Mel Davis

[_Japle]

Some of you who were in the music business in the '50s and '60s may remember Mel Davis. He was a trumpet player from Philly who did 4-5 years with Benny Goodmen in the early-to-mid '50s and was then brought to NYC by Ray Ellis.
Mel was hired as an NBC staff musician and played on the Tonight Show band under Skitch Henderson. When Johnny Carson brought Doc in to lead the band, Doc, who was no fool and knew a career opportunity when he saw one, decided he didn't need a lot of extra top-notch trumpet players. Mel was dropped. Frankly, I don't blame Doc a bit. His gig with Carson made him famous.
Mel was much in demand doing what he called "jingle dates" playing backup on hundreds of albums. He never became well known outside of the business, but he's a wonderful musician.
Mel is still around and living down here in Florida. If any of you remember him or have any good stories let me know and I'll pass them on to him.
If anyone remembers him from Philly, you also may remember his friend Russ Weinstein who shares the 1st trumpet book with me in our local wind ensemble.

John
Cape Canaveral

[Laurie Frink]

Please send my regards to Mel. I'm not sure he'll remember me--tell him I'm a friend of Spanky Davis
Thanks
Laurie Frink

[Wilmer]

Mel is from South Philly,so am I.
Mel is the trumpet soloist on Eddie Fisher's record,"O My Papa"
We did a bit of work together.
We played a few fund-raisers for PBS and we, Mel and Wilmer, are the trumpet players on the PBS McNeil- Lehrer Report.
This is the one from the 70's, on the later one, the News Hour, Rick Henley is the other trumpet player.
Mel is one funny gu, he knows more jokes than anyone I have ever met.
Give Mel a hug.
Wilmer

[dbacon]

DB

[polydiatonic]

I was happy to find this little thread. Mel was a hero of mine and a mentor to me from about the age of 14-18 when I went off to college to study music at Stony Brook university. My father and mother used to take me to his little bar every weekend in Baldwin, Long Island called "Mel's Place" to hear him and the band. My family became good friends with him and his wife. My dad worked at Grumman aerospace with his pianist, Jimmy Gallus (Pappagallus) who was another mentor of mine. In the late 70's/early 80's Mel closed down his little Bar in Baldwi and opened up a huge place called Rampart Street in Port Washington long island. Mel always said that the only reason he opend the places was so that he'd always have a place to play. His musicianship, physical range and endurance was absolutely astounding. He'd always play a couple of tunes at the piano and sing at the beginning of the sets to call the band up and would wait until the wee hours to break out the violin. Music usually startedat about 10pmm and usually went till around 3 or 4 am. I have a couple of tapes that my mom and I made of him and the band to bring to my dad when he was recovering from cardiac issues and he couldn't make it to the gigs for a couple of weeks. I could go on for hours sharing stories, but I'll stop here for now...
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Hurry up living or hurry up dying...

[Ed Kennedy]

Mel Davis, what a sound. The work he did on Billy Holiday's Lady in Satin was gorgeous (Violets for My Furs).

[MichaelMcCrary]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4klg9u0-8jc
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michael
Selmer Radial
Selmer K-Modified - Trumpet and Cornet
Selmer Paris Flugelhorn
Martin Handcrafted Dansant

and a few more

[toddhd]

My name is Todd Davis, I am Mel's nephew. It is so heartwarming for me to find this forum and this post honoring my late uncle. His brother, and my father, Stewart Davis, was also an amazing musician who played the sax in his younger years, and then piano in his later years (after a heart attack). We don't have much information about my family or their history, and it is amazing to me to see people who know more about his history than I do. I say that with gratitude, thank you for this information and the video.

If anyone here has any family history on Mel and/or Stewart, please feel free to reach out to me.

Mel, like most of the men in our family, passed a while back and much too young from heart disease. His daughter Amy makes indie music and crazy indie movies which are fun and kooky. We all miss Mel terribly.

[Tony Scodwell]

I did several concerts with Lynn Roberts, a wonderful vocalist who started with Tommy Dorsey and went on to sing with Benny Goodman and Harry James. She and I did a symphony program titled "Wild About Harry" performing all of Harry's biggest hits. Lynn and Mel recorded a CD entitled "Harry, You Made Me Love You" and she and I used all of these wonderful charts on our program in addition to charts from my book. Mel was the trumpet soloist on her CD and all I did was transcribe his solos for our performances. They were so perfect why change a thing.

As for the Tonight Show and Mel, all I know is Snooky told me he really didn't like Mel and the period I was Doc's 1st trumpet player,Doc never mentioned Mel to me. Mel certainly could have took care of business but who knows what went down when Doc took over the band. Doc is an amazing trumpet player and an even better politician. Skitch got into a jam with the daughter of a NBC vice president and Doc was the Tommy Newsom at the time when Skitch had the band, sort of second in command. Doc got the band the next night after that episode.

Tony Scodwell
www.scodwellusa.com

[Croquethed]

Skitch and Ruth ran a place called The Silo, a non-profit arts/cooking school thing, just over the hill in New Milford, CT.

I never heard the NBC VP's daughter story before.

Show biz...

[Bill Bridges]

For my money, perhaps the most beautiful trumpet solo ever recorded was Mel Dais playing "Trumpet in the Night," on a Harry Simeone Chorale LP album. He did not receive credit on the album liner notes, but did receive credit when a "45" was released. Amazing playing - great interpretation, great range, absolutely perfect.