BAAMS Presents: Steve Davis & Abena Koomson-Davis And The BAAMS’ Band

Steve Davis is widely regarded as one of today’s leading voices on the trombone. After graduating from The Hartt School’s Jackie McLean Institute of Jazz(’89), Davis first gained widespread recognition in 1990 upon joining as the last to join the Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers, Steve’s first record dates would be Blakey’s last, including One For All (A&M), the title track penned by Davis. Over the years since, Davis has worked with a broad range of jazz luminaries such as his first mentor Jackie McLean, Chick Corea, Benny Golson, Jimmy Heath, James Moody, Cecil Payne, Harold Mabern, Larry Willis, Freddie Hubbard & The New Jazz Composers Octet, Slide Hampton’s World of Trombones, Horace Silver, Cedar Walton, Hank Jones, Rene McLean, Nat Reeves, Avishai Cohen, Roy Hargrove & Willie Jones III. Raised in Binghamton, New York, Steve has performed at major venues around the world including appearances at the North Sea, Montreal, Vienne, Montreaux, Newport, JVC, Detroit, Chicago & Playboy Jazz Festivals, The Jimmy Fallon Show with Stevie Wonder and at The White House Tribute to Ray Charles (PBS). Davis appears on over 150 recordings, including 20 as a leader. His 2022 release “Bluesthetic” (SMOKE Sessions) includes an all-star band featuring Steve Nelson, Peter Bernstein, Geoff Keezer, Christian McBride & Willie Jones III playing a program of Steve’s originals. “Bluesthetic” garnered rave reviews and spent months atop the JazzWeek Radio Charts. Other notable releases include Say When: Celebrating J.J. Johnson, Think Ahead, and Correlations (SMOKE Sessions), For Real and Gettin’ It Done (Positone). During 2019, Steve appeared on Chick Corea’s Grammy Winning Spanish Heart Band album, “Antidote” and toured Europe with the group. Davis also continues to work regularly with the collectively-led sextet One For All (feat. Eric Alexander, Jim Rotondi, David Hazeltine, John Webber & Joe Farnsworth), bassist Nat Reeves’ State Of Emergency & Blue Ridge Bands, as well as playing with John Lee’s Dizzy Gillespie All-Stars, Ron Carter and Christian McBride big bands and The Queens Jazz Orchestra. Steve’s original composition, “Optimism” appears on the McBride Big Band’s Grammy Award winning release Bringin’ It (2018). Davis performs and has recently recorded with his wife, vocalist Abena Koomson-Davis on her 2024 jazz debut “Where Is Love” (WJ3 Records) which also features his son, guitarist Tony Davis. Steve & Abena appear together on Natalie Merchant’s 2023 release, “Keep Your Courage” (Nonesuch). Steve’s latest release, Steve Davis Meets Hank Jones Vol. 1 (2023) captures never before heard sessions with the legendary pianist in one of his final recordings, and also features bassist Peter Washington. In addition to playing regularly in NYC, Steve maintains an active presence on the vibrant local CT jazz scene. A long-time educator, Steve has guided a broad range of emerging musicians at the Hartt School’s Jackie McLean Jazz Studies Division, University of Hartford, CT where he was recently honored for over 30 years of service and as ’23 Alumni Of The Year. In Fall ’22, Prof Davis left Hartt to join the Berklee College of Music Brass Dept. as Full Professor. Other prestigious educational affiliations have included the San Francisco Conservatory’s RJAM faculty, Jamey Aebersold’s Summer Jazz Workshops, Skidmore Jazz Workshop, Jazz in July at UMASS Amherst, Stanford University Jazz Workshop. www.stevedavismusic.com

Vocalist Abena Koomson-Davis is a performer, educator and wordsmith. From jazz to afrobeat to acapella choral singing, Abena’s work spans a colorful range of musical genres. Abena originated the role of Fela’s mother in the Off Broadway musical FELA! and reprised her role in the Broadway production which earned 3 Tony awards. She has performed with Stevie Wonder, Carly Simon, Angelique Kidjo, Natalie Merchant, and many other luminaries. Abena can be heard on two duets from Merchant’s most recent release, Keep Your Courage, and recently appeared with Natalie on Good Morning America. For over 15 years, Abena has been the lead vocalist of the NYC based funk rock band Van Davis. She is the musical director for the Resistance Revival Chorus, which has appeared at Carnegie Hall, The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, and with Kesha at the 60th Annual GRAMMY Awards. Chorus collaborations have included Deva Mahal, Valerie June, Rhiannon Giddens, Allison Russell, Jim James, and Nathaniel Rateliff. Abena’s song “Joy in Resistance” is featured on the chorus’s debut album, entitled “This Joy.” Abena enjoys writing about music and recently penned two articles for National Sawdust, one of New York’s premier cultural institutions. Abena’s first jazz album Where is Love (2024) on WJ3 Records features jazz trombonist Steve Davis, her husband and musical collaborator. Abena is a graduate of Sarah Lawrence College where she earned a B.A. in Liberal Arts, and Teachers College, Columbia University where she earned a Masters in Education Leadership. She currently serves as Ethics Chair of the middle school division at Ethical Culture Fieldston School, where she teaches ethics and social justice to middle & upper school students.

We’re delighted to continue this 2024 Monthly Series BAAMS PRESENTS: LIVE AT Studio 9 at the Porches’ Inn. Join us for a special evening of music, a benefit performance for BAAMS — the Berkshires’ Academy for Advanced Musical Studies — lead by Richard Boulger, trumpet and flugelhorn, Dario Boente, piano and keyboards, Tony Lewis, drums and percussion, and Alex Blake on bass, along with featured guests Abena Koomsom-Davis and Steve Davis.

North Adams native Richard Boulger, the BAAMS’ Founder and Executive Director, spent 20 years teaching and working as a recording artist in New York City where he also worked with many of New York’s underserved communities’ schools before returning home in 2020. In 2022, BAAMS established its academy building in the Heritage State Park, North Adams. Boulger was a longtime private student and protégé of Trumpet legends Freddie Hubbard and Donald Byrd, and has recorded with such luminaries as The Allman Brothers Band, Randy Brecker, John Hicks, Trombonist Steve Davis, R&B legend “Joe”, and has produced three highly-acclaimed recording projects as a leader.

Grammy and Latin-Grammy winner Argentinian born pianist and composer Dario Boente, is equally at home performing romantic Argentine and jazz compositions on a grand piano, as he is programming world-beat electronica. In 1999, Dario moved to New York City and has since released ten albums and compilations as a leader, featuring well-known Jazz musicians such as five-time Grammy Award winner Antonio Sanchez on drums, guitarist Ronny Jordan, Latin Grammy winner composer and pianist Fernando Otero, harmonica player Gregoire Maret, flutist Jorge Pardo, and saxophonist Miguel Zenon, among others.

For Tony Lewis, music is all about family. As a child growing up in the Bronx, New York’s Co-Op City, Tony’s early influences being around family and friends would prove to be a launching pad that led him to attend New York’s prestigious LaGuardia High School of the Arts.

While a student at LaGuardia High School of the Arts Jazz program, under the directorship of Justin DiCioccio, Tony auditioned for and won a spot with The McDonald’s Jazz Band where at the age of 16, Tony was featured and performed on “The Merv Griffin Show” with jazz titan, Dizzy Gillespie.

Shortly after attending New Jersey City University, Tony began his professional career as a drummer, recording artist, producer, and educator. Tony has toured, performed, and recorded with such music luminaries as Dizzy Gillespie, Benny Goodman, Sting, Little Richard, Sam & Dave, Cindy Lauper, The Temptations, Craig Harris, and many more.

Alex Blake’s revolutionary playing style and technique combines his unique, innovative strumming, rapid, lyrical notations and percussive slaps on his bass to create a unique and compelling sound. Some have called Blake “an entire rhythm section”. His work with Sun Ra Arkestra, Randy Weston, Freddie Hubbard, Celia Cruz, McCoy Tyner, Billy Cobham, and hundreds more, is the stuff of legend.

Studio 9 is the perfect setting for this intimate concert, a gorgeous Meyer-Labs Built performance and recording space Richard Boulger describes as “a musical instrument unto itself.” With gorgeous, pure acoustics competing only with the lovely views of the now expanded campus of the Porches’ Inn in North Adams, directly across the river from Mass MoCA, audience members are always awed by the atmosphere.

Doors open: 6:30pm.

All proceeds will help support music education at BAAMS, which provides after-school and Saturday music study, working to bring our faculty into area schools, as well as presenting our annual summer jazz-band day camp for students ages 10-18, of all experience levels. BAAMS also contributes to the region’s cultural richness in celebration of music and the arts through its various events presented year round. For more information, contact: 413-663-4424 or message to: info@berkshiresacademyams.org.