[REVIEW] The J. Davis Trio: "Vintage EP" 8/10

 RATING: 8/10 CHET BAKERS

It seems to be very cliche and pretentious to say that music "takes you to another place".  It seems very easy for people reviewing music to throw that little bon mot out there.  Such and such album "transported me to another place", but there are musical ventures out there that do just that.

I often peruse the Amazon MP3 store for new music to check out.  I don't listen to a lot of new music because I just don't like a lot of what's out today whether it's hip hop and R&B, or Rock or whatever.

That said I've found some really good music on Amazon's site that I would never normally come across, and one of those is the J. Davis Trio.  The Jazz/Hip Hop group out of Chicago Illinois was not a group I had heard of, however I enjoyed the snippets on the product page for their new EP "Vintage", and so I figured I'd take a chance on it.

And when I say that this "takes me to another place" it's I think the vibe of the project.  It's the vibe of the group itself.  This feeling you get listening to it that has an old school feel to it while still having it's feet firmly in the modern era.

MORE AFTER THE BREAK

I could imagine this group fitting in perfectly in the era of the old school jazz clubs such as The Sunset Cafe which was notable for it's embrace of multi-racial patrons.  At the time, during the prohibition eras, most clubs were either viewed as "whites only" or "Blacks only".  And if you went into one of them and you were not of that race, then there could be problems.

 

This was an establishment which was integrated, and jazz fans of all races could enjoy the music.   The Sunset Cafe was home to some of the legends in Jazz music such as Louis Armstrong (his manager owned the club), Cab Calloway, and Benny Goodman to name but a few.

And listening to the J. Davis Trio jam, I imagined one of those "Alternate timelines" like you see in the Fox series "Fringe" or the old sci-fi series "Sliders" where you could walk into an establishment like The Sunset Club in the 20's and see the J. Davis Trio playing on stage, with Julio Davis laying down the smooth rhymes.  

Equal parts Buckshot Lefonque, Digable Planets and A Tribe Called Quest, with a heaping helping of their own originality creates a very intriguing and enthusiastic musical endeavor.  Think a jazz version of The Roots, and you start to get a picture of who these guys are.

Starting out as an actual Trio, with Julio Davis (Vocals), Dave Smith (Bass) and Tone Aimone (Drums) they eventually expanded, realizing that they'd need more members to really get into some live jams.  They would go on to expand to as many as 10 players on stage at any given performance.

Clocking in at 4 tracks and about 17 minutes, it's not something that's going to take up much time out of your day, however I think it is something that will clue you in to their sound and leave an impression on you that will clearly let you know whether you want to hear more or not.

With only four tracks there's not really a point in posting "highlights" or "songs to check out" as they're all strong tracks and all are worth your attention.  Definitely check this out right now on Amazon.com or Itunes.

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