Danny Davis (country musician)

Danny Davis (May 29, 1925 – June 12, 2008) was an American country music band leader, trumpet player, vocalist and producer, best known as the founder and leader of the Nashville Brass.

Danny Davis was born as George Joseph Nowlan into a large Irish-Catholic family in Dorchester, Massachusetts, United States, (one of his brothers became a priest who at one time was assigned to the Vatican).

When he became a professional musician, he changed his name to Danny Davis because MGM executive Harry Meseron told him that "he looked like a Danny."

He took the last name Davis because it was a common name in the South.

Davis's father died when he was five years old.

His mother supported the family by giving music lessons (piano and voice) in the family home.

Davis began playing trumpet at an early age under the guidance of a man named Joseph Donovan.

By age 14 he was trumpet soloist with the Massachusetts All-State Symphony Orchestra and was granted admittance to the New England Conservatory of Music.

In 1940, he decided to leave the conservatory after only six weeks, when he was offered a job as a trumpeter with the band of the drummer, Gene Krupa.

During the remainder of the 1940s and into the 1950s, Davis continued working as a trumpeter/vocalist in several big bands, including those of Bobby Byrne, Sammy Kaye, Art Mooney (he played First Trumpet on Mooney's "I'm Looking Over a Four Leaf Clover"), Vincent Lopez and Freddy Martin.

In Martin's band, in addition to his duties on trumpet, Davis sang as one of the "Martin Men" and roomed on the road with the band's male vocalist, Merv Griffin.

During the early 1950s, Davis found some moderate success as a vocalist, releasing several singles including "Object of My Affection" and "Crazy Heart."

The late 1950s was a transitional period in Davis' career.

He found himself in New York City working as a producer for the MGM label.

He also made an important contact in Nashville with Fred Rose.

Davis cut pop demos of country songs for Rose.

His demo of "Cold, Cold Heart" led to the pop recording by Tony Bennett.

In the early 1960s, Davis assembled a session group called Danny Davis & the Titans around guitarist Billy Mure.

In the early 1960s, Davis began taking Francis to Nashville where he recorded pop versions of country songs with her.

It was during this time that his idea to record country songs with brass instruments was born.

Also during his time at MGM Davis was responsible for bringing Herman's Hermits (featuring Peter Noone) to the label.

During his stint at MGM, Davis recorded several albums with an orchestra composed of some of the best studio musicians working in New York at the time.

In the mid-1960s, Davis moved to the RCA label.

While still in New York he pitched his idea of recording country songs with a brass ensemble.

Not long after he joined RCA, Davis was approved for transfer to the Nashville office by Chet Atkins.

In Nashville, Davis was assigned to produce sessions on Waylon Jennings.

Even though it was a recording produced by Davis that earned Jennings his first Grammy Award ("MacArthur Park" with The Kimberlys), the two men did not have a good working relationship.

It is reported that on one occasion Jennings pulled a gun on Davis during a recording session, but Davis denies the incident ever took place.

Davis also worked with other RCA artists including Dottie West, Floyd Cramer and Hank Locklin.

One evening Davis was in the presence of his employer, Chet Atkins, and Davis told Atkins of his idea of recording country songs with brass instruments.

Davis set out to work on a demo.

He chose Nashville arranger and fellow trumpeter, Bill McElhiney, to help create the sound of the Nashville Brass.

In 1961, the group released an instrumental album entitled, Today's Teen Beat (MGM SE 3992).

A few months later, the group followed it up with an album designed to capitalize on the "Twist" craze, with another instrumental album entitled, Let's Do the Twist for Adults (MGM SE 3997).

Most notable among these is an album entitled Brass on the Rebound. This album was recorded in 1963 and featured only one woodwind player in the orchestra.

In his career as a record producer Davis worked with a wide variety of artists, from Nina Simone to Frank Yankovic.

During his days in New York, he was also involved in early testing for broadcasting television programs in color.

Six of the Titan songs on the second album received a great deal of exposure in 1964, when MGM used them to pad-out a collection of nascent Beatles tracks on an album called, The Beatles with Tony Sheridan & Guests (MGM SE 4215).

While at MGM Davis was assigned to produce one of the label's most successful artists, Connie Francis.

This collaboration lead to several number 1 hits for Francis.