Gregory Davis (born January 30, 1957) is a cornet and trumpet player from New Orleans, Louisiana. He is one of the founding members and leaders of the Dirty Dozen Brass Band.
Life and career
editDavis was born in New Orleans and lived there most of his childhood, with the exception of a year and a half in Los Angeles. He began playing cornet at age 13 with the Andrew J. Bell Junior High marching band. While attending St. Augustine High School he played in a variety of local groups, including with Jean Knight.[1] In high school he became friends with Leroy Jones, who was playing with the Fairview Baptist Church Marching Band, a group of young musicians organized by guitar- and banjo-player Danny Barker. Davis played briefly with the band before, in 1974, the musicians' union forced it to disband.[2] The same group of musicians reconstituted themselves as the Hurricane Brass Band, with Jones as leader and Davis as a member.
In 1976 Jones left the Band, which fell apart. Davis and some other members formed a short-lived group called the Tornado Brass Band, in 1977, starting the Dirty Dozen Brass band. At the time there wasn't much demand for brass band music in New Orleans,
In 1998