MUSICIANS TO KNOW: JORDYN DAVIS
JORDYN DAVIS
Jordyn Davis is an award winning bassist, composer, songwriter, vocalist, and multi-instrumentalist from Detroit, Michigan and currently based in Brooklyn, NY. In May 2019, Davis became the first African-American woman to receive a Bachelor's Degree in Music Composition from Michigan State University as well as the first Michigan State student to receive a Bachelor's Degree in Music Composition and Jazz Studies concurrently. She is the proud leader of her own band Composetheway and is one of two inaugural Jazz Leader Fellowship recipients from the Brooklyn Conservatory of Music as well as a teaching artist for the Detroit Symphony Orchestra.
SHEER: Tell us a little bit about yourself.
JORDYN DAVIS: I am a black woman who primarily grew up in a small community just outside of Detroit called Inkster, Michigan. I'm also a military brat. My father is a retired Colonel in Explosive Disposal Ordinance (EOD).
Although I spent a lot of time living with my mom in Michigan, I also lived in Georgia, New Jersey, Washington, Puerto Rico, Texas, and a lot of different places in Rhode Island. I’m also the middle child from my mother's children. So I have an older brother and younger sister and then my dad remarried and they had two girls so I'm their older sister.
SHEER: How did you find yourself on the path to becoming a musician?
JD: I've always loved music. Most of my early memories involve me singing or dancing or just enjoying music in some capacity. I don't come from a musical family. My family loves music just like any other black family. You know, the music that you hear at the cookout but there are no professional musicians in my family.
Being the middle child, everyone is like, you know, we want to make sure that whatever you do, you're going to be doing it sustainably and you're going to have a solid job. So I wasn't encouraged to be a musician professionally. I think my parents were super supportive when I decided to start playing music. I started playing bass when I was eleven in my middle school orchestra. I remember the day that we had to pick out our instruments and everybody wanted to play violin. I was the only person who was like, what the f**k is that big thing in the closet? I want that.
And my love for the bass has not changed since then. It's been a safe haven for me behind the instrument and alongside the instrument.
In middle school and high school I was the only bass player in the orchestra. Even though we had access to instruments and we had concerts and there was kind of a music program, I never took private lessons. I didn't really know what I was doing. I knew what major scales were and how to read music but that was about it. I joined the marching band in high school to learn more about music and met my best friends still to this day. They already had this alternative rock band and needed a bass player. That's where I learned about songwriting and playing electric bass.
Then I went to college on an Environmental Engineering scholarship and I was there to try to make the world a better and safer and healthier place for future generations. While I was super passionate about that, and I'm still super passionate about environmental conservation, protection of the earth, and natural habitats, I still really love music and still really wanted to pursue music.
I took a songwriting class and learned that I was a natural at creating music. I started studying composition and then went to a film scoring workshop in San Diego while also studying geology at Michigan State. Everybody I met at this workshop was really blown away by the music that I was able to produce. And they're like, well, what are you going to do as a geologist? Like, you're so good at making music. Why don't you just do that full-time? And I was like, well, I don't really know what that looks like. I don't really know how to do that.
My first composition mentor, Mark Sullivan introduced me to Rodney Whitaker, director of jazz studies at Michigan State. At the time, I was just stepping into my identity as a composer and he wanted me to add playing music as an instrumentalist back into this. I still haven't taken lessons and didn’t think I was good. I don't know what it means to perform on my instrument at the highest capacity. It was incredibly terrifying. So when I met him he's like do you ever want to learn how to play jazz? I'm behind the scenes. I'm a composer. I like making choices, you know, and he's like, cool. So you're gonna start taking lessons with my graduate assistant next week. He was like, based on everything that I told him I want to do as a musician I need to trust him.
I'm so glad that I did, because that is the moment that my life started going in the direction that I wanted it to and changed me forever.
“I started playing bass when I was eleven in my middle school orchestra. I remember the day that we had to pick our instruments and everybody wanted to play violin. I was the only person who was like, what the f**k is that big thing in the closet? I want that.”
SHEER: Tell us more about Composetheway and its connection to your creative evolution.
JD: I started writing songs on my own during my first semester of college in 2013. And for the whole semester we had to write six songs on our own and perform them in class for our classmates. Four out of those six songs is what I decided to release a few years later as Composetheway.
The songs that I wrote for that class were some of my first attempts at singing my own songs and doing this completely on my own. I wrote my first song with my best friend Jake LeMond, he's a fantastic guitarist and songwriter and he really inspired me to just figure out how to do it on my own.
I came up with Composetheway as my Twitter handle when I was 16. Around that time I started learning about composition and arranging very casually while watching The Academy Awards and being obsessed with film scores. But then years later I was thinking I'm also composing the way by making music and it's changing my life and I'm creating a path for myself and carving out space in this world for myself. And I'm really growing into the person that I want to be because I’m composing my way.
Many moons and years later, I've studied composition all over the world. I've performed my songs all over the world. I played jazz all over the world and I'm constantly being asked to grow as an artist and try different things while being invited to experiment and try incorporating my voice in spaces where it’s not traditionally found.I also feel much more confident about my abilities and my voice. I’ve gone from Composetheway to Jordyn Davis and it's like, this is me. This is who I am, but also Composetheway is going to be made up of musicians from all walks of life who have crossed paths with me and are aligned with this notion of being your true, authentic self and living life for yourself. And that it's never too late to start over and it's never too late to become the person you want to be and to compose your own way.
What's great about being connected to the jazz community is it's allowed me to envision so many different variations and possibilities for my ensemble. Sometimes it's just me and my bass or me and my guitar. And other times it's a duo, it's a trio, it's a quintet it's, it's a 14 piece chamber ensemble. A lot of times we're playing gigs together with people who we meet the same day. And because we have a common repertoire and we communicate in the same musical language we can do it.
That has really inspired me to channel that energy into the way that I run my ensemble and inviting people in all the time to participate in performing their music and utilizing our platform to let people know that we've been here, we represent the Earth, we represent the community and our heritage. We represent the United States. We represent the world in this ensemble because it is also super important to me to include as many different voices as possible.
As a black queer woman, our voices have not been dominant anywhere historically in the media and academia. And certainly not in popular culture. Having that representation exists a lot more prominently today and in a positive way for black women. And I've experienced its power and its effectiveness. I want to continue to do that with my platform because everybody needs to be seen and it makes such a difference in how you feel about yourself.
“I stay grounded in my creative process by trusting my gut. I’m also a very physical composer. So I need to be able to feel the vibrations of the music coming together and working together to create a sound, to create a moment and an experience in time. And if that doesn’t feel good in my body, that’s not the collection of sound that needs to happen in that moment. I just trust my body to tell me what feels good and what doesn’t feel good. ”
SHEER: You were the first African-American woman to graduate with a jazz degree at Michigan State University. How did it feel to make history and how did you navigate working towards such an incredible achievement?
JD: So I was the first African-American woman to receive a Bachelor's degree in Music Composition from Michigan State. And I was also the first student ever to graduate from Michigan State with a Bachelor's degree in Jazz Studies and Music Composition.
I'm proud to be the first but it's really disappointing that in 2019 I was the first, but that's the institution's problem. That's not my problem. I'm proud to be the first and I'm proud to have made a difference in my community in a way that is going to last forever, because now students know that you can be much more than who the institution is telling you that you can be and allowing you to be. The reason why I'm the first person to get those two degrees at the same time is because their policies don’t allow you to double major in Composition and Jazz studies because there's no curriculum overlap. How it worked in my advantage is when I started my freshman year in 2013, I was taking composition lessons and those credits qualified as part of the composition degree when I later joined the College of Music as a Jazz Studies major. And so I was only six classes away from finishing the composition degree and I had three more years left to finish my jazz studies degree. There's no reason why I shouldn't be getting both of these degrees. I've paid for the credits out of my own pocket and I've aced the classes and learned a lot. I deserve that piece of paper that I proudly have up on the wall, all three of them, you know?
I was fully committed to the goal of finishing and getting what I deserved which was both of the degrees and to study both of my passions. I was going to invest time in learning my instrument because my mentor told me that’s what I needed to do. It's kind of a cultural rite of passage for you to learn how to speak this language and be informed about your history as a black woman in America. I've done everything that I could have and can do in the community to create spaces for other folks to be able to do it. And it's allowed so many more, especially multi-passionate creative women in my community, to be able to continue opening doors for themselves and creating the type of academic experience that they want.
I'm very happy to have done that. And I know that was kind of my purpose because I don't think that the academic institution had ever been challenged in that way.
“As a black queer woman, our voices have not been dominant anywhere historically in the media and academia. And certainly not in popular culture. Having that representation exists a lot more prominently today and in a positive way for black women. And I’ve experienced its power and its effectiveness. I want to continue to do that with my platform because everybody needs to be seen and it makes such a difference in how you feel about yourself. ”
SHEER: How did you land your fellowship at the Brooklyn Conservatory of Music and how has that experience been?
JD: About exactly a year ago, I completed an application for the Jazz Leaders Fellowship at the Brooklyn Conservatory. It was the inaugural year of the program so I wasn't really sure what to expect and I wasn't really sure what my chances were of getting it. I submitted an application and then about a month later I found out that I got the fellowship and they flew me to New York to celebrate. I've had a blast ever since. I’m a bit sad my year long fellowship is almost up andI have about three months left. I did a masterclass for young jazz students last November and played a concert at the top of Women's History Month with my all female ensemble.
I've had a tremendous time working with the Brooklyn Conservatory community. They've been such an asset and supportive community for me. Especially just moving to New York less than a year ago, the other faculty and parents of the community have reached out to me and supported my music, passed along my information to get recommended for certain gigs, and are like let us know if you need help with anything. They’re just such a giving community and made me feel right at home. I was coming to Brooklyn and being welcomed with open arms.
“I’m proud to be the first but it’s really disappointing that in 2019 I was the first, but that’s the institution’s problem. That’s not my problem. I’m proud to be the first and I’m proud to have made a difference in my community in a way that is going to last forever, because now students know that you can be much more than who the institution is telling you that you can be and allowing you to be.”
SHEER: What was it like witnessing Detroit's gentrification and how did this influence your music? How does this compare to your experience as a now Brooklyn-based musician?
JD: Witnessing the gentrification of Detroit has been a mixed bag of emotions because it's great to see the city prospering after growing up there and my family’s home being two minutes away from city center. My grandmother lives in downtown Detroit and I spent a lot of time there growing up as a kid and riding the train, visiting family, and going to school. As a kid, it was such a terrifying place. It was not safe and things didn't look great. Things were dirty, scarce, tense and weird. So it was great to move into adulthood and see some of the negativity disappear and seeing communities benefit from the help that they're getting.
But also, the population of Detroit is about 70 to 80% black people and with gentrification you go to downtown Detroit now and it's white city. That’s very jarring and very bizarre. Also it’s incredibly unfortunate because the city of Detroit is a black city and the people who have been there holding down the city through the hard times, contributing to the local economy, living there and raising their families are now being pushed out because white people need a new place to hang out. It's been something that really troubles me to see my people be pushed out of their homes for money. And that capitalism is trying to erase our history.
I wrote this piece, the first piece I was ever commissioned to write actually in 2018, it's entitled, “Who Are You and What Have You Done?” I like to ask questions especially in my music because I want to know who these m***********s are that are coming up here trying to gentrify my city. And what have you done to the community? You're just wiping away our history and wiping away our traditions, because you need a new place to put a coffee shop and that is not okay. It's incredibly hard to watch and it's incredibly hard to process. As someone who's an artist, all I can do is shout from the rooftops via my music that this is happening, stop! I don't have the money to outby these capitalists who are coming in and buying up homes and demolishing them and then rebuilding. And then up-charging a million dollars. I don't have that. But what I do have is my voice and my ability to communicate through music.
I also wrote another piece called “Where Do We Belong?”. Since I moved to Brooklyn, it's the same thing. I see the same thing happening here. And Brooklyn is surely becoming a second home to me. I feel like I just want to see everybody in this community do well. I've been so welcomed in moving to Brooklyn. I watched the most recent adaptation of the movie Candyman at the end of last year and a lot of the focus of the film is gentrification in the city of Chicago, but the filmmaker is also from Brooklyn. There's no way that this is not also connected to her roots and her experience seeing her community gentrified. I've been through that too and her film really inspired me to sit down and express my sorrow around this. I'm asking inquisitive questions and trying to obtain information about who these gentrifiers are and what have they done?
After I watched that film and seeing Brooklyn and living here and talking with people, I'm just expressing my sorrow and my sense of hopelessness and trying to identify where do we belong if we don't belong here. And it's not a question for them to answer, but it's more symbolic and represents my sorrow for sure.
“Composetheway is going to be made up of musicians from all walks of life who have crossed paths with me and are aligned with this notion of being your true, authentic self and living life for yourself. And that it’s never too late to start over and it’s never too late to become the person you want to be and to compose your own way.”
SHEER: What has been your approach to diversity and inclusion work in the classical music world especially as an underrepresented musician yourself?
JD: I am completely unapologetic about my existence. I continue to show up in spaces where I'm not necessarily invited, welcomed, or asked to be there musically, but I always toss my name in the hat. If there's a commission, if there's a residency, if there's a program, if there's something that's out there that is related to classical music and composers and diversity and inclusion I'm happy to just show up and be myself and talk about my experiences.
But what I don't do for them is rehash my trauma. I center the conversations around what they can be doing better and what needs to change and what the community needs and what people need to feel welcome as opposed to this is what I've been through and this is why you should do this because of my experiences. No, we need to focus on being proactive in our actions and putting the responsibility on the leaders in that community because that's the only way things change.
“I wrote this piece, the first piece I was ever commissioned to write actually in 2018, it’s entitled, “Who Are You and What Have You Done?” I like to ask questions especially in my music because I want to know who these m***********s are that are coming up here trying to gentrify my city. And what have you done to the community?
You’re just wiping away our history and wiping away our traditions, because you need a new place to put a coffee shop and that is not okay. It’s incredibly hard to watch and it’s incredibly hard to process. As someone who’s an artist, all I can do is shout from the rooftops via my music that this is happening, stop!”
SHEER: While juggling so many roles from musician to entrepreneur to community advocacy work, how do you stay grounded in your creative process?
JD: I stay grounded in my creative process by trusting my gut. I’m also a very physical composer. So I need to be able to feel the vibrations of the music coming together and working together to create a sound, to create a moment and an experience in time. And if that doesn't feel good in my body, that's not the collection of sound that needs to happen in that moment. I just trust my body to tell me what feels good and what doesn't feel good. I love all different types of music and the things that they all have in common is that they make me feel good and my body feels good and the vibrations are aligned with my energy centers. I'm very proud of all of the art that I make.
And that's not something to be arrogant about by any means. But if I don't like my own music, how can I expect you to want to listen to my music? So if I like it, that means somebody else somewhere has got to like it. And if I made it and I like it, that means at least a couple of hundred thousand other people might mess with it.
But if I put it out there and I apologize for it, what was the point?
“I am completely unapologetic about my existence. I continue to show up in spaces where I’m not necessarily invited, welcomed, or asked to be there musically.”
SHEER: What do you envision for the future of your music?
JD: I envision the future of my music as a continuously evolving practice. I feel like it is going to look and feel like so many different things over my lifetime. I'm mostly excited to see where I end up in ten years musically and what kind of music I'm making.
The woman I am now is not the same woman I was at 18 years old writing songs and getting my heart broken by stupid boys in my college dorm. I trust the universe would never give me something I can't handle and would never put me in a position that I wouldn't be able to survive and take care of myself to find a way out. If my life is anything like it's been in the last six months with things changing, moving, growing, blooming, and just centering and grounding themselves with love and peace and happiness, then the sky's the limit.
SUPPORT & FOLLOW JORDYN DAVIS BELOW
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Jordyn Davis has a new single releasing on July 22nd. Stay up to date with her latest music via social media and streaming platforms below.
Photography by Dana White
Nada Esmaeel’s work is alive and vibrant, rich in detail and color. In addition to paintings, illustrations and animations, she has also designed 3D gaming environments where woven rugs hang from the walls and colored lanterns are strung across an intimate courtyard. But in each of these varied mediums, the subject is almost always Palestinian people and their culture.