Dr. Joshua Davis
Bassist
Joshua
leads the improvisation ensemble Squashua and accompanies the Tim
Miller Trio, VOCE, the Vardan Ovsepian Quintet, and others. Recent
recorded releases include Tim Miller’s Trio and Vardan Ovsepian’s Akunc, on Fresh Sound Records. Joshua’s feature recording as an arranger, Squashua,
showcases Take Toriyama, Tim Miller, and Vardan Ovsepian interpreting
Romantic Era symphonies and the music of Sting. Current creative
projects meld symphonic technique and literature with improvised form
and interpretation.
His early jazz performance career included
numerous overseas tours with the Artie Shaw Band and The Ritz. He was
active as an orchestral bassist in the 1990s and has been principal
bassist with The Granite Symphony and the Fairbanks Summer Arts
Festival Orchestra.
Educator
Dr.
Davis joined the faculty as the Director of Jazz Studies at Susquehanna
University (http://susqu.edu/) in August of 2006. He was a full-time
faculty member and the Director of Jazz Studies at Towson University
between 2002 and 2006. Before Towson, he was an awarded leader of
curriculum development at Berklee College of Music where, as one of the
youngest faculty members, he taught for six years. Joshua has also been
on the faculty at the University of Maine at Augusta.
He has
taught numerous performance skills clinics at Berklee College of Music
in Boston, Koyo Conservatory in Kobe, Japan, the Fairbanks Summer Arts
Festival in Alaska, and various schools of all grades throughout the
United States. Elementary and secondary school student and educator
presentations available include ensemble coaching, both big bands and
small contemporary ensembles, and general music presentations on
listening and performance appreciation.
Composition
Joshua’s
compositions include chamber music, -jazz and contemporary classical,
works for big band, and a recent piece for wind symphony with
improvisers.
Education
Joshua
has a B.A. in Theory/Composition from U.N.H., an M.M. in Orchestral
Double Bass from New England Conservatory, and a Composition D.M.A.
from the University of Maryland at College Park. He has studied
privately with John Hunter, Larry Veal, Neil Sir, Donald Palma, and Dr.
Thomas DeLio.