Charlie Davis

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Charles Fremont "Charlie" Davis (* 1899 in Indianapolis ; † 1991 ) was an American jazz musician ( piano , trumpet ), composer and band leader.

Live and act

Davis was the son of trombonist Abijah Davis, who played in the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra . His Charlie Davis Band , which was also occasionally called The Joy Gang , he founded in Indianapolis in 1923, initially as a smaller combo that played in movie theaters and hotels, and eventually expanded it into a big band that played in the 1920s and into the 1930s Years of success. Known for her sweet style, she performed at Casino Gardens , a dance palace near the White River in northern Indianapolis.

At the end of 1927, 19 musicians played in the Davis Band, of which Fritz Morris was co-leader. The orchestra was characterized by a strict discipline; Excessive alcohol or drug use were punished with immediate expulsion. Her success at Casino Gardens led to her first recordings for Gennett Records . In Indiana, Charlie Davis' band appeared at joint gigs with Hoagy Carmichael and Bix Beiderbeckes Wolverines , in 1924 at Butler College and Marion's Luna Lite Theater. In the same year, the Wolverines recorded the Davis composition "Copenhagen" for Gennett, as well as the number "Jimtown Blues" (which Davis had written with Fred Rose). After five years, the Davis band got engagements in New York, where they appeared alongside Rudy Vallée , the Duke Ellington Orchestra , Cab Calloway , "Bojangles" Robinson and Ethel Merman . One of their most successful guest appearances was in 1930 at the Paramount Theater in Brooklyn , where they appeared in a joint program with Ellington. This was shown in the ten-minute film musical "The Jazz Reporters".

This was followed by a tour of Russia, Mexico, Spain, France, Holland and South Africa. There were also recordings for Vocalion . After the band split up in the 1930s, Davis worked in the furniture and linoleum business in Oswego, New York. Later successful members of his band included singer Dick Powell , who was the main vocalist for the Davis band, and clarinetist Earle Moss, who later became arranger for CBS. Davis self-published his autobiography That Band From Indiana in 1981 , which was also the basis for a play of the same name about the Roaring Twenties by Lawrence E. McCullough.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Charlie Davis: That band from Indiana! Mathom Publ., Oswego, NY 1982, ISBN 0-930000-20-X .

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Davis, Charlie
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Davis, Charles Fremont
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American jazz musician, composer and band leader
DATE OF BIRTH 1899
PLACE OF BIRTH Indianapolis
DATE OF DEATH 1991