's Interscope Geffen A&M Records label, which distributes Polydor's releases in the United States. ...

, 1999) (Japan only)

References

External links

Official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Davy, Kevin 1961 births British jazz trumpeters Male trumpeters Alumni of Manchester Metropolitan University Living people 21st-century trumpeters 21st-century British male musicians British male jazz musicians