ARTIST BIOGRAPHY

My name is Charles Davis and I am a musician, composer, singer, and songwriter. I began playing music as a youth. My earliest experiences as a musician started with my elementary school orchestra where I was a flautist. I have recorded and performed with a number of musicians including Eric Brown, Darian Gray, Kurt Stenzel (Cookin' with Kurt), '80s pop singer Martika, jazz pianist Jacob Aginsky, RonKat Spearman, Eric McFadden and more.

I began my professional career in music right out of high school in the late '80s, rapping and composing with a southern California group called Double Exposure. Our group got picked up by Columbia Records, and we recorded a protest single addressing the crack cocaine epidemic in Los Angeles called "Stop The Rock." Unfortunately our group was dropped from the label before an album could be released.

Following this, I relocated a little further north, where I became a bassist, singer and songwriter for a band called "Green Eggs & Ham." This is where I also began my studies in jazz improvisation, jazz theory and jazz composition under trumpeter Ray Brown (former sideman in the Stan Kenton Orchestra).

During the mid '90s I relocated back to southern California, seeking work as a bassist, songwriter and producer. After a year and a half of producing and playing bass in southern California Baptist churches, I returned to northern California. Then in the late '90s I spent a year as the bassist in a Latin jazz and rock band called Resin. Around that same time, I began working as a recording engineer and recorded and produced my jazz debut as a leader "Collective Eclective."

In the early 2000s I continued working as a producer and a recording engineer. Soon after, I became the bassist for an experimental band called "Cookin’ with Kurt." Our band became a figure in San Francisco during the early 2000s and was popular among many filmmakers. Our shows consisted of live improvisational jam sessions performed to images, short films and animations.

Inspired by my experience with Cookin’ with Kurt, as well as my lifelong passion for film and photography, I enrolled in studies at San Francisco State University where I obtained my Bachelor’s degree in Cinema.

After graduating San Francisco State I spent time creating sound design and producing original compositions for a small independent film. My desire to deepen my knowledge and understanding of how music worked in films led me to attended Berklee College of Music where I obtained my Master Certification in Orchestration for Film and Television.