Roger Davidson

Umbrellas and Sunshine

French composer Michel Legrand has written some of the most memorable romantic music on film. Many of his songs have long since become jazz and pop standards. In Umbrellas and Sunshine, pianist and composer Roger Davidson and bassist David Finck offer a deeply original, intimate take of Legrand’s music – stories of love found and lost, elegantly whispered, swinging, among friends.

Since starting his career in the ‘70s, French-American pianist and composer Roger Davidson has been as voracious in his musical curiosity as Michel Legrand — and just as fearless in his reach. Davidson’s writing include symphonies and choral music, small-group jazz, Klezmer, tango and a bounty of Brazilian-flavored songs. In all his work, as in Legrand’s, melody reigns. It was bassist David Finck, who suggested to Davidson exploring an album’s-worth of Legrand’s songs. The pianist was all for it.
“I feel a tremendous kinship with Michel Legrand,” says Davidson. “Legrand is French, and so am I. He is a very romantic composer; he writes music with feeling. We both love to write melodies. Like everyone else, I heard his tunes played over and over by many wonderful musicians, and I started playing them myself.” The result is Umbrellas and Sunshine, a celebration of Michel Legrand, romance, and swing.

Ten To Twelve

Recorded in 1991 under the auspices of the legendary jazz producer, Helen Keane, these sessions are finally released to wide critical acclaim.  Jazz Times raves,  “His composer’s mind creates highly original interpretations of jazz standards and he writes some credible jazz statements himself.”
Combining standards and a few originals, Roger Davidson’s classic piano, bass, drum trio is a sublime recording.

“Few pianists from the classical field have been brave enough to venture into the freewheeling world of jazz; fewer still have shown any sign of the rhythmic spontaneity and flights of imagination that jazz piano requires.  But Helen Keane, the legendary jazz record producer who managed Bill Evans for decades before she died in 1996, heard in Roger Davidson a musician with that flexibility.” James Gavin.

Musicians:  Roger Davidson, piano
David Finck, bass
Dave Ratajczak, drums
And featuring * Charles Descarfino, percussion

Bingo

Songs for Children in English with Brazilian and Caribbean Rhythms. Arranger and pianist Roger Davidson formed BINGO, an ensemble of leading Jazz musicians, to breathe new life into cherished childhood tunes. In addition to Brazil’s legendary Paulo Braga and Marivaldo dos Sontos, Bingo features vocalist Christy Baron, whose pristine singing brings sophistication and groove to these time-worn classics.