Jesse Ed Davis

Jesse Edwin Davis
Birth name	Jesse Edwin Davis III
Born	21 September 1944(1944-09-21) Norman, Oklahoma, United States
Died	22 June 1988(1988-06-22) (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, Milara Love, 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. He was well regarded as a session artist.^[1] His death in 1988 is attributed to a drug overdose.^[2]

Biography

Born in Norman, Oklahoma, Davis began his musical career in Oklahoma City. His father, Jesse Ed Davis II, was Muscogee Creek and Seminole while his mother's side was Kiowa. He graduated from Northeast High School in 1962.

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.

By the mid 1960s Davis had quit the University of Oklahoma and went touring with Conway Twitty.

Davis eventually moved to California, where, through his friendship with Levon Helm, he became friendly with Leon Russell. He became a session player before joining Taj Mahal and playing guitar and piano on his first three albums. Davis played slide, lead and rhythm, country even jazz during his three-year stint, making an appearance with the band as a musical guest in The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus. Davis later went on to work closely with ex-Beatles John Lennon and George Harrison, playing guitar on several of their solo albums.

The period Davis spent with Taj Mahal was the closest he came to being in a band full-time, and after Taj Mahal's 1969 album Giant Step, Davis performed session work for David Cassidy, Albert King and Willie Nelson. In 1970 Jesse played on and produced Roger Tillison's one and only LP for Atco Records (a division of Atlantic). Jesse and Roger (a fellow Oklahoman) were joined at The Record Plant by Bobby Bruce, fiddle; Larry Knechtel, organ & harmonica; Stan Szeleste, piano; Billy Rich, bass; Jim Keltner, drums and Sandy Konikoff, percussion. Don Preston & Joey Cooper took care of the vocal accompanists. "Roger Tillison's Album" was recorded live. This album was finally released on CD by Wounded Bird Records in 2008, with Davis on electric guitar, bottleneck (slide) guitar and banjo. The Woody Guthrie-penned tune, "Old Cracked Looking Glass," has become a standard for Oklahoma bands.

Davis recorded his first solo album when Atco Records signed a contract with him to record two albums with the label. The result of that engagenment was the self-titled album Jesse Davis (1971), which featured backing vocals by Gram Parsons and appearances by Leon Russell and Eric Clapton, among others. Later in 1971, Davis produced and played on Gene Clark's second solo album, White Light. Two more solo LPs followed, Ululu (1972) and Keep Me Comin, occasionally listed as Keep On Coming (1973).

Prison Minister and former band manager, Marty Angelo writes about his experiences with Jesse Ed Davis in his book, "Once Life Matters: A New Beginning" (ISBN-0961895446 pages 85–87). Angelo states he was introduced to Davis by drummer, Gary Mallaber in 1972 while Davis was living in Marina Del Rey, California. Davis then introduced Angelo to John Lennon who in turn introduced Angelo to heroin.

Davis also added guitar to Clark's No Other album (1974). Davis played on LPs by John Lennon, Ringo Starr, Eric Clapton, Leonard Cohen, Keith Moon, Jackson Browne (Davis played the guitar solo on Doctor My Eyes, from Browne's debut album, which was released in 1972), 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.

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. Davis played in The Graffiti Band, which coupled his music with the poetry of American Indian activist John Trudell.

In the Spring of 1987, The Graffiti Band performed with Taj Mahal at the Palomino Club in Hollywood. At this show, George Harrison, Bob Dylan and John Fogerty rose from the audience to join Davis and Taj Mahal in an unrehearsed set 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. Davis had various drugs in his system and his death is commonly attributed to as a heroin overdose. He was 43 years old.

Discography

(See also Discography at Taj Mahal)

As leader

• Jesse Davis (Atco, 1971)
• Ululu (Atco, 1972)
• Keep Me Comin or Keep On Coming (CBS, 1973)

As sideman

• White Light - Gene Clark (1971)
• No Other album (Asylum - Gene Clark 1974)

References

1. ^ The Encyclopedia of Dead Rock Stars: Heroin, Handguns, and Ham Sandwiches By Jeremy Simmonds p. 235
2. ^ ASK THE GLOBE Boston Globe October 21, 1988

Persondata
Name	Davis, Jesse Ed
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	September 21, 1944
Place of birth
Date of death	June 22, 1988
Place of death