Joe Davis (music publisher)
Joseph Medford "Joe" Davis (born October 6, 1896 in New York City , † September 3, 1978 in Louisville (Kentucky) ) was an American music producer , publisher and promoter in the field of jazz , rhythm and blues and pop music .
Live and act
Joe Davis began his career in the New York music industry in the late 1910s, initially as a songwriter and singer who recorded for Columbia Records . In the mid-1920s he began to manage a number of blues and pop singers on various labels under his own management , during which he pushed his own career as Joe Davis, The Melody Man . In 1919 he founded the music publisher Triangle Music Publishing Co. with George F. Briegel (1890–1968) .
From 1929 he worked as a publisher with the pianist Thomas Waller, who, on Davis' initiative, was soon to call himself Fats Waller . Joe Davis is believed to be the driving force behind Waller's career; he made him switch to singing too. Waller was temporarily employed by Davis and Davis' name was found as the originator of the Waller songs Alligator Crawl (1927) and Our Love Was Meant To Be , as well as the Andy Razaf title Alexander's Back in Town and After I've Spent My Best Years on You . Contractual agreements between Davis and Andy Razaf meant that Razaf did not receive any royalties on his hit S'posin ' written with Paul Denniker in 1927 . As a publisher, Davis u. a. also with Paul Denniker, Porter Grainger ( Wylie Avenue Blues , 1927), Howard Johnson ( Florida Flo ), Chris Smith , Alex Hill , Spencer Williams , Carson Robison , JC Johnson and Claude Hopkins . In the 1930s, Davis gave the Triangle on -Imprint and replaced it with Joe Davis, Inc . In 1939 he sold the company and shifted his activities to the production of records.
In May 1942 he founded his first record label Beacon Records . First release was Indiana Blues by Jerry Wayne with the Van Alexander Orchestra . In 1943/44 the label released music by Billy Murray / Monroe Silver ( Casey and Cohen in the Army 1943), Deryck Sampson , Irving Kaufman with the Buddy Clark Orchestra and local vocal ensembles such as The Red Caps .
Around 1944 he bought into the record label Gennett Records and tried to do it with recordings a. a. of Savannah Churchill , the State Street Ramblers of Jimmy Blythe , Thomas A. Dorsey (as Georgia Tom ) and Bradley Kincaid. In 1944 he wanted to have the masters of the bankrupt Varsity Records label from 1939 pressed onto vinyl, with jazz recordings by Harry James , Frank Trumbauer , Vincent Lopez and Sammy Kaye . Davis had only a small amount of shellac to press records with. Then he learned that Decca's ten-year contract for marketing the Gennett label was running out. Part of the Decca Schelleck ration was tied to Gennett, who had stopped making records in 1934. Joe Davis, who owned masters of publication, loaned Gennett money to receive the majority of Gennett's shellac allotment. As a Gennett subcontractor, this enabled him to build a catalog with the masters of the varsity label and new recordings, but only with short success. However, the federal tax authorities did not accept this approach. Davis then transferred the marketing of these masters to the new MGM label.
In 1944 he founded the Joe Davis Record Company with the sub-labels Beacon, Celebrity and (Joe) Davis Records . In 1945 his company was located at 331 West 49th Street, with a branch in Richmond, Virginia . There was the Gennett parent company Starr Piano Company , which had previously been producing records for Decca and was now reactivated at short notice for the pressing of Davis productions. Jukebox music, mostly popular pop, jazz , rhythm & blues , gospel and Latin music, etc. appeared on his labels . a. by Una Mae Carlisle ( I'm a Good, Good Woman 1945), Coleman Hawkins ( On the Bean 1945) and the vocal ensemble Five Red Caps ( Just for You ). Joe Davis took over Carlisle after her contract with Bluebird Records expired , featured her as a songwriter and organized a session with well-known jazz musicians such as Ray Nance , Budd Johnson and Shadow Wilson ( Tain't Yours ).
Davis releases include an Otis Blackwell album and a compilation entitled World Famous Rhythm and Blues Groups . In the 1950s, swing and jazz recordings and others appeared on Davis Records . a. by Frank Signorelli , Erskine Butterfield , Lee Castle and Eddie Miller , also under Joe Davis Records or Blues by Walter Thomas, Champion Jack Dupree and Gabriel Brown .
He worked for MGM Records for a while in the post-war years and founded the Jay-Dee label in the spring of 1953, on which he released a recording of the vocal group The Crickets with the lead singer (Grover) Dean Barlowe (not to be confused with Buddy Holly's backing band) The Crickets ). This was followed by records from doo-wop ensembles such as The Blenders ( Don't Play Around With Love 1953) and The Mellows with lead singer Lillian Leach. Successful titles of the Mellows under Joe Davis were How Sentimental Can I Be in August 1954, Smoke from Your Cigarette in January 1955 and the biggest hit I Still Care , which came out in April 1955. In 1956 he took on the group The Chestnuts ( Love Is True ).
In 1954, Davis reactivated his Beacon label for the release of R&B records. Further recordings of the vocal groups Dean Barlow & The Crickets and The Deep River Boys appeared . In 1961 he took up Beacon a . a. also music of jazz pianist Elmo Hope on, but mainly popular light music . In his later years he continued his Beacon and Celebrity businesses as music publishers and promoted jazz and blues musicians.
Music productions (selection)
- 1952: R & B Groups From Joe Davis (with Eddie Carter Quartet, The Crickets, The Bleners, The Five Barons)
- 1956: Otis Blackwell - Singin 'the Blues (Joe Davis LP 12 ": JD 109)
- 1961: Elmo Hope - High Hope (Beacon LP 12 ": LP / BS 401)
- 1962: Elmo Hope - Here's Hope (Celebrity LP 12 ": 209)
literature
- Bruce Bastin Never Sell a Copyright: Joe Davis and His Role in the New York Music Scene 1916–1978 Storyville 1990
Web links
- Bob Koester: Joe Davis and Gennett Records
- Discography (pdf; 64 kB)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Joe Davis at Allmusic (English)
- ↑ a b c d e Gennett and Joe Davis Records
- ↑ a b The Beacon Record Company (1943) ( Memento of the original from June 17, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Eugene Chadbourne on John Hancock
- ↑ See also: Ed Kirkeby: Ain't Misbehavin´ - The Story of Fats Waller. New York, Dood, Mead & Comp., 1966 (Da capo Press, 1975)
- ↑ See Alyn Shipton, Fats Waller: The Cheerful Little Earful (2002).
- ↑ Songwriters hall of fame ( Memento of the original from September 5, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Dbopm (the database of popular music) - songs co-written by Thomas Waller and Joseph M. Davis
- ↑ Songwriters hall of fame ( Memento of the original from August 6, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Michael Feinstein's American Songbook
- ↑ Paul Denniker at Allmusic (English)
- ^ David A. Jason, Tin Pan Alley: An Encyclopedia of the Golden Age of American Song . Taylor & Francis, 2003, ISBN 0415938775 , LCCN 2003-002699 , p. 374 ( limited preview in the Google book search).
- ^ Billboard Feb. 27, 1943
- ↑ Savannah Churchill
- ^ Billboard Oct 21, 1944
- ↑ a b Billboard Jun 23, 1945
- ↑ Rick Kennedy, Richard Lee Kennedy: Jelly Roll, Bix, and Hoagy: Gennett Studios and the Birth of Recorded Jazz
- ^ A b Arthur Bradley: On And Off the Bandstand: A Collection of Essays Related to the Great Bands
- ^ Billboard Sep 23, 1944
- ^ Billboard Aug 11, 1945
- ↑ Joe Davis Records at Discogs
- ↑ Una Mae Carlisle at Allmusic (English)
- ↑ Discography (pdf; 64 kB)
- ^ The Joe Davis Labels: The Vocal Groups
- ^ Portrait of The Mellows
- ↑ Jay Warner: American singing groups: a history from 1940s to today
- ^ Billboard Sep. 27, 1954
- ↑ The Crickets at Allmusic (English)
- ↑ Elmo Hope on Hardbop
- ^ Otis Blackwell discography
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Davis, Joe |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Davis, Joseph; Davis, Joseph Medford (full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American music producer and promoter |
| DATE OF BIRTH | October 6, 1896 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | New York City |
| DATE OF DEATH | 3rd September 1978 |
| Place of death | Louisville (Kentucky) |