Pianist Xavier Davis, drummer Quincy Davis and bassist Matt Brewer to take the St. Cecilia Music Center stage for a rare homecoming concert with their proud fathers.
Grand Rapids’ Duane Davis, pictured here on a stage in France last year, will join his sons and the Brewers at St. Cecilia Music Center this week.
Grand Rapids jazz becomes all relative Thursday when two musical families take the stage at St. Cecilia Music Center.
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Trombonist Paul Brewer, Aquinas College’s director of instrumental music, and vocalist Duane Davis, retired director of vocal music at Grand Rapids Community College, will join their sons at Royce Auditorium for “Homecoming – A Family Reunion.”
The three sons, all Interlochen Arts Academy graduates who have gone on to forge strong musical careers of their own, are double bassist Matt Brewer, drummer Quincy Davis and pianist Xavier Davis.
The audience also will hear from the two dads, who say they look forward to Thursday’s family-filled performance.
“What can the audience expect from Thursday night’s concert? Honesty and joy,” said Duane Davis, a busy teacher who also has been part of the Opera Grand Rapids Chorus and the Gold Company at Western Michigan University.
Xavier Davis
Paul Brewer’s son, Matt, is an award-winning and in-demand musician based in Brooklyn, N.Y. His resume includes third place in the 2009 Thelonious Monk International Jazz Bass Competition.
“Performing with my son, Matt, is always a joy, not only because of the musical level that Matt brings to our performance times together, but also because of the father-son history I have with him from his first day on this planet,” said Paul Brewer, who plays trombone and is director of the Aquinas College Jazz bands.
Brewer said his son, now 30, was just 11 the first time they performed together. Matt Brewer grew up in Oklahoma City, Okla., Interlochen, Mich., and Albuquerque, N.M.
Paul Brewer
“In the 20 years that have transpired since he began his bass studies I have been there with Matt teaching him, helping him, and ultimately learning from him, which I do all the time now,” he said. ”He’s played with everybody from Gonzalo Rubalcaba to Lee Konitz. And next month he will record his debut CD as a leader on Criss Cross Records.”
Paul Brewer said that Matt’s career blossomed when saxophonist, producer, composer and educator Greg Osby brought him into his quartet, a gig that lasted for an unusual five years. “It was under Greg’s mentorship that Matt really blossomed into the great jazz musician he is today.”
Quincy Davis, “Songs in the Key of Q”
Thursday’s performance is the fruit of two families who wove music into the fabric of their lives, he added.
“Children immersed in the arts from their earliest moments of awareness frequently develop into uniquely creative individuals themselves,” Paul Brewer added.
“That is clearly the result yielded in the respective families of which Duane and I are the fathers and husbands. Our sons had everything they needed, in other words, to become the self-directed musical artists that they are today.”
Matt Brewer
The Davis sons were nurtured in a similar musical stew, taking piano lessons from their mother and performing recitals at SCMC.
Pianist and composer Xavier Davis, 41, is a graduate of Western Michigan University and teaches at The Julliard School in New York City. He was among contributors on the 2012 Grammy-winning recording for Best Large Jazz Ensemble, “The Good Feeling,” by Christian McBride Big Band. He was musical director of the Boys’ Choir of Harlem, and has performed with Stefon Harris and Regina Carter. He also composes music for television. But for most of his youth, Xavier played trombone, Duane Davis said.
“Xavier started piano pre-kindergarten. However, he started playing the trombone in the third grade,” said Duane Davis, noting that trombone was Xavier’s instrument in the Grand Rapids Youth Symphony and at Interlochen. “At the same time, he was refining his skills on the piano.”
Duane Davis (Photo/Nich Mueller)
Drummer Quincy Davis, 35, is assistant professor of jazz set-drum at the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg, Canada. Also a graduate of Western Michigan University, he taught instrumental music for a year in Grand Rapids Public Schools, before heading to New York City and taking his musical chops on the road. He has played with Wynton Marsalis, Regina Carter, Benny Green, Cyrus Chestnut and has toured the U.S. and in Europe. Last year marked his debut CD, “Songs in the Key of Q.”
“If you ask my wife, Quincy was playing rhythms while he was still in the womb,” Duane Davis quipped. “Although Quincy has played tuba and trumpet in his school band, drums has always been his thing.”
Duane Davis said he has been so busy with teaching, directing and writing that his opportunities to sing have been limited. But he is looking forward to being on stage Thursday.
“I am gladly joining Xavier, Quincy, Matt and Paul on a few selections. I love the Great American Songbook. They give me a lot of latitude for crooning,” he said. “What is special about this performance will be having the two families, who have never performed together, make beautiful music.”
Get tickets and information about the jazz series at the St. Cecilia website.
— Elizabeth Slowik and John Sinkevics for Local Spins
Email John Sinkevics at jsinkevics@gmail.com.
Copyright 2014, Spins on Music
