Benjamin Lazar Davis
{{short description|American multi-instrumentalist}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=December 2020}}
{{Infobox musical artist
| name = Benjamin Lazar Davis
| birth_name =
| birth_place = New York
| birth_date = {{birth year and age|1986}} (abt)
| instrument = {{hlist|Vocals|guitar|piano|percussion}}
| genre = {{hlist|Pop music|indie music|bluegrass}}
| occupation = {{hlist|Musician|songwriter|vocal music|producer}}
| years_active = 2005–present
| label = {{hlist|Signature Sounds Recordings|ATO Records|Northern Spy Records|Reveal Records}}
| current_member_of = {{hlist|Cuddle Magic|Okkervil River}}
| website = {{URL|benjaminlazardavis.com}}
| image = Benjamin Lazar Davis 2017.png
| landscape = yes
| caption = Davis performing with Bridget Kearney in 2017
}}
Benjamin Lazar Davis is an American multi-instrumentalist, singer-songwriter, arranger, composer, and record producer. He is a member of several bands, including Okkervil River and Cuddle Magic.{{cite web|url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jon-chattman/a-sides-with-jon-chattman_b_12010454.html|title=A-Sides with Jon Chattman: Joan As Police Woman & Benjamin Lazar Davis Team Up for "Let It Be You" |first1=Jon|last1=Chattman|date=September 14, 2016|work=Huffington Post|access-date=July 7, 2020}} Davis attended New England Conservatory of Music.{{Cite web|url=http://www.signaturesounds.com/bridget-kearney-benjamin-lazar-davis|title=BRIDGET KEARNEY & BENJAMIN LAZAR DAVIS|website=Signaturesounds.com|access-date=July 7, 2020}}
Early life
Davis's father Peter started being a musician at the age of five.{{Cite web |url=http://www.saratogaliving.com/departments/peter-davis-beverly-lazar-davis |title=Peter Davis and Beverly Lazar Davis - Saratoga Living |access-date=February 13, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170214103158/http://www.saratogaliving.com/departments/peter-davis-beverly-lazar-davis |archive-date=February 14, 2017 |url-status=dead }} Peter toured nationally and internationally with several groups, including a brief time with the Mamas and Papas. Like his son, Peter can play a variety of instruments ranging from banjo to clarinet to trombone. Davis's interest in Africa came through his father who spent three years in Malawi as a school music director.{{Cite web|url=http://annieandthehedonists.com/about-the-band/peter-davis/|title=Annie and the Hedonists : Peter Davis|website=Annieandthehedonists.com|access-date=July 7, 2020}}
Davis has a brother and two sisters. He collaborates with his brother Tim on songs.
Bands and collaborations
In 2006 while students at The New England Conservatory of Music Davis, Alec Spiegelman, Christopher McDonald, Kristin Slipp, Cole Kamen-Green, and David Flaherty founded Cuddle Magic in 2006.{{Cite web|url=http://www.howlinwuelf.com/html/cuddlemagic.html|title=Howlin Wuelf Media :: Cuddle Magic ::|website=Howlinwuelf.com|access-date=July 7, 2020}} The band is known for collaborations with many artists including Fred Frith, Ran Blake, the David Wax Museum, Larkin Grimm, Mike & Ruthy (formerly of the Mammals), Phyllis Chen, Joy Kills Sorrow. Individuals from Cuddle Magic have also performed with Bridget Kearney, Railbird, Sister Sparrow and the Dirty Birds, Baby States, Ronald Reagan, Bird Fly Yellow, Margaret Glaspy, The People's Champs, Girls Guns and Glory, Lake Street Dive, Petal Shield, Split Red, Yapp! and The Superpowers Horns.{{Cite web |url=http://www.kennedy-center.org/Artist/B96686 |title=Cuddle Magic |access-date=February 13, 2017 |archive-date=February 14, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170214101654/http://www.kennedy-center.org/Artist/B96686 |url-status=dead }}
Davis went to West Africa in 2009 and 2014 to study music. "The first time I went ...., I was studying awa drumming, which is like drum ensemble music for a bunch of different instruments."{{Cite web|url=http://clocktower.org/show/high-medium-low-tech|title=Clocktower – Radio|website=Clocktower.org|access-date=July 7, 2020}} Davis is referring to a music tradition involving the djembe and dunun style of drums. In his first visit he heard of northern Ghanaian tradition of music called Bawa. In 2014 Davis traveled to Ghana with Bridget Kearney of Lake Street Dive and a former member of Cuddle Magic. They spent just over two weeks in the capital Accra, studying the traditional music of Northwest Ghana with master gyil player Aaron Bebe. They subsequently co-released an EP, BAWA, incorporating gyil music as source material.{{cite web|url=https://www.npr.org/2015/09/10/438845103/songs-we-love-bridget-kearney-ben-davis-slow-rider|title=Songs We Love: Bridget Kearney & Ben Davis, 'Slow Rider'|publisher=National Public Radio|date= September 10, 2015}} After leaving Ghana, Davis came down with typhoid and was very sick.
When Davis and Joan Wasser (Joan As Police Woman) met in 2013, they found they both had an interest in Central African Republic Pygmy music.{{Cite web|url=https://www.interviewmagazine.com/fashion/printed-matter|title=Printed Matter|website=Interviewmagazine.com|date=November 14, 2013|access-date=July 7, 2020}} Davis co-wrote, recorded, co-produced and toured for the album Let It Be You{{Cite web|url=https://revealrecords.co.uk/artists/joan-as-police-woman/|title=Joan As Police Woman|website=Revealrecords.co.uk|access-date=July 7, 2020}} (Reveal Records 2016) with Wasser.{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2016/oct/20/joan-as-policewoman-benjamin-lazar-davis-let-it-be-you-review|title=Joan As Policewoman & Benjamin Lazar Davis: Let It Be You review – alt-pop experiment goes off script|first=Hannah J.|last=Davies|date=October 20, 2016|newspaper=The Guardian|access-date=July 7, 2020}}
Discography
= With Cuddle Magic =
- Cuddle Magic (2008)
- Picture (2010)
- Info Nympho (2012, FYO Records)
- Cuddle Magic & Phyllis Chen (2014), with Phyllis Chen
- Ashes/Axis (2017, Northern Spy Records)
- Bath (2020, Northern Spy Records)
= With Bridget Kearney and Bbgun =
- BAWA (2015, Signature Sounds)
=With Joan As Police Woman=
- Let It Be You (2016, Reveal Records)
=With Okkervil River=
- Away (2016, ATO Records)
- In the Rainbow Rain (2018, ATO Records)
= Solo works =
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{official website|http://benjaminlazardavis.com/}}
{{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Davis, Benjamin Lazar}}
Category:Year of birth missing (living people)
Category:American male pop singers
Category:American record producers
Category:American multi-instrumentalists
Category:Okkervil River members
Category:21st-century American male singers