Kevin Davy

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Kevin Davy (born 29th October 1961) is a British-Jamaican jazz trumpeter, based in London. Born in Nottingham, UK where he lived until 1986, whereupon gaining a place to study at Manchester Polytechnic, decided to move to the city. Davy started playing at the age of 14 and quickly progressed to lead trumpet in the 2nd Nottingham Boy's Brigade Band, which later became the British champion drum corps band, The Red Devils, under the directorship of J. W. Garton. Throughout the eighties Davy spent time gaining musical experience in brass bands such as the Carlton Silver (Nottingham), also jazz/swing bigbands in the region, studying trumpet under Gerald Douglas, and Sarah Theobald. He also gained considerable experience as a bass in choral music, in the church and also in the clarendon college choir. By 1990 Davy gained a DipHE (Diploma of Higher Education), and a BA in General Arts (Humanities) from Manchester Polytechnic, a period during which he was to attend the weekly jazz improvisation workshops of Colin Stansfield in the adjacent All Saints College (the site of the first African National Congress), and now subsumed into the newly acquired premises of Manchester Metropolitan University, formerly the Polytechnic). Davy considers Colin Stansfield a friend, mentor and something of a free-jazz musical visionary. This was to set the theoretical and spiritual approach for Davy to compose music, step out of the sidemanship role, lead several band lineups in manchester, and also conduct several open jam sessions inviting participants of all levels. These lasted for more than eight years in the city, and were widely publicised on radio and the local press. Davy first met Andy Barlow and Lou Rhodes of Lamb, both attending the Kevin Davy's Monster Jam, at Band on the Wall during the 1995/96 season. Davy had already moved to London to take up trumpet chair at the Donmar Warehouse' production of the Kirt Weil/ Bertoldt Brecht ThreePenny Opera in 1994, and was well placed to work in the emerging drum 'n' bass and especially trip hop genres with its experimentation and allusions to impressionistic music and jazz. He worked with Lamb from 1996-2000, playing on Lamb's first two albums, and touring extensively, during which time he worked with producers Adam F, and Sugizo.

Since this period Davy, has continued to develop his own writing and producing, in his own group KDQ (Kevin Davy Quintet). He has worked with jazz musicians, such as Sangoma Everett (US-based in France), Doudou Gouirand (France), Paul Shigihara (Japanese-German), Pibo Marquez (Venezuela), Roman Rahout (Poland), and Kresmir Debski (Poland), and Claude Deppa (South Africa), and has worked as part of Crass Agenda. Davy continues to collaborate musically with innovative contemporary musicians in the jazz and improv. genres.