May 2015 Volume:6 Issue:10 Size: 10.12 MB Download PDF Pianist, composer Roger Davidson is featured in an interview by Alex Henderson. This expanded 64-page issue of Jazz Inside Magazine also includes interviews with vocalist Karrin Allyson, Steve Getz, impresario, drummer, son of Stan Getz, talking about his new performance series and illustrious father and more; guitarist Albare and vocalist Deborah Latz. This issue of Jazz Inside includes CD Reviews, and a comprehensive calendar of hundreds of club, concert and event listings.
Like many Americans, Roger Davidson discovered the bossa nova through the recordings of Stan Getz, and since then, the sounds of Brazil have been especially close to his heart. In four previous CDs – Brazilian Love Song, Bom Dia, Rodgers in Rio, and Bingo – he brought his unique spin to the music of a country that, remarkably, he had never visited. In October 2011, that changed.
Accompanied by his producer, the Argentine bassist and bandleader Pablo Aslan, Roger took his first trip to Brazil. Most of his eight days there, which he spent in Rio de Janeiro, were occupied by six recording sessions. Roger arrived with a hundred of his Brazilian compositions to choose from; the songs he recorded – in addition to several new ones he composed in Rio – comprise these two CDs.
Original compositions by Roger Davidson (Musica Universalis, BMI)
Roger Davidson, piano Marcelo Martins, tenor and soprano sax, flute Gilmar Ferreira, trombone Leonardo Amuedo, guitar Ney Conceiçao, electric bass (CD1 tracks 1,2,9 – CD2 tracks 1,2,4,7,8,12) Sergio Barrozo, acoustic bass Rafael Barata, drums (CD1 tracks 1,2,9 – CD2 tracks 1,2,4,7,8,12) Paulo Braga, drums Marco Lobo, percussion
Pasión por la Vida is an album of original tangos by pianist and composer Roger Davidson, performed in a duet with Soundbrush’s Latin Grammy Award-winning Raúl Jaurena on bandoneón. This is Davidson’s third album of tangos, but his first featuring a program comprised entirely of his own compositions. This is music to enjoy intimately as well as on the dance floor.
Roger Davidson & David Finck - “Umbrellas and Sunshine”
The Music Of Michel Legrand
French composer Michel Legrand has written some of the most memorable romantic music on film. Many of his songs have long since become jazz and pop standards. In Umbrellas and Sunshine, pianist and composer Roger Davidson and bassist David Finck offer a deeply original, intimate take of Legrand’s music – stories of love found and lost, elegantly whispered, swinging, among friends.
Since starting his career in the ‘70s, French-American pianist and composer Roger Davidson has been as voracious in his musical curiosity as Michel Legrand — and just as fearless in his reach. Davidson’s writing include symphonies and choral music, small-group jazz, Klezmer, tango and a bounty of Brazilian-flavored songs. In all his work, as in Legrand’s, melody reigns. It was bassist David Finck, who suggested to Davidson exploring an album’s-worth of Legrand’s songs. The pianist was all for it.
“I feel a tremendous kinship with Michel Legrand,” says Davidson. “Legrand is French, and so am I. He is a very romantic composer; he writes music with feeling. We both love to write melodies. Like everyone else, I heard his tunes played over and over by many wonderful musicians, and I started playing them myself.” The result is Umbrellas and Sunshine, a celebration of Michel Legrand, romance, and swing.
Americas Society hosted in collaboration with Soundbrush Records the launch of "Pasión por la Vida", an album of original tangos composed by pianist Roger Davidson, performed in a duo with Latin Grammy Award-winning Raúl Jaurena on bandoneon. This is Davidson's third album of tangos and his first with a program entirely of his own compositions. For lovers and romantics, this collection of tangos is an elegant example of the genre in its most basic instrumentation. Presented by MetLife Foundation. Visit www.musicoftheamericas.org for more.
A flexible and diverse pianist and composer, Roger Davidson has a long history of playing both European Classical music and straight-ahead Jazz as well as various styles of Latin music. A specialist in improvisation, he has a life-long love of the music of Argentina and Brazil.
Having just completed his third tango album, Pasion por la Vida (Soundbrush Records) the first to rely solely on his own compositions, Davidson is quickly becoming a certifiabletanguero! Pasion por la Vida is a collaboration with the Latin Grammy Award-winning Raul Jaurena on bandoneon and produced by Argentine bassist Pablo Aslan. Both of these men played on Davidson’s Mango Tango (Rainbow Collection) in 1995 and have remained close collaborators ever since. Davidson produced Jaurena’s Te Amo Tango which won a Latin Grammy for best Tango album in 2007. With Aslan, he teamed up as The Tango Project and produced a Amor por el Tango (Love for the Tango) which has received rapturous critical praise.
Born in Paris in 1952 to a French mother and an American father, Davidson moved to New York City when he was a baby and has spent most of his life in the northeastern part of the United States. In the 1980’s he earned Master’s degree in Composition from Boston University and a Master’s in choral conducting from Westminster Choir College in Princeton, NJ, where he began writing choral music – which later bloomed into an extensive repertoire.
During his time in Boston he founded and directed a chamber orchestra, which gave several concerts to critical acclaim. He later spent some time in Germany, studying voice and teaching improvisation at the Lichtenberger Institut (near Darmstadt), but returned to the northeastern U.S. and moved back to New York.
His interest in jazz was strong, however, and one of the people who encouraged that interest was the late producer Helen Keane (who was best-known for managing and producing one of Davidson’s idols, Bill Evans). In the late ’80s, Keane produced an album-length jazz demo recording for Davidson, although she didn’t live long enough to see it become a published CD – which it was, years later, as Ten to Twelve, under the Soundbrush label.
In 2002 Davidson founded Soundbrush Records where he served as President until 2008. With Soundbrush he oversaw and produced almost two dozen first-rate recordings of Jazz, World and Latin music during this time, including work by David Finck, Carol Fredette, Marco Granados, Frank London, and Argentine guitarist, Pancho Navarro.
Davidson is also the founder and President of the Society for Universal Sacred Music, a non-profit organization that sponsors composers and performers at international festivals.
Pasión por la Vida is an album of original tangos composed by pianist Roger Davidson, performed in a duo with Soundbrush’s Latin Grammy Award-winning Raúl Jaurena on bandoneon. This is Davidson’s third album of tangos and his first with a program entirely of his own compositions.
For lovers and romantics, this collection of tangos, produced by Pablo Aslan, is an elegant example of the genre in its most basic instrumentation. This is music to enjoy intimately as well as on the dance floor. An irrefutable case for the enduring passion of the form.
Tracklist
01. Fuerza Milonguera
02. Su Pasión
03. O, Te Quiero
04. Camino al Sol
05. Tarde Soleada
06. Puente a la Esperanza
07. Vals para Mañana
08. Optimista
09. Todo el Tiempo
10. Volveré
11. Cancion de la Montaña
12. Milonga del Norte
13. Alma Apasionada
14. Orquesta de Pueblo
15. Tango Ruso
16. Si Loin de Toi
17. Que Pasara
18. Aventura
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