Named one of the Iconic Female Jazz Drummers on Jazz Fuel in 2022, Billie Davies, an American female jazz drummer and composer, is best known for her free improvisation, avant-garde and avant-garde jazz music since the mid-1990s, and her improvisational drumming techniques she has performed in Europe and in the United States.
Billie Davies is a well-known jazz performer who is a compelling presence in the world of avant-garde jazz. Davies's technique pushes the limits of traditional jazz, and her adventurous exploration of new sound landscapes astounds her audience. She draws inspiration from a rich musical history and imbues her works with an intense feeling of improvisation and raw energy.
Compelling harmonies, adventurous rhythms, and complex melodies combine to create Davies' music. Her innovative take on jazz encourages listeners to embrace the unexpected and explore unknown musical horizons. She easily crafts a dynamic and ever-evolving atmosphere that enthralls the senses with her mastery of the drums.
She explores emotions through her music, taking the listener on an exciting and unpredictable trip. All who experience Davies' music are left with a lasting impression as a result of her expressive and emotive playing style, which elicits a variety of emotions from enthusiasm to introspection.
Billie Davies is a great visionary in the world of avant-garde jazz, constantly pushing the limits of what is conceivable in the style. There have been many outstanding jazz performers from the United States, but Billie Davies' contribution to the avant-garde jazz world is genuinely extraordinary.
At a crossroads in her musical career, in 1984, while living and performing in the South of France (Montpellier, Toulouse, Biarritz, La Rochelle), Billie ended up receiving a grant from Max Roach to come study at Berklee College of Music, this was after he heard one of her tapes she laid down with a bass player in Montpellier, France. Billie was however having too much fun in the south of France, living the life of a gypsy jazz musician and therefore decided not to take the offer. In the words of Max Roach: "Hearing from your tape, you could learn more fundamental drumming techniques, but I also hear the natural drummer, so my advice is for you not to worry too much about your technical skill, you will develop your own, I can definitely hear that, but just in case that you might want to study in a good program, please accept my invitation in the form of a talent grant to come study at the Berklee College of Music, all you need to worry about is finding a place to live and some money to survive".
In Dec 2013 Billie Davies received the "Jazz Artist of the Year" Award by the 23rd Annual Los Angeles Music Awards.
She received more attention due to a player feature in Downbeat Magazine May 2016, "BILLIE DAVIES '20 Years Stronger'" that was written after her release of "Hand In Hand In The Hand Of The Moon" in October of 2015.
"On Hollywood Boulevard", her CD released in 12/10/2016 became a January 2017 Editor's Pick on DownBeat.com.
December 2017 Billie Davies was nominated for "Best Contemporary Jazz Artist" in New Orleans by 2017 Best Of The Beat Awards.
December 2019 Billie Davies was nominated "Best Drummer" in New Orleans by 2019 Best Of The Beat Awards.
In 2022 Billie Davies was named an Iconic Female Drummer amongst women in jazz in a Jazz Fuel article written by Isabel Marquez: She was mentioned amongst a small group of female jazz drummers in time amongst whom are other contemporary female drummers from the US, Terri Lyne Carrington, Cindy Blackman Santana and Allison Miller.
"I want to play as if I never played my instrument before, as if every time is the first time and I want to end up with music that is not written down but is felt and expressed at that moment of playing, of recording, of performing. This deliberate moment of choices, chances and inspirations may become a specific type of music, but it never ends up being predetermined or planned music, the notes played are never written down. I just want to end up with something where I hear unexpected, emotional, passionate, challenging music never heard before." Billie Davies.
"Billie Davies' work reminds you of many different things but in the end, it is its own original beast, as powerful as anything more well-known musicians have created..." (Jerome Wilson - All About Jazz).
Discography:
2004: Cobra Basemento
2005: Dreams
2012: all about Love.
2013: 12 VOLT
2015: Hand In Hand In The Hand Of The Moon
2016: On Hollywood Boulevard
2018: Perspectives
2020: Whadeva Live
2024: Hollywood Boulevard (Live at The Mint in New Orleans)
2024: Thinking Of Marie Laveau
2025: Retrospectives (In The Key Of Jazz)
2025: 2455 (Music For The Future)
2026: Time to Cut Loose
“Billie Davies is an accomplished free-jazz drummer. There is a vitality and fluidity in the way that she plays the drum kit and this is what I mean by the idea that her stories explain her drumming; she speaks through the drums to the other players, asking questions of them and replying with the fusion of styles that she has built up over her travels” —Chris Baber, Jazz Views (Jun 30, 2016)
"A good way to gauge Davies’ drumming in isolation is through the solo drum performance “prelude. Hand In Hand In The Hand Of The Moon.” She demonstrates a mastery of drums that goes well beyond technique; she is able to tell a story with it." - S. Victor Aaron, Something Else!
