065: Dennis Davis (David Bowie, Roy Ayers, Stevie Wonder, George Benson)

The Trap Set with Joe Wong

Joe Wong

Joewong, Drums, Comedy, Performing Arts, Arts, Drummers

4.8 • 709 Ratings

🗓️ 8 April 2016

⏱️ 49 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

A native of New York, Dennis Davis was immersed in jazz at a young age, and he made his mark as the drummer for groundbreaking, popular artists such as: David Bowie, Roy Ayers, Stevie Wonder, George Benson, and Iggy Pop. He talks to Joe about his mentorship with legendary drummers Max Roach and Elvin Jones; fighting in Vietnam; crafting timeless, classic albums; constant touring; racism in Boston; raising a family; and battling the disease that ultimately claimed his life.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Hello, everybody. It's Joe. I met today's guest Dennis Davis several years ago at St. Nick's Pub in
0:06.8	Harlem. There was a weekly jam session where we'd both sit in from time to time. And although he was an
0:12.9	incredibly accomplished artist, Dennis was an extremely humble, generous, and kind man. I heard from his family that...
0:21.6	I just heard from his family that Dennis died of cancer on Thursday,
0:28.2	and his nephew asked that we released this episode,
0:30.9	so we cut it together right away.
0:32.9	But before I play my conversation with Dennis,
0:35.2	I want to share something with you.
0:37.4	Yesterday, I spoke with one of Dennis' longtime collaborators, the great Roy Ayers, and
0:43.3	he had some words to share about his friend.
0:46.3	Dennis was a showman, an excellent drummer, always entertaining, very popular. He worked with everybody during the time that he was with me. He was also working with George Benson, Stevie Wonder, David Bowie and many others.
1:11.9	He was very, very, very good.
1:15.9	I love Dennis Davis.
1:19.4	I'll never forget my drummer,
1:24.3	one of the best of the best,
1:33.3	Dennis Davis. you this is Joe Wong.
1:46.0	Welcome to the Trap Set, where each week we explore the lives of drummers.
1:50.0	I want to play something for you. You're hearing up up the hill backwards by David Bowie, featuring my guest Dennis Davis on drums.
2:22.1	As a child of New York, Dennis was immersed in the world of jazz at an early age.
2:27.1	But he would ultimately make his mark creating revolutionary popular music with artists such as David Bowie,
2:33.5	Stevie Wonder, Roy Ayers, George Benson,
2:37.0	and Iggy Pop.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Joe Wong, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Joe Wong and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.