Mel Davis was a multi-talented musician and arranger, best known for his trumpet playing. As well trumpet, he played piano, violin, drums, tuba, bass, accordion and ocarina. He was also known as a vocalist. He was born in Philadelphia in 1955 and died in Florida on Dec. 28th, 2004.

Early career

Davis began his musical apprenticeship under Seymour Rosenfeld, who was the leading trumpet player with the Philadelphia Orchestra

Philadelphia Orchestra

The Philadelphia Orchestra is a symphony orchestra based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in the United States. One of the "Big Five" American orchestras, it was founded in 1900...

. He played in clubs from the age of twelve but completed high school before taking a job playing with the St. Louis Symphonette.

While continuing to play club gigs, Davis furthered his musical knowledge by studying at Curtis Institute and Temple.

He recorded many albums, including "Trumpet with a soul", released on the Epic music label in 1956. It featured jazz legends Milt Hinton on bass and Osie Johnson on drums.

Later he formed a band called "The Lease Breakers" with Buddy Morrow, Harvey Phillips, Tony Mottola and Sol Gubin.

Then in the mid-1950s, he left Philadelphia for New York where he joined the Benny Goodman band as lead trumpet player, travelling with the band on their tour of the Far East in 1956.

Session work

Davis' modesty and reliability saw him taking up unsung positions as a session musician. He was the house trumpeter with Command Records and worked a stint as one of NBC's staff musicians, as well as being one of the original and long time Sesame Street

Sesame Street

Sesame Street has undergone significant changes in its history. According to writer Michael Davis, by the mid-1970s the show had become "an American institution". The cast and crew expanded during this time, including the hiring of women in the crew and additional minorities in the cast. The...

 band-members, where he stayed for seventeen year. Davis also appeared on the "Tonight Show" with Doc Severinsen

Doc Severinsen

Carl Hilding "Doc" Severinsen is an American pop and jazz trumpeter. He is best known for leading the NBC Orchestra on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson.-Early life:...

, as well as the Perry Como show.

He appeared on many well-known albums including Billie Holiday

Billie Holiday

Billie Holiday was an American jazz singer and songwriter. Nicknamed "Lady Day" by her friend and musical partner Lester Young, Holiday had a seminal influence on jazz and pop singing...

’s "Lady in Satin" (1958), Neal Hefty "Pardon my Doo-Wah" (1958), George Benson's "The other side of Abbey Road" (1969) and Lynn Roberts' tribute to Harry James.

Mel Davis also provided scores for at least two independent films, both directed by Jon Moritsugu

Jon Moritsugu

Jon Moritsugu is an American underground filmmaker.Jon Moritsugu started filmmaking in 1985 when he went to school at Brown University. His Thesis film "Der Elvis" was called by critic J...

, Fame Whore (1997) and Scum Rock (2002).

He became a club owner himself and retired to Florida where he died in 2004, aged 73.