Melvin Lee Davis Archives

The Simon Phillips Archive dropped this video last month, from a 2019 show at Blue Note Tokyo. The clip begins with an interview with Melvin Lee Davis, followed by a performance of “Smoke ‘n’ Mirrors.” What a lineup!

Here’s the great Melvin Lee Davis performing Joni Mitchell’s “Edith and the Kingpin” in a totally unique way. MLD is joined by Jesse Milliner on keyboards and vocoder, Rob Bacon on guitar, and Jay Williams on drums.

The Temptations are one of the greatest vocal groups of all time. After six decades in the business, they’re taking a victory lap with their newest album, aptly entitled “60”. They’ve recruited a stellar cast of bassists too.

Yesterday was definitely a special day. I ran across this classic clip of the masterful Melvin Lee Davis with Chaka Khan covering “My Funny Valentine” last night. Melvin plays a beautiful solo on a Ken Smith 7 String!

My friend Joshua Sailor shared this video on Facebook recently with a one word comment: “LOCKED”. In this clip, Melvin Lee Davis lays it down on his tune, “O.C.O.E. – Official Cat Of The Eighties”.

The great Melvin Lee Davis just dropped an epic video featuring a brand-new tune. Written by Davis and keyboardist Mike Cee Carpenter, here’s the funky “J-Dub Walkin’.”

In 2011, Lee Ritenour and Mike Stern took the stage at Blue Note Tokyo. Backed by the Freeway Jam Band, which includes Melvin Lee Davis, Simon Phillips, and John Beasley, here’s their performance of “Smoke ‘n’ Mirrors.”

Fourplay founding member Lee Ritenour’s guitar work is all over popular music — he’s played more than 3,000 sessions, with everyone from Pink Floyd to Dizzy Gillespie, earned a Grammy for his 1986 collaboration with Dave Grusin, and netted 17 more Grammy nominations besides. The jazz player’s latest album, A Twist of Rit, sees him join with an all-star band...

Melvin Lee Davis has released Genre: Music, an album that stands to defy singular musical styles. The bassist, who also produced the record, enlisted the help of many of his friends, including drummer Ron Bruner, Jr., Lakin, Oscar Seaton, Jesse Milliner, Jeff Babko and more. As the title suggests, the 14 tracks are a unique blend of styles that the...

There’s nothing like a nice jam to make your day. Here, Melvin Lee Davis lays down some funky slap grooves on guitarist Lee Ritenour’s tune “Rio Funk” from the Northsea Jazz Festival in 2009. The man is groovin’ so hard, you can tell even with the sound muted!

Melvin Lee Davis grooves hard behind Chaka Khan in this live performance in 1996 during “Sinbad’s Summer Jam.” The group performs a medley of “Tell Me Something Good” and “I’m Every Woman”. Does it get any better?