Reflections On Media: On The Passing Of Art Davis

Thursday, August 16, 2007

On The Passing Of Art Davis

I had the pleasure of knowing Dr. Art Davis for more than fifteen years, dating back to a meeting at his long-time gig at the Four Seasons in Newport Beach in the late 1980's. While Art wasn't as well known as some of his contemporaries, he had a unique place in jazz history, playing with many of its greatest legends, including John Coltrane and Bill Evans. In more recent years he settled into a quiet life teaching and playing mostly in Orange County, California, including his most recent stint at the Laguna Niguel Ritz-Carlton.

Though Davis wasn't known well in many contemporary jazz circles, he held a place of considerable esteem among his peers. When I mentioned seeing Davis to sought-after Yellowjackets bassist Jimmy Haslip on a recent Southern California trip, Haslip immediately asked me to get in contact with him to see if he might be interested in additional studio and other work. He was a major fan, as were many others in the know.

Art Davis was posessed of a wealth of musical knowledge, as well as a willingess to allow others into his life, as he did for me. For that, I will be grateful for having made his acquaintance. If there is an afterlife, I'm sure Art has one of the first bass chairs in the Eternal Orchestra Of Jazz.

Art Davis with Elvin Jones, McCoy Tyner, Sonny Fortune and Freddie Hubbard - "Blues Minor"

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Background

Tom Meek is the author of "About & Out", a weekly column discussing live music and musicians in Greater Los Angeles. From 2000-2007, he authored "Another Day In Cyberville", a weekly column for The Gainesville Sun, Gainesville, Florida and the New York Times Regional Newspaper Group. He has also written for magazines and television for more than thirty years concerning music, video, high-tech, new media, the Internet, computers, television and multimedia.

He first started in media at age 11 or 12, riding his bike several miles at night to the studios of WIOT-FM, which was then an "underground" station located in a cornfield in Berkey, Ohio. "I got to pick records, or program, for the late night DJ, Dorian Paster, because I asked if I could and he was kind enough to consent", Meek explained.

He then handled sound and lights for the Catacombs Coffee House in Sylvania, Ohio, where he got to play hundreds of records at very loud volume levels for hundreds of often-stoned teens on a weekly basis, and heard the best of local bands, one of which grew up to be The Bears, touring and recording with noted guitarist Adrian Belew. While still in high school he began producing a weekly quiz show for WSPD-TV, Toledo.

In the mid-1970's, Meek was an import and cut-out buyer for the Peaches Records chain in Columbus, Ohio, and first had the opprtunity to meet dozens of musicians, now totalling in the hundreds. He then moved to Boston for a year before moving to attend the University Of Florida and working at WUFT-TV in Gainesville, Florida.

From there Meek went on to write, edit and produce hundreds of television programs and thousands of program segments for WFTV-TV and WOFL-TV in Orlando, including news, politics, documentaries, music and information. A documentary on HMO's won an award at the New York International Film and Television Festival. Among the people Meek has interviewed are legendary golfer Arnold Palmer, Senator Charles Grassley, Wynton Marsalis, Joan Lunden, Waylon Jennings, George Benson, and dozens of others in the fields of music, politics, sports and media.

Meek has also owned a consulting business since 1987 under the flag of TVCCS in the areas of broad areas media and computers, and is an expert witness certified by the United States Supreme Court in media issues. His work was repeatedly cited by the Court in the landmark case "Turner Broadcasting v. FCC", decided in 1997.

In the year 2000, Meek began writing for The Gainesville Sun, a member of the New York Times regional group. Areas he writes about include high-tech, new media, computers, the Internet, music and others. To date Meek has published in excess of 500 columns and features in magazines and newspapers on computers, the Internet, New Media, music, automobiles and other topics.

Reflections On Media

Thursday, August 16, 2007

On The Passing Of Art Davis

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