- Spanky Davis
Ronald J. "Spanky" Davis (b. March 6, 1943,
Indianapolis, Indiana ) is an Americanjazz trumpeter.Davis played early on with
Charlie Palmieri (1979),Sam Jones (1979-82),Machito (1980-81), andBenny Goodman (1982-83). He touredIreland withAl Cohn in 1983-84, then played withBob Haggart in 1984-85. Concurrently, he also led the house band at Jimmy Ryan's inNew York City from 1980, directly followingRoy Eldridge in this position. Jimmy Ryan's closed in 1983, but Davis continued to lead this band in other performances as Jimmy Ryan's All-Stars; this ensemble continued to be active into the late 1990s, and counted among its sidemenTed Sturgis ,Joe Muranyi , andEddie Locke . Davis led a quartet with Locke,Richard Wyands , andMurray Wall from 1986, in addition to playing with theSavoy Sultans from 1984-91. In the mid-1980s he did work withArvell Shaw as part of Armstrong Legacy. He played as a sideman withBuck Clayton from 1986 to 1992 and toured withBuddy Tate between 1986 and 1990; he also accompaniedRuth Brown in 1989,Annie Ross in 1991-92 andFrank Sinatra in 1991-93. From 1997 he played inChuck Folds 's group at Sweet Basil in New York.References
*Gary W. Kennedy, "Spanky Davis". "Grove Jazz" online.
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.