Quint Davis (born November 5, 1947) is an American festival producer and director based in
. He is best known as the producer of the
New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival
The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival (commonly called Jazz Fest or Jazzfest) is an annual celebration of local music and culture held at the Fair Grounds Race Course in New Orleans, Louisiana. Jazz Fest attracts thousands of visitors to New ...
(Jazz Fest) founded by
George Wein
George Wein (October 3, 1925 – September 13, 2021) was an American jazz promoter, pianist, and producer. . Davis has been involved in the production of the event from its start in 1970. He is the CEO of Festival Productions, Inc. - New Orleans, the company that produces the Jazz Fest.
Biography
Davis was born Arthur Quentin Davis, Jr. in
,
Louisiana
Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...
, United States.
[OffBeat: BackTalk with Quint Davis by David H. Jones]
/ref> He was the first of three children of the family. His father, Arthur Quentin Davis, was an architect whose firm designed notable buildings such as Louisiana Superdome
The Caesars Superdome, commonly known as the Superdome (formerly known as Mercedes-Benz Superdome), is a multi-purpose stadium located in the Central Business District of New Orleans, Louisiana. It is the home stadium of the New Orleans Saints ...
and the New Orleans Arena
Smoothie King Center (locally referred to as SKC) is a multi-purpose indoor arena in New Orleans, Louisiana. It is located in the city's Central Business District, adjacent to Caesars Superdome. The arena opened in 1999 as New Orleans Arena and ...
.[Nola.com: Jazz Fest's Quint Davis stands at the crossroads of art and commerce by Keith Spera]
/ref>
Davis majored in drama and ethnomusicology at Tulane University
Tulane University, officially the Tulane University of Louisiana, is a private university, private research university in New Orleans, Louisiana. Founded as the Medical College of Louisiana in 1834 by seven young medical doctors, it turned into ...
.Congo Square
Congo Square (french: Place Congo) is an open space, now within Louis Armstrong Park, which is located in the Tremé neighborhood of New Orleans, Louisiana, just across Rampart Street north of the French Quarter. The square is famous for its inf ...
in Louis Armstrong Park
Louis Armstrong Park is a park located in the Tremé neighborhood of New Orleans, Louisiana, just across Rampart Street from the French Quarter.
In the 1960s a controversial urban renewal project leveled a substantial portion of the Tremé neig ...
. Davis also became a manager of Professor LonghairDuke Ellington
Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington (April 29, 1899 – May 24, 1974) was an American jazz pianist, composer, and leader of his eponymous jazz orchestra from 1923 through the rest of his life. Born and raised in Washington, D.C., Ellington was based ...
, McCoy Tyner
Alfred McCoy Tyner (December 11, 1938March 6, 2020) was an American jazz piano, jazz pianist and composer known for his work with the John Coltrane Quartet (from 1960 to 1965) and his long solo career afterwards. He was an NEA Jazz Masters, NEA ...
and B.B. King
Riley B. King (September 16, 1925 – May 14, 2015), known professionally as B.B. King, was an American blues singer-songwriter, guitarist, and record producer. He introduced a sophisticated style of soloing based on fluid string bending, shi ...
.Grammy Award
The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pres ...
s.Bill Clinton
William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and agai ...
's inaugural events.[Festival Productions, Inc. - New Orleans: Quint Davis]
/ref>
As of 2014, Davis still plays the leading role in producing the Jazz Fest. He also acts as the spokesperson of the event and emcees at the Festival.Essence Music Festival
The Essence Festival, known as "the party with a purpose", is an annual music festival which started in 1995 as a one-time event to celebrate the 25th anniversary of ''Essence'', a magazine aimed primarily towards African-American women. It becam ...
, another big music event in New Orleans.New Orleans music
The music of New Orleans assumes various styles of music which have often borrowed from earlier traditions. New Orleans, Louisiana, is especially known for its strong association with jazz music, universally considered to be the birthplace of th ...
and its influence on rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues, frequently abbreviated as R&B or R'n'B, is a genre of popular music that originated in African-American communities in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly ...
, rock and roll
Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock 'n' roll, or rock 'n roll) is a Genre (music), genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It Origins of rock and roll, originated from Africa ...
, funk
Funk is a music genre that originated in African American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African Americans in the m ...
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 ...
.
References
External links
Festival Productions, Inc. - New Orleans
{{DEFAULTSORT:Davis, Quint
1947 births
Record producers from Louisiana
Grammy Award winners
Living people
Musicians from New Orleans
Tulane University alumni