Morris Cecil Davis (1 March 1904 – 13 November 1968) was a Canadian

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 conductor. He was sometimes referred to as "Rusty Davis". A largely self-taught composer and orchestrater, he wrote more than 200

jingle A jingle is a short song or tune used in advertising and for other commercial uses. Jingles are a form of sound branding. A jingle contains one or more hooks and meaning that explicitly promote the product or service being advertised, usually t ...

s for Canadian radio and television. He also contributed incidental music to more than 100 radio and TV programs and composed more than 30 scores for

feature film A feature film or feature-length film is a narrative film (motion picture or "movie") with a running time long enough to be considered the principal or sole presentation in a commercial entertainment program. The term ''feature film'' originall ...

s; including the scores to ''

Whispering City ''Whispering City'' (also known as ''Crime City'') is a 1947 black-and-white film noir directed by Fedor Ozep and starring Paul Lukas, Mary Anderson, and Helmut Dantine.Gerald Pratley, ''A Century of Canadian Cinema''. Lynx Images, 2003. . p. 23 ...

'' (1947), ''

La Forteresse La Forteresse () is a commune in the Isère department in southeastern France. Geography La Forteresse is located in the valley of Rival, and is about 550 meters away from Saint-Étienne-de-Saint-Geoirs. History La Forteresse belonged until 1 ...

'' (1947), ''

Le Curé de village ''Le Curé de village'' (''The Village Priest'') is a novel by Honoré de Balzac Honoré de Balzac ( , more commonly , ; born Honoré Balzac;Jean-Louis Dega, La vie prodigieuse de Bernard-François Balssa, père d'Honoré de Balzac : Aux s ...

'' (1949), and '' Tambour battant'' (1952). He also composed a number of

orchestra An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families. There are typically four main sections of instruments: * bowed string instruments, such as the violin, viola, c ...

l works, songs, and

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

pieces. His jazz concerto ''Blues and Finales in G'' (1942) is written in the style of ''

Rhapsody in Blue ''Rhapsody in Blue'' is a 1924 musical composition written by George Gershwin for solo piano and jazz band, which combines elements of classical music with jazz-influenced effects. Commissioned by bandleader Paul Whiteman, the work premiered i ...

'', and his ''Serenade for Trumpet in Jazz'' (composed before 1948) was played often in concerts by

Maynard Ferguson Walter Maynard Ferguson CM (May 4, 1928 – August 23, 2006) was a Canadian jazz trumpeter and bandleader. He came to prominence in Stan Kenton's orchestra before forming his own big band in 1957. He was noted for his bands, which often served ...

Life and career

Born in

Ottawa Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...

, Davis began his musical education in Montreal where he studied the

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

with such teachers as Nicholas Eichorn,

Alfred La Liberté Alfred La Liberté (10 February 1882 – 7 May 1952) was a Canadian composer, pianist, writer on music, and music educator. He was a disciple and close personal friend of Alexander Scriabin. He was also an admirer of Marcel Dupré and Nikol ...

, and A.E.J. MacCreary. He studied law at

McGill University McGill University (french: link=no, Université McGill) is an English-language public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1821 by royal charter granted by King George IV,Frost, Stanley Brice. ''McGill Universit ...

(MU) where he earned of

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

in 1930. While a student there he notably wrote the MU's annual ''Red and White Revue'' in 1926 and 1927. In 1927 he co-wrote the review ''The Little Revue that Starts at 10 Past Nine'' with

Robert E. Dolan Robert Emmett Dolan (August 3, 1908 - September 26, 1972) was a Broadway conductor, composer, and arranger beginning in the 1920s. He moved on to radio in the 1930s and then went to Hollywood in the early 1940s as a musical director for Paramou ...

which was premiered at the Orpheum in Vancouver. In 1929 Davis began working for

CBC Radio CBC Radio is the English-language radio operations of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. The CBC operates a number of radio networks serving different audiences and programming niches, all of which (regardless of language) are outlined below ...

as a pianist and conductor. From 1937-1947 he worked as a music producer at CBC Montreal where he notably arranged music for conductors like Lucio Agostini,

Jean Deslauriers Jean Deslauriers (24 June 1909 – 30 May 1978) was a Canadian conducting, conductor, violinist, and composer. As a conductor he had a long and fruitful partnership with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation; conducting orchestras for feature fi ...

, and

Allan McIver Joseph Allan McIver (17 January 1904 – 15 June 1969) was a Canadian composer, arranger, pianist, and conductor. As a pianist he performed with orchestras in the Quebec region in his early career and was the longtime accompanist and arrang ...

. He left the CBC to establish his own production house in Montreal in 1948. He thereafter worked actively as a freelance composer, arranger, and conductor in the Montreal area. He conducted several commercial orchestras and composed a number of

s and

film score A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film. The score comprises a number of orchestral, instrumental, or choral pieces called cues, which are timed to begin and end at specific points during the film in order to ...

s for radio and television. He also worked as a music director for theatrical productions in several Canadian cities. He notably conducted the studio orchestra for a 1962

LP album The LP (from "long playing" or "long play") is an analog sound storage medium, a phonograph record format characterized by: a speed of rpm; a 12- or 10-inch (30- or 25-cm) diameter; use of the "microgroove" groove specification; and a ...

with accordionist

Gordie Fleming ''Gordy'' is a 1995 American family comedy-drama film. Gordy or Gordie may also refer to: People with the given name or nickname * Gordie Byers (1930–2001), Canadian ice hockey player * Gordy Brown, American football player * Gordy Ceresino ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Davis, Morris Canadian male composers Male conductors (music) Canadian film score composers Male film score composers McGill University Faculty of Law alumni 1904 births 1968 deaths Musicians from Ottawa 20th-century Canadian conductors (music) 20th-century Canadian composers 20th-century Canadian male musicians