Pianist Craig Davis is a major player in the Pittsburgh Jazz scene. He recently released his new CD, "Tone Paintings: The Music of Dodo Marmarosa". Dodo Marmarosa was a major performer in the 1940s and was compared to the giants of bebop pianists like Bud Powell and Thelonious Monk. He worked in bands led by most of the major swing-era bandleaders, including Tommy Dorsey, Gene Krupa and Artie Shaw. He worked with legendary musicians including Lester Young, Barney Kessel, Lionel Hampton, Slim Gaillard and Mel Torme. But things changed quickly by the end of the decade for Marmarosa due to health reasons and he became a near recluse for much of the rest of his life
Craig Davis has been on a mission to raise Dodo's profile in Jazz history. Both Davis and Marmarosa perform by blending both classical influences and progressive Jazz into one voice. On his new album, Davis offers his beautiful interpretations to ten classic Marmarosa tunes as well as a new song he wrote dedicated to Marmarosa. Davis explains "Dodo's story really resonated with me because he was such an enigmatic figure. He never got the recognition he deserved beyond having a flurry of fame in the forties. I thought maybe I could help bring his music to light". Davis goes on to say "We share similar stylistic interests. I love bebop and of course he was a bebop innovator, and we're both classically trained and bring those influences to our music. He also tried to push the art form forward a little bit and not just kind of settle on what was popular. Dorsey didn't like him because he was too progressive, but Artie Shaw loved it. All the music on this CD is musically beautiful!
Davis brought two of the finest musicians in modern Jazz today to join him, John Clayton one of the most accomplished Bass players in Jazz history and Jeff Hamilton one of the tecnically proficient Drummers in the Jazz world. I am sure most of you are more than familar with John and Jeff and know that if they agree to participate in a new CD, it will always produce great sounds.
I found two cuts from the CD on "YouTube" for your listening pleasure. The first is "Dodo's Bounce" which gives both Clayton and Hamilton a lot of room to show their stuff. The second one is "Mellow Mood" a song written by Marmarosa when he was 14 years old.
"Mellow Mood"
Playlist:
1. Mellow Mood
2. Dodo's Bounce
3. Dodo's Blues
4. Escape
5. A Ditty For Dodo
6. Opus No. 5
7. Compadoo
8. Dary Departs
9. Tone Paintings
10. Battle of the Balcony Jive
11. Dodo's Lament
Players:
Piano-Craig Davis
Bass-John Clayton
Drums-Jeff Hamilton
