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Orbet Davis, Thinking Big
Orbet Davis, Thinking Big
Date Posted: March 14 2010
Written By: mike jeffers
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Orbert Davis: The Power of Thinking Big
By Mike Jeffers
Several decades ago when Orbert Davis began building his name as a force in Chicago jazz it is doubtful he thought he would have such an impact on the Chicago jazz scene and beyond.
Davis started his musical career in high school, where he knew he wanted to be a studio musician. He began practicing all different genres of music on his trumpet, always working toward perfection. He realized that the key to being a working studio musician was “to be able to perform anything that was placed in front of me perfectly and in any style.” Even at a young age, Davis was focused on a single goal and knew what it took to achieve it.
Throughout high school he worked at his instrument, performing in different bands throughout the Chicago area. It was at that time that he met his friend and now-business partner, Mark Ingram. Ingram, retired as a trombone player, played in different groups with Davis during and after high school; together they would eventually create one of the most innovative music organizations in the jazz industry.
Davis soon got a start in the studio business. He was known as a jazz musician by night, but during the day he began ghostwriting for various recording sessions in Chicago. Often the music was for commercial jingles or “non-jazz” sessions, where Davis would compose and arrange pieces for orchestras, string quartets and other bands.
Around this time Davis and Ingram started a show band that would perform at weddings, corporate parties and private events. The band was atypical, allowing clients to request only two songs during their gigs.
The rest of the performance would feature whatever the band wished to play. Davis began writing arrangements for the eight-piece band that included a four-piece horn section. Stylistically, virtually nothing was off the table: from funk versions of Daddy’s Little Girl” to Hora to Country & Western songs, there was little Davis and his crew didn’t tackle, and soon, as word got around, Davis writing for larger ensembles and big bands.
Fast forward to 2004, when Davis received a call from the Jazz Institute of Chicago to discuss his upcoming performance at the 2004 Chicago Jazz Festival. They wanted him to do something “big.”
He rose to the occasion, writing and arranging a set of music for a fifty-five-piece orchestra that propelled Davis and the newly created Chicago Jazz Philharmonic to be the first Chicago-based jazz group to headline the Chicago Jazz Festival. The performance was a huge success and helped to launch the Philharmonic, but the “big” part was only just beginning.
From the start, Davis and now-business partner Ingram wanted to do more than just perform; they wanted to reach into the community and work with students to develop both music and life skills. The Chicago Jazz Philharmonic’s Jazz Alive! and Tour Group music programs were started.
From the start of the Chicago Jazz Philharmonic (CJP), the mission statement has been “to present high quality musical performances and music education programs that will bridge gaps in genre, artistry and diversity.”
The CJP created Jazz Alive!, a K-through-twelve “feeder” program that was developed to help expose children to music at the beginning levels of their formal education.
This program is designed to give students the tools needed to become well-rounded musicians, which helps supply an under-funded Chicago Public School music program with strong players by the time they get to high school. But it also teaches students to focus and give them a determination to succeed not only in music but in school as well. Thanks to the Jazz Alive! program, by the end of this school year over 140 students will have performed music after only ten weeks of instruction on instruments they have never played before.
Receiving instruction on instruments is only one part of the total music education package. Experiencing live performance is another, and the CJP Touring Groups have been created for that purpose. The CJP Touring Groups perform and educate large groups of kids, through school assemblies and clinics.
They utilize some of Chicago’s most knowledgeable and accomplished musicians to not only perform live for students, but also explain the concepts and origins of the particular style of music they are presenting. Exposing kids to different styles of music is very important in their overall education process, and the CJP has made it easy for schools to bring in many types of groups.
The CJP Touring Groups cover a wide variety of musical styles that today’s student would never have the opportunity to hear or learn about. Lesson topics include “El Siete Mares,” “Amadeus,” “Diaspora,” “It Don’t Mean A Thing If It Ain’t Got That Swing,” “Hip Hop & The DJ,” “Hand Bell Choir,” “Creative Jazz,” “The History of Gospel Music,” “African Explosion,” “Brass Works,” “Legacy” and “Tsukasa Taiko.”
The final piece of the puzzle was added this past summer with the start of the Chicago Jazz Philharmonic/UIC Jazz Academy. Having an intensive summer jazz camp in the heart of the city specifically geared towards students in underserved communities and run by world-class musicians is something that never seemed possible until Davis, Ingram and the CJP got it started.
The CJP/UIC Jazz Academy is being held this year July19-23 and 26-30 on the campus of UIC. As a way of investing back into the community, UIC sponsors the Jazz Academy, which gives students an opportunity to enhance their jazz education with an intensive week of music instruction and performance. However, there is more than just music being taught at the Jazz Academy. Students become a part of the UIC student life.
They are issued college IDs, eat in the UIC student center, have jam sessions with college students, are given a tour of the campus and they learn what it means to be a college student. “The camp provides students with a sense of what it feels like to be a college student,” claims Davis, who is also on staff at UIC. Beyond music, the camp teaches goal setting, time management and teamwork. “For some of the students, attending college is something no one in their family has ever done before. The camp offers them a chance to feel what it is like to attend college and what it takes to succeed,” offers Davis. Jazz Alive! students have first-option to attend the camps, with remaining spots filled on a first-come-first-served basis. Just added, is a once-a-month Saturday jazz camp for high school students that will be held year round at UIC.
The Chicago Jazz Philharmonic, founded by Orbert Davis and Maerk Ingram, is now in its sixth year and continues to touch students through music performance and education. In 2004, when the Chicago Jazz Festival asked Orbert to think “big” for his performance, nobody could have imagined how big he was actually thinking.
For information on the Jazz Academy and monthly jazz camps, visit jazzacademy.aa.uic.edu; for information on the CJP, visit chicagojazzphilharmonic.org.
nCJM
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