Brendon Davis and the shape of jazz to come in Detroit
The pianist is one of several talented Detroit jazz musicians coming of age with new album releases in 2025.
A look at Brendon Davis’ loaded resume that included him playing at the Kennedy Center at age 13 might lead you to believe he does not lack confidence behind the piano.
Social media videos confirm this, showing the dexterous Detroiter making it look way too easy and fun to play jazz music.
Within a few years of picking up the instrument at age 10 by watching and recreating music he listened to on YouTube, Davis earned a reputation as a “rising star” as one Detroit TV station described him. He won national competitions that earned him further praise and a full scholarship offer to the prestigious Interlochen Center for the Arts. As a high schooler, he played weekly at First Community Baptist Church and Third New Hope Baptist Church in Detroit.
While those accolades and experiences were invaluable in introducing Davis to future mentors like legendary jazz pianist and Jazz Messenger Benny Green and bassist Rodney Whitaker, there was added weight that came with the expectations of early success, Davis said.
“Despite those opportunities, I still felt like I wasn't ready,” Davis said, describing how he felt playing alongside more seasoned jazz musicians at an early age.
It almost led Davis to quit a little more than a year ago, he said, before coming to the conclusion that he still had plenty to say as an artist. Now staring down his busiest year yet as a jazz pianist and recording artist with two albums slated for 2025, Davis finds himself reenergized.
“I have kind of finally reached a place, specifically with my own musical artistry and my own musical identity, where I feel more confident in myself and what I can do,” Davis said. “I'm not so overly concerned with what people think.”
Davis is part of an emerging collective of Detroit jazz musicians who have come of age in recent years to breathe new life into the genre. In January, Davis appeared on saxophonist Kasan Belgrave’s album Dual Citizen, a throwback record that combines bebop, jazz, fusion and gospel.
Like Belgrave - the son of legendary Detroit trumpeter Marcus Belgrave - Davis has an ear for combining the traditional with the contemporary, finding like-minded peers in fellow Detroit artists like singer Isis Damil, bassist Jonathon Muir-Cotton and trumpeter Allen Dennard to play alongside.
While Davis hesitated to refer to himself as a jazz musician prior to recording the album, he said the experience to play with Belgrave and several of his peers inspired him and helped further instill that he belonged in their company.
“Those are the homies,” Davis said of the group that helped create Dual Citizen. “ I was very surprised that (Belgrave) asked me to be a part of it, because I really didn't feel like I was a real jazz musician. It was a great experience, and honestly, it was very inspiring just to see all of us who are mostly close in age.”
Despite earning a reputation as an up-and-coming pianist at a young age, Davis suggests he actually got started late - around age 10 - after immersing himself in his parents’ record collection as a child.
Mentors like his middle school band director Randy Scott, a gigging jazz musician, and Detroit pianist Al McKenzie saw Davis’ potential, introducing him to opportunities that laid the foundation for him as an artist.
While McKenzie encouraged him to be a classical pianist, Davis said he naturally gravitated back to jazz, where his mentor helped forge numerous connections in Detroit.
“He was having me learn like Beethoven and Chopin,” Davis said. “He really wanted me to be a classical pianist, and I sort of, kind of wanted to be one, but I just had to put in more work. I was practicing, but not as much as as you have to to be a really good classical pianist. Most of the connections I have in the city started through Al, because he would just give me gigs.”
Davis’ dedication to the piano paved the way for him to study jazz at the University of Michigan, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in Jazz Studies, later earning a master’s in Improvisation. During his college years, Davis studied under mentors like the aforementioned Green, Whitaker, Bill Moss, Jr., and Dwight Adams, with additional tutelage opportunities coming courtesy of Chick Corea, Andy Mine and Tamir Hendelman.
Performing with the Disney All American College Band, the Summer Solstice Jazz Festival and the Detroit Jazz Festival during his college years, Davis said he began to feel more like a real artist.
“When I decided to go to college, that kind of marked the turning point of, ‘Yeah, I'm actually going to try to do this,’” Davis said. “I always say I feel like Michigan took a chance on me, because when I got there, I was not well studied in jazz or anything like that. Mostly everyone there are prodigies that start at two and three years old.”
Whitaker, who has mentored Davis and other promising young jazz musicians via a “gathering orchestra,” said the pianist has exhibited tremendous adaptability in being able to play a wide range of styles. Beyond his musical chops, Whitaker said Davis’ passion helps him stand out among his peers.
“He is feverishly on fire … infinitely,” said Whitaker, a noted bassist and director of jazz studies at Michigan State University. “His playing burns with an incandescent intensity. Each solo is a testament to exceptional skill, a breathtaking cascade of notes crafted with profound harmonic subtlety — a rare gift I've encountered in only a few promising jazz pianists in the last two decades. He accompanies instrumentalists and vocalists with a masterful touch, his support enriching their performances with an unparalleled depth of understanding.”
With the past couple of years dedicated to gigging throughout Michigan and beyond, Davis is ready to show what he can do in the studio.
Davis released his first album this past November, a live EP he recorded as Brendon Davis & Muze Society, featuring vocalists like Damil and Ashlee Moss joining him alongside Muir-Cotton, saxophonist Marcus Elliot, guitarist Grant Gabriel and others.
This year, he hopes to release a couple of studio albums: The first is a fusion of his many musical inspirations from rap to jazz to spoken word to gospel and Christian contemporary. Davis expects the as-of-yet untitled album to be released in April or May.
It’ll feature guest artists like Belgrave, Damil, Moss, Kris Johnson, Evan Garr, Brandon Rose, Vahn Black, Jessica Care Moore, Alina Oliver, Marquis Johnson and Penny Wells. A second, more instrumentally-based record is in the works for later in the year, Davis said, with the intention of building up a recorded output.
“It’s shaping up to be a nice record,” Davis said. “For (the first album), I really just gave it to myself to just be free and express myself. … We're trying to come out with a bang, and that's what this first one is about.”
proud detroiter def reading this
Glad I found you! I'm huge into jazz, I wrote my debut novel listening exclusively to Bill Evans, Thelonious Monk, Gerry Mulligan, and Paul Desmond (to name a few.) I'm going to check out Brendon for sure, thanks for sharing, and nice piece.