Personal

Musique

Background:  I play a few musical instruments--guitars, bass, keyboards, stuff like that.  I have a bunch of guitars I call friends, and they are a bad influence.  When I was in my early twenties, I did "road work", playing in a few bands, doing sleazy lounge lizard stuff, and playing back-up for different artists (the most well known was the late "Papa John" Philips, of the 60's group The Mamas and the Papas, who was keeping a low profile, playing small clubs at the time during the mid-seventies....although....there was a rumor going 'round that the guy was an impostor...huh? go figure).

I grew weary of road work, realized your can't make any money in the business unless your are lucky, really pretty, know somebody, or are really, really, really good (and sometimes even that doesn't help)....but, alas, I am none of these things.  So, I decided to finish my Engineering degree, good thing too, but the music has never left me.  I enjoy writing, playing, composing and producing in my small home studio.  I have cut a number of my own CDs, and give them out to friends...it's kind of like making your own brand of "homebrew".  I guess I could say that I write my own music because I sometimes can't find anything I want to listen to any other way--so I make up my own.  What can I say about that?  Nada.  At any rate, this is what happens when I clean out my closet.  Sorry about mild distortion on some of the tracks; I just haven't gone back and re-digitized the original analog tapes yet. Regardless, enjoy.

Images:

These are promotional images created over two different periods in time when I was actively playing music semiprofessionally: first, when living in Boston back in the early nineties, and then again, in the late nineties here in Columbia (the latter for Free TimesTM All Music Guide issue and website promotional piece).

Iroiro Ongaku Theatre 1990 (JPG)     Closet Tapes 1992 (JPG)      Promo2 (JPG)     Promo3 (JPG)     Promo4 (JPG)      Promo5 (JPG)

Discographie:

# Artist Disc Title Commentary Sample Cuts
1 Stonewall

Sleazy Lounge Lizards: Live at the Sounds Lounge, 1976.

 A typical weekend gig with unbalanced sound.  We didn't care.  We were getting paid. Blues Jam.
2 The Muse

Trips We Take, 1978.

 One cut, Zappaesque, experimental,  no music, just 14 minutes of crafted spontaneous noise. It was one guy's graduate media arts project, I think.  The 2nd cut, instrumental, a guitar piece I had written and Bill added his synthesizers, then I added the falsetto alto soprano at the end.  The 3rd cut was a love song to a girlfriend, a birthday present. Riders Of Avalon, (C) 1978 James P. Davis and William Walton, Jr.

I Want You to Know, (C) 1976 James P. Davis.

Trip Three, (C) 1978 William Walton, Jr. and James P. Davis.  Parts are likely (C) other cultural sources that I can't even begin to name.  Apologies to those from whom we borrowed liberally.
3 James Chaudron-Davis

Women Fire Dangerous Things, 1994.

Re-release Cover Art 1999 (JPG)

 After my first marriage ended. 

I re-recorded some older love songs, when I used to write stuff like that.  'Nuff said.  

Anyway, somebody or other was asking to hear more stuff with vocals.

 Love is 4 Everyone, (C) 1976 Julian Van Put and John Edwards.

I Just Want to Love You, (C) 1979, 1993 James P. Davis.

Love Has Gone Away, (C) 1977, 1993 James P. Davis.

I Wish I Could Go Back There Again, (C) 1977, 1993 James P. Davis.
4 James Chaudron-Davis On Fire - Volumes 1 and 2, 1996.

Release Cover Art 1999 (JPG)

 Instrumentals. Playing with dance music, funk, blues and straight-ahead rock. Don Funk Said It, (C) 1996, Jimidee Productions, LLC.

Don't Worry 'Bout a Thing, (C) 1996, Jimidee Productions, LLC.

Bringin' Home the Blues, (C) 1995, Jimidee Productions, LLC.

Running for Your Love, (C) 1994, Jimidee Productions, LLC.
5 James Chaudron-Davis Petroglyph, 1997.

Re-release Cover Art 1999 (JPG)

 Instrumentals. Eclectic mix of experimenting with different genres. Petroglyph, 1994, Jimidee Productions, LLC.

Sweet Girl, 1994, Jimidee Productions, LLC.

I'll Believe It When I See It, 1996, Jimidee Productions, LLC.

What You Heard Isn't What I Said, 1996, Jimidee Productions, LLC.
6 James Chaudron-Davis Kamikaze, 1998.

Re-release Cover Art 1999 (JPG)

 Instrumentals.  Electric guitars and synthesizers. Two Lane Blacktop, (C) 1999, Jimidee Productions, LLC.

Kamikaze, (C) 1999, Jimidee Productions, LLC.

Song to the Wind, (C) 1999, Jimidee Productions, LLC.

Never Enough Time, (C) 1999, Jimidee Productions, LLC.
7 James Chaudron-Davis Midlife Crisis, 1999. I think it's like being an adolescent again, except you're supposed to know better the second time around.  Coming to terms, really. Baby Blue Eyes, (C) 1999, Jimidee Productions, LLC.

Dancing with the Moon, (C) 1999, Jimidee Productions, LLC.

Weep For My Departed Lovers, Long for My Departed Brothers, (C) 1981, 1991 James P. Davis.
8 James Chaudron-Davis Shellshock, 2000.

Release Cover Art 2000 (JPG)

 After my second marriage ended.  Exploring hard alternative, dissonant sound, while trying to keep from imploding. You Won't Get way With It, (C) 1994, Jimidee Productions, LLC.

Shellshock, (C) 1999, Jimidee Productions, LLC.

Back On the Streets Again, (C) 2000, Jimidee Productions, LLC.
8 James Chaudron-Davis Compulsive Overdrive, 2000.

Release Cover Art 2000 (JPG)

 Mixing business associations and personal (i.e., romantic) relationships makes for explosive fun.

I had handwritten lyrics for these, but my notebook was stolen along with other stuff out of my car....so, gone forever.  I left them as instrumentals until I can find time to reconstruct the lyrics.

 What Does It All Mean?, (C) 1993, Jimidee Productions, LLC.

Wild Groove, Part One, (C) 1994, Jimidee Productions, LLC.

Ferocious Love, (C) 1992, Jimidee Productions, LLC.
9 Breathing Underwater Chance Encounter, Volume I, 2001.

Release Cover Art 2001 (JPG)

 The first studio recordings Bill and I had done together in more than 20 years.  Unrehearsed, we just turned on the machine and started playing. Wrestling with the Darkness, (C) 2001, William Walton, Jr. & James P. Davis.

Riders of Avalon 2001, (C) 1978 James P. Davis and William Walton, Jr.
10 Breathing Underwater Chance Encounter, Volume II, 2002. After the session the year before, we decided to do it again.  It only took a year this time to get back together.  We were pleased with our punctuality.  Unrehearsed, we just turned on the machine and started playing (again). Breathing Underwater, (C) 2002, William Walton, Jr. & James P. Davis.
11 Son of Davy We Must Be Out of Our Minds, 2002. In the studio jamming at 3 AM with my younger brothers for the first time in a decade.  "Son of Daffyd", as in the Welsh patron saint, St. David, the literal meaning of the family name.  Thinly rehearsed, minimal production.  So, what else is new? Out of Our Minds - Part 1, (C) 2002, James P. Davis & Peter H. Davis.

Out of Our Minds - Part 2, (C) 2002, James P. Davis & Peter H. Davis.
12 Jimbo Rocket Flying Boy, 2004. More reflective pieces, now that I'm settling down a bit. Maybe it's all that incense I'm sucking in at home while sitting.  Maybe it's what happens to guys as we start getting old and feeble and losing our minds. To be posted.