616 – Quincy Davis: Creating Originality

Stepping into someone like Ed Soph’s shoes to take over his famed drumset department at UNT is no small task, but few are better equipped for it than Quincy Davis. The son of music performers and educators and a house full of musicians, Quincy learned early on what it takes to hone your craft.

The Michigan native took his talents to NYC in 2000 and quickly became a sought after sideman, working with artists like Frank Wess, Ernestine Anderson, Cecil McLorin-Salvant, Russell Malone, Eric Reed, Paquito D’Rivera, Kurt Elling, Christian McBride. From there he went on to head up the drum program at UNT and release records as bandleader starting in 2013.

Not one to mince words, Quincy is an advocate for learning everything you can about your heroes and using it develop your own sound on the instrument, but is fiercely against copying for the sake of copying. Originality is the North Star for Davis, evident is his work as both a sideman and as a bandleader on his two records, Songs in the Key of Q and Q Vision.

Quincy Davis talks about:

• How growing up in a musical family has made him a better drummer
• The biggest problems he sees in young drummers today
• How to study the style of a drummer you admire
• The importance of listening to and playing jazz
• How the ways we consume music has changed

Resources/Links mentioned:

• Oceans of Time – Billy Hart album
• Amethyst – Billy Hart album
• Labyrinth – Tom Harrell album
• All Our Reasons – Billy Hart album
• Shirley Horn – Sunday in New York
• Web – The Roots
• Contact Quincy: Website | Instagram | YouTube