| Jesse Edwin Davis |
| Birth name |
Jesse Edwin Davis III |
| Born |
21 September 1944(1944-09-21)
Norman, Oklahoma,
United States |
| Died |
22 June 1988 (aged 43)
Venice, Los Angeles, California |
| Genres |
Rock, blues |
| Occupations |
Session musician, sideman |
| Instruments |
Electric guitar, slide guitar |
| Years active |
1950s-1970s |
| Labels |
Atco |
| Associated acts |
Taj Mahal, The Monkees, Eric Clapton, Neil Diamond, John Lennon, George Harrison, John Lee Hooker |
| Notable instruments |
| Fender Telecaster |
Jesse Edwin Davis (September 21, 1944 – June 22, 1988) was an American guitarist.
History
Born in Norman, Oklahoma, Davis began his musical career in Oklahoma City, where his dad Jesse Ed Davis II had painted all of the Native American murals on the State Capitol building hallways. He was Kiowa (on his Mother's side) and his Father was Kiowa and Cherokee, although in his autobiographical song, "Washita Love Child," he sang that he was born in a Kiowa-Comanche tepee (Jesse Davis).
Davis began his musical career in the late 1950s playing in Oklahoma City and surrounding cities with John Ware (later Emmylou Harris' drummer) , John Selk (later Donovan's bass player), Jerry Fisher (later Blood, Sweat & Tears vocalist) Mike Boyle, Chris Frederickson, drummer Bill Maxwell (later Andrae Crouch and Koinonia) and others. He graduated from Northeast High School in 1962, and one of his classmates was Mike Brewer, later of Brewer and Shipley.
By the mid 1960s Jesse had quit the University of Oklahoma and went touring with Conway Twitty, although he had toured with Twitty before, notably when Conway was still a rock and roll performer.[1]
Davis eventually moved to California, where, through his friendship with Levon Helm, he became friendly with Leon Russell. He became an in-demand session player before joining bluesman Taj Mahal and playing guitar and piano on his first three albums. It was with Mahal where Davis was able to showcase his skill and range, playing slide, lead and rhythm, country and even jazz during his three-year stint, (and writing the graceful calligraphy for Giant Step's liner-notes), making a celebrated appearance with the band as a musical guest in the The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus. During another performance in the film, in the audience you can see a smiling Davis sitting beside John Lennon and Yoko Ono taking in the rest of the show. Davis went on to work closely with Lennon in the future featuring as guitarist on a few of his albums, amongst many others.
The period backing Mahal was the closest Davis came to being in a band full-time, and after Taj's 1969 album Giant Step, Davis soon made a reputation for sterling session work for such diverse acts as David Cassidy, Albert King and Willie Nelson. In 1971, Davis produced and played on Gene Clark's classic second solo album, White Light, which came to be known as the Gene Clark album because the record label, A&M records, did not want to deal with any accusation concerning drugs' apology; "White Line" gives a clue of what the record label A&M, even though it has always been known as an 'arty' label, wanted to prevent. Although the record didn't do well on the US charts, the critics acclaimed that the record was a fine folk album, well produced by Davis. Furthermore, Davis' guitars were crucial for the sound of the songs in such a way that his electric guitar harmonies were what followed Gene Clark's fine vocals throughout the album. For instance, the cover version of the until the Bob Dylan/Richard Manuel song "Tears of Rage" (introduced by The Band in 1968), showed that Jesse was on into the sound of what he was producing. During the party-days of 1971 in L.A. Jesse finally recorded his first solo album when the subsidiary of Atlantic Records, Atco, signed a contract with him to record two albums with the label. The result of that engagenment was the self-titled album Jesse Davis (Atco, 1971), which featured backing vocals by Gram Parsons and appearances by Leon Russell and Eric Clapton, among others. Moreover, the record is a good example of what it was to make a rock and roll album in those day: to call on a few friends, rent a studio in L.A. and keep on playing long after midnight sessions. Two more solo LPs followed, Ululu (Atco, 1972) and Keep Me Comin', occasionally listed as Keep On Coming (CBS, 1973). Davis also added guitar to Clark's No Other album (Asylum, 1974). As a result of his talent and connections, Davis eventually played on a raft of albums of the 1970s, including LPs by John Lennon, Ringo Starr, Eric Clapton, Leonard Cohen, Keith Moon, Jackson Browne, Steve Miller, Harry Nilsson and Van Dyke Parks, and was a featured guest in George Harrison's The Concert for Bangladesh on August 1, 1971 at Madison Square Garden, New York City; he was scheduled to appear when it was uncertain that Eric Clapton would make it to the event, however, both Clapton and Davis performed. Among guitarists, Davis is probably best known for having played the arresting solo passages on Jackson Browne's "Doctor My Eyes."
In and out of clinics, Davis disappeared from the music industry for a time, spending much of the 1980s dealing with alcohol and drug addiction. At the time of his death of an apparent drug overdose in a Venice, Los Angeles, California laundry room, Davis was playing in The Graffiti Band, which coupled his music with the poetry of American Indian activist John Trudell.
In the Spring of 1987, The Grafitti Band performed with Taj Mahal at the prestigious Palomino Club in Hollywood. At this memorable show, George Harrison, Bob Dylan and John Fogerty rose from the audience to join Davis and Mahal in an unrehearsed set of rock standards which included Fogerty's "Proud Mary" and Dylan's "Watching The River Flow" and "Blue Suede Shoes", "Peggy Sue", "Honey Don't", "Matchbox", and "Gone, Gone, Gone".
Death
On June 22, 1988 Jesse Ed Davis collapsed and was pronounced dead in a laundry room in Venice, California. Jesse had various drugs in his system and his death is commonly attributed to as a heroin overdose, although, with the various drugs in his system it is more of a death by misadventure seeing he was in a laundry at the time of his passing. He was 43 years old.
Present day
Acclaimed Native American Filmmakers Steven Judd and Tvli Jacobs (American Indian Graffiti) are set to begin filming a documentary about Davis in February, 2007, rumored to be produced by Chris Eyre (Smoke Signals). Angelique Midthunder is also said to be involved in the project in the role of Executive Producer.
References
External links
