Ken Davies Biography

Long Bio

A Wisconsin native, Ken Davies studied trombone and composition at the University of Wisconsin at Madison (B.Mus 1967) and attended graduate school at Yale. Uncomfortable with the prevailing serial composing of the era, Davies postponed efforts at serious composition to pursue the more immediate task of making a living. Following several years as a freelance trombonist and commercial arranger in New York and Boston, he accepted a position as trombonist with the 12-piece rock-fusion group Nick Russo & Gabriel's Brass based in Orlando, Florida and under contract to Walt Disney World from 1972-82. In Orlando, he was also active as a successful private brass teacher and commercial arranger. He wrote arrangements for several released recordings as well as two television Christmas specials which aired nationally in the top 40 major TV markets.

1991, he returned to school on a Graduate Teaching Assistantship at Middle Tennessee State University and completed his M.A. in trombone in 1993, studying trombone with Dr. David Loucky and composition with Dr. Thom Hutcheson. He continued composition studies at the University of Colorado at Boulder under Dr. Luis Gonzalez, Dr. Richard Toensing and Joseph Lukasik. He was awarded the Cecil Effinger Composition Fellowship in 1995 and completed his M.M. in composition in 1996. In 1998, he composed God, The Artist Of Creation for SATB choir and organ on a commission from the St. Barnabas Episcopal Choir of Denver who had received a commissioning grant from the American Guild of Organists for their national convention in Denver that year. His 1999 trombone etude book, 20 Pieces in Changing Meters (published by Puna Music in New Jersey) has been endorsed by some of America's most respected trombone professors and is in use at several colleges.

Moving to Mississippi in 2002, Ken established his own ASCAP publishing firm, Kenvad Music. He has received grants from the Mississippi Arts Commission and the National Endowment for the Arts. His acoustic and electroacoustic chamber music has been performed across America at new music festivals like Southeastern Composers' League, Society of Composers national and regional conference/festivals, International Trombone Festival (2005 in New Orleans), Christian Fellowship of Art Music Composers Festival, the United States Army Band's Eastern Trombone Workshop and several concerts. His 2007 CD release on Pattisan Records of ambient electronic music, Floating Galaxy, has found additional listeners through licensing for uses in music therapy.

Along with various grants, Ken was awarded the Mississippi Arts Commission's 2006-2007 Performing Artist Fellowship in Composition, was nominated to the Southern Arts Federations' SouthernArtistry.org artist registry and has been added to the Mississippi Artist Roster. In January 2009, his Three Pieces for bass trombone and piano won the Eastern Trombone Workshop National Trombone Composition Competition and received its world premier in March.

curriculum vitae

Short Bio

A Wisconsin native, Ken Davies holds an M.A. in trombone from Middle Tennessee State University at Murfreesboro and an M.M. in composition from the University of Colorado at Boulder where he was an Effinger Fellowship composition student. During the 1970s, he was trombonist with Gabriel’s Brass, a 12-piece jazz-rock show band based in Orlando, Florida, often under contract to Walt Disney World. He has worked as a commercial arranger and session producer for nationally broadcast record and television projects. Since 2002, he has resided in south Mississippi where he teaches brass, composes, and runs his publishing company, Kenvad Music. His works include acoustic and electronic pieces that have been performed nationally at Society of Composers national and regional conferences, Southeastern Composers League, the International Trombone Festival, and several concerts. His electronic ambient CD, Floating Galaxy, is available at CD Baby and iTunes. Mp3s of his works may be heard via his website www.kendavies.net. Honors include ASCAP awards and grants from National Endowment for the Arts and Mississippi Arts Commission, including the 2006-2007 Mississippi Performing Artist Fellowship in Composition. He is listed on Southern Arts Federation's SouthernArtistry.org artist registry and on the Mississippi Artist Roster. In January 2009, his work, Three Pieces for Bass Trombone and Piano, won the Eastern Trombone Workshop National Trombone Composition Competition and received its world premier in March.