| All That Jass - Eddy Davis, Woody Allen and New Orleans Jazz |
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Page 1 of 2 Woody Allen & Eddy Davis New Orleans Jazz Band  Eddy Davis and Woody Allen perform weekly at the Carlyle Hotel  Davis in younger days  Davis, Allen and the whole band But on Wednesday nights the band used to put together another show at the now closed Cajun (129 8th Ave), this time without Woody. Cost of admission: a modestly priced Cajun meal. At the Cajun, on every night of the week, some of New York’s best jazz musicians gathered to perform. There was a very laid back ambience, almost that of family and friends who gather for dinner. Everyone seems to know each other. At least the regulars do. You can spot them easily since they always sit at the front. The walls at the Cajun were decorated with posters of jazz greats such Billie Holiday and Duke Ellington. The Cajun seemed like one of those old Dixieland or classic jazz spots that time had left untouched. The music was great and the food was quite decent too. The Cajun was the flavor of a by-gone era. Eddy Davis, nicknamed the “Manhattan Minstrel,” is the leader of the band and a remarkable jazz musician who is as much part of jazz history as many of his musical heroes may be. He has performed throughout the world in places including Paris’ Olympiaf Theatre, London’s Royal Festival and New York’s own Carnegie Hall. He performed with the likes of George Segal, the Dukes of Dixieland, Tom Waits and Benny Goodman. As an illustration of his dedication to jazz, he recently resurrected the old New York Jazz label as part of his efforts to keep ‘old’ jazz alive. Some musicians signed to his label include Cynthia Sayer, John Williams Jr., Bucky Pizzarelli and of course, Woody Allen. His band consists of talented newcomers and old jazz souls alike, all truly wonderful musicians. At the Cajun the band consists of: Eddy Davis, Tenor, Banjo/Vocals Conal Fowkes, Piano/Vocals Scott Robinson, C-Melody, Saxophone Orange Kellin, Clarinet Debbie Kennedy, Bass. At Cafe Carlyle the band is: Eddy Davis, Tenor Banjo/Vocals/Musical Director Woody Allen, Clarinet Jerry Zigmont, Trombone Simon Wettenhall, Trumpet John Gill, Drums Cynthia Sayer, Piano Conal Fowkes, Bass/Vocals I caught up with Eddy Davis during one of his performances at the Cajun after being enthralled at the Carlyle. Q: So, you know, a banjo is not usually the kind of instrument that most musicians just pick straight out, and I know you’ve tried your hand at other instruments you’ve learned. ED: Well, I’ve played a zillion instruments. Q: How did you come to play the banjo? ED: Um, I’m from the Midwest. I’m actually from just outside a little town called Lafayette, Indiana. And there’s a song back home in Indiana that talks about the Banks of the Wabash and that’s actually where I was born. And I just grew up milking cows and all that crazy stuff years and years ago. When I got into junior high school, they brought around musical instruments, and I noticed all the young girls liking the guys beating on the drums so I went over and beat on the drum for a while. And after about six months or so of playing drums I said, well, there must be more to music than just this. So I kind of went through all the different instruments that were in the music library at school. So I, for a while, played basses and tubas, and trombones, and clarinets and saxophones and trumpets – everything, and kind of decided that along the way somewhere that I like music a lot and that I was going to be a – sort of an arranger/writer/composer. So I really took up woodwinds – saxophones, clarinets, that kind of stuff. Well, I was never very good at those kinds of things to be honest. So along the way just before I started to go to music school, there was a college band – there was a Dixieland band at Purdue University, which is in the town of Lafayette where I’m from. So I went to Purdue for a year after I got out of high school and played with that band and I just decided I wanted to play that kind of music with that band. And the only thing that was really available was a banjo. And I said, ‘Well, what’s a banjo?’ And found out what that was and went down and bought a banjo and started playing it. And always liked it. I heard other banjo players and didn’t particularly like them, but I liked the instrument a lot. Q: How did Woody Allen enter the picture? ED: It was about 1963 and that was when Woody Allen was doing stand-up comedy. He had been a writer for television and there was a transition in between where he was trying to do comedy and then after that he went into films. So, during that time he was coming around the country and about a block down the street in the strip was a nightclub called Mr. Kelly’s. And it was, at that time, probably the most famous nightclub in the world – in Chicago. And he used to come in there quite often. He’d come in there every couple of months. Barbara Streisand would come in there too. All different kind of people like that would come in. And whenever he would come in – he would come down and play with the band I had. So I’ve had a relationship with Woody ever since about 1963 - when he used to come through Chicago. Q: Did he actually come up and say ‘I want to play with you?’… ED: Well, he didn’t. That’s a very good question. Q: I wouldn’t ask it if it wasn’t. Just kidding. ED: Actually what happened was… he had an agent out and he came down first and said would you mind if Woody came and sat in with the band. And I said ‘of course not’. And he said: “He wants to keep a low profile. You shouldn’t mention his name and if anybody recognizes him that’s okay.” Q: And that’s how it happened. ED: Yes, he would come down and he would just play a couple of tunes every time he would come down the street. And that’s how I first met him. He used to go to the West Coast and sit in with another band out there. Just wherever he went he always had his clarinet with him. Q: So, in terms of the Carlyle, do you think that people that come to it come to see Woody and then they stay for the music? ED: You’ve got good questions. Q: Okay. [Laughs] ED: We all know they come here for Woody. When we used to play other places...We used to play at Michael’s Pub originally and we played for a while at the Parker Meridien Hotel in between going to the Carlyle. We played those places that were larger places, where you could get more people in. And those places would cater to his following - which is really Europeans and Japanese and South Americans. And you would see just tons of those kind of people show up. A lot of young people and all those kind of people would show up because the price was much lower. Q: Oh yes, the price. ED: It was only $25 and $35. Well, then we went to the Carlyle. And when we went to the Carlyle the audience changed. |
