Davis, Aaron

Websites:  https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/manteca-emc, http://aarondavispiano.com/
Origin: Detroit, Michigan, 🇺🇸- Toronto, Ontario, 🇨🇦
Biography:

Aaron Davis is an eclectic composer, arranger and keyboardist based in Toronto, Canada, who is perhaps best known as a founding member of the Holly Cole Trio and as a composer of music for film.


In 1979 he helped found world beat-jazz band Manteca, for whom he wrote and played keyboards from 1979 until 1991 and then again in 2008. In 1983 Aaron released his own album, "NOUVELLE AFRIQUE". Davis's second album, "NEON BLUE" was released in 1988, with Molly Johnson singing the title track.

In the late eighties Davis and bassist David Piltch formed a group with singer Holly Cole. As well as being a co-arranger of the Holly Cole repertoire, and writing some of her songs, Davis has done all of her orchestral arrangements, which have been performed by symphonies across Canada, the U.S. and Japan. He has also done orchestral & choral arrangements for other artists, including Alison Krauss, Natalie McMaster, David Clayton Thomas, Eliana Cuevas, Leahy, the Ennis Sisters, Eleanor McCain, the Canadian Brass, Quartetto Gelato, Sophie Milman, Kevin Breit and the Iseler Singers.

Orchestral writing of different sorts has also played a part in Davis' film writing. Since 1985 he has scored more than 100 films. Aaron has been nominated for three Genie awards, and four Gemini awards. Aaron and co-writer John Lang won a Gemini in 1996 for scoring "No Price Too High", won in 1997 for "Ebola: Inside An Outbreak", and won a 2006 Gemini for “Every Day Einstein”. They were also nominated for Genie awards for Clement Virgo’s “Rude” (1995) and “Love Come Down” (2000).

In the fall of 1996 Aaron & bassist David Piltch released an instrumental CD entitled "Feast. Since 2006 Davis has worked as music director, pianist, arranger and composer with singer Measha Brueggergosman, most recently on the 2015 Rhombus performance film of Afro-American spirituals, “Songs Of Freedom”. In 2016 Davis also arranged and performed orchestral versions of some those pieces with the New Brunswick Youth Orchestra. Davis has been music director on 2 CDs with Measha: “I’ve Got A Crush On You”, and “Christmas”. Aaron has co-written songs with various songwriters, including Mary Margaret O’Hara, Ron Sexsmith, Carole Pope and Marc Jordan. Aaron also wrote 4 tunes and played keyboards on “Onward”, the 2008 Juno-nominated CD by Manteca. Aaron has contributed many arrangements to the Art Of Time Ensemble, performed with guest artists such as Madeline Peyroux, Sarah Slean, Gregory Hoskins, Liam Titcomb, Jessica Mitchell and Steven Page.

Other artists that Aaron has worked with include: Molly Johnson, John Alcorn, David Myles, Sarah Slean, Steven Page, Ed Robertson, Selena Ryder, Hawksley Workman, Angelique Kidjo, the Parachute Club and Rose Cousins, Jane Siberry.


Since 2011 Aaron has been working on multi-media interactive art installations with, visual artist Candida Girling. They created “Marcovaldo’s Bench”, an installation which was part of Toronto’s “Nuit Blanche” festival in Oct 2011. Other installations include “Simply Breathing”, "A City Slice of Sky" and "A City Slice of Green” in Toronto and Buffalo, NY.

Davis continues to work with Holly Cole and Measha Brueggergosman, and over the last couple of years has recorded new CDs with Buffy St. Marie, Amelia Curran and Rose Cousins. He has also worked as a mentor at the Banff Centre for The Performing Arts and put together a Leonard Cohen Tribute with resident musicians there.

Manteca
Manteca. Jazz band in the fusion style. It was formed in Toronto in 1979 by the percussionist Matt Zimbel (b Tarrytown, NY, 27 Oct 1956) and the bass guitarist Henry Heillig (b Montreal 11 Oct 1952), with Aaron Davis (keyboards), John Johnson (saxophones, flute, piccolo), and others. Taking its name from a Latin-jazz composition written in the 1940s by Dizzy Gillespie and Chano Pozo, Manteca initially worked in Toronto clubs, making its debut at TGIF in November 1979. It appeared regularly for several years at the Festival of Friends (Hamilton, Ont) and Ontario Place, and by 1987 had become one of the leading concert attractions in Canadian jazz, touring annually. Manteca made its US debut in 1989 at the Concord Jazz Festival, Concord, Cal, and performed in 1990 at the North Sea (The Hague), Pori (Finland), and Stockholm jazz festivals.

Zimbel, Heillig, Davis, and Johnson remained constant members through the 1980s. Gordon Sheard replaced Davis in 1991. Manteca, a nonet, has been completed by a succession of trumpeters (Wayne Baker, Herb Koffman, Rick Tait, Steve McDade), saxophonists (Kirk MacDonald, Ralph Bowen, Gary Boigon, Phil Dwyer), timbales players (Earl Leader, Norman Jones, Art Avalos), and drummers (Mike Sloski, David James, Charlie Cooley).

Manteca's repertoire comprises pieces by Davis and Tait, and by the Toronto arranger and composer Jim McGrath. To its early Latin base, Manteca has added many other Third-World rhythms, at the same time incorporating the latest in synthesizer technology, creating a so-called 'pan-fusion' style that combines tribal and hi-tech influences with jazz improvisation. Its best known titles include Davis' Ruwenzori, Danceteria, Nu Nu, and Oseo, and Tait's No Heroes, Perfect Foot, and Take Me There. Album sales to 1991 exceeded an estimated 80,000; Perfect Foot was the band's most successful release to that point. Manteca, which received the 1989 Juno Award for instrumental artist of the year, stood with UZEB and Skywalk as the triumvirate of the leading Canadian fusion ensembles of the 1980s.