TONY DAVIS WRITES A LOVE LETTER TO HARTFORD WITH “JESSAMINE”
CAFETERIA SPENDS AN EVENING WITH TONY DAVIS & FRIENDS AT REAL ART WAYS.
It’s impossible to talk about Hartford without mentioning jazz. The genre is almost symbolic of the city itself, a truth Tony Davis knows all too well.
The Hartford-born, internationally renowned guitarist was born with jazz in his veins, inheriting his love of music from his parents, pianist Mary DiPaola and trombonist Steve Davis. While Davis has been lucky to grace stages across the globe, his upcoming album Jessamine is more than just a homecoming, but a pilgrimage as it marks an almost religious devotion to the city Davis calls home. Jessamine is a love letter to Hartford, delivering audible keepsakes that evoke the city’s unique energy and the nostalgia of growing up in a place so special.
To hear Tony Davis & Friends play is to witness an outpouring of pride and love for Hartford. Real Art Ways was a more than fitting setting for the preview concert as the institution has long been devoted to amplifying and supporting the arts and culture in our capital city.
Set in the midst of Adam Viens’ solo exhibition, After Progress, a series of pulsing chaotic pieces comprised of improvisational paint strokes on cloth, Tony Davis, Matt Dwonszyk, Jonathan Barber and Chris McCarthy quickly met and surpassed the neighboring artworks’ energy, filling the room with an electric and soul-tickling cacophony of sounds. As Davis and the band slipped into a state of flow, so did the audience, demonstrating jazz’s unique ability to match the primal heartbeat of humanity and evoke emotions that can only be articulated by rhythm and blues.
Continue scrolling to hear Tony’s thoughts on his upcoming album Jessamine and Hartford’s relationship with jazz.
What is your creative process for creating new music that simultaneously capture the feeling of nostalgia and your childhood in Hartford?
TD: The idea of this album is that each song resembles a keepsake, whether it’s a memory of someone who’s inspired me, a place I’ve visited or just a particularly transformative experience. The name of the album is Jessamine, which is the street I grew up on and I’m placing these keepsakes back home where all of the musical seeds were planted early on. I’m finding newness in these childhood memories by looking at it through the lens of everything I’ve lived and learned since then. It’s very much a revisiting of these sounds, memories and feelings that are so influential to me, but have been almost dormant in many ways. Revisiting those memories through music has been therapeutic because a lot of the creative process is getting in touch with my inner child and following that as purely as I could and seeing what sounds come out.
If you consider jazz a form of pure and honest expression, does physically being in hartford change your creative process or the way you play?
TD: Definitely. Music is a reflection of everything I’m feeling and living, so physically being here definitely comes out through the music, ideally in an honest way. Hartford has such a rich tradition of jazz and art and as I’ve entered the “real world” and traveled, I’ve become more and more proud of where I’m from. I’m really proud of my roots and how much it’s served me. I’m proud of my friends and family that come from here. Three of the four members of the band are also from Hartford, so it’s very much a celebration of the city’s deep jazz legacy.
Would you say that jazz as a genre and form of expression is symbolic for Hartford as whole?
TD: Absolutely. Firstly, you can’t say jazz and Hartford in the same sentence without referencing Jackie McClain, who cultivated the scene and legacy here. He moved here from Harlem and because of his contributions like the Jackie McClain Institute of Jazz and the Artist Collective, countless, truly influential jazz artists have come from Hartford. There’s this energy that comes from Hartford that is very special. We hold onto that as artists and it’s very much a big part of the culture.
Jessamine is very much a Hartford, home grown album, but how does jessamine share the sounds of Hartford and convey its history, especially to non-locals?
TD: Naturally, there’s a blending of influences in the music. It’s definitely paying homage to Hartford in many ways, but I’ve also lived in New York for eight years and traveled the world, which has undoubtedly changed me. The idea of this album is blending the two, so you’re getting a taste of definitely more than just Hartford, but it conveys Hartford’s spirit at its core. My hope would be that as someone listens to it, they’ll hear what Hartford is capable of.