Legendary Guitarist Jesse Ed Davis

When people think of Native American music artists, they are apt to think of Kay Starr, Link Wray, and Redbone. Among the music artists who might come to their mind is Jesse Ed Davis. Jesse Ed Davis was an enrolled member of the Kiowa tribe of Oklahoma, and also had Comanche, Muskogee, and Seminole blood. In a career that spanned from the Fifties to the Eighties, he played with such artists as Taj Mahal, Gene Clark, Bob Dylan, John Lennon, George Harrison, and yet others. He also released albums as a solo artist.

Jesse Edwin Davis III was born on September 21 1944 in Norman, Oklahoma. His mother, Vivian (Bea) Saunkeah was Kiowa. His father was Jesse Edwin Davis II, was Comanche, with some Seminole and Muscogee ancestry as well. His Comanche name was Asawoya. Jesse Ed Davis came from an impressive family. He was related to the first female chief of the Seminole Nation, Alice Brown Davis, among other notables.

Jesse Ed Davis discovered music while still young, becoming a fan of Elvis Presley and Jimmy Reed, He was in seventh grade when he began learning to play guitar. His style was shaped by such diverse sources as his mother's piano lessons, the horns players of the Count Baisie Orchestra, and the powows he had attended. Ultimately, Mr. Davis developed a unique style that was highly rhythmic and wholly organic. Taj Mahal said of Jesse Ed Davis, "In those days everyone wanted to play the blues, but they’d overplay their licks at high volume, trying to get up into the stratosphere. They didn’t have the natural feeling he did — Jesse legitimately had the blues and played it his own way."

He started his career while still a teenager, playing in local bands in the late Fifties. He was 18 years old when he toured with Conway Twitter, then a rock 'n' roll singer, as part of his backing band. He attended the University of Oklahoma and joined the National Guard. It was in 1966 that he made his way to Los Angeles to pursue his career in music. He did session work before becoming  Taj Mahal's lead guitarist. He played on Taj Mahal's first four albums: Taj Mahal (1968), The Natch'l Blues (1968), Giant Step/De Ole Folks at Home (1969), and Happy Just Lie I Am (1971).

It was in 1971 that Jesse Ed Davis's first solo album, ¡Jesse Davis!, was released. He would follow it with only one more solo album, Ululu, released in 1972. In the Seventies Jesse Ed Davis would work with several different music artists. He not played on, but also produced Gene Clark's 1971 solo album White Light. He also played guitar on Jackson Browne's song "Doctor My Eyes" from Jackson Browne's 1972 debut album. He worked with George Harrison, performing at the Concert for Bangladesh at Madison Square Garden. He would also work with others Beatles. He played guitar John Lennon's albums Walls and Bridges (1974) and Rock 'n' Roll (1975). He also played on Ringo Starr's Goodnight Vienna (1974) and Ringo's Rotogravure (1976). During the Seventies Jesse Ed Davis played with such diverse artists as Charles Lloyd, Leon Russell, John Lee Hooker, B. B. King, Bryan Ferry, The Pointer Sisters, Keith Moon, Harry Nilsson, Leonard Cohen, Emmylou Harris, and yet others.

Jesse Ed Davis moved to Hawaii in 1977. He returned to Los Angeles in 1981. Unfortunately, he had developed addictions to both drugs and alcohol, and spent a portion of the Eighties in rehabilitation clinics. He appeared on Guthrie Thomas's album Hobo Eagle Thief in 1983. In 1985 he and fellow Native American performer formed the Graffiti Band. They would release two albums under John Trudell's name: AKA Graffiti Man (1986) and Heart Jump Bouquet  (1987).

Sadly, Jesse Ed Davis's drug addition would eventually catch up with him. It was on June 22 1988 that he collapsed in the laundry room of an apartment building. Police claimed the death appeared to be from a drug overdose, as he had a fresh needle mark on one arm. Making some suspicious of this death was the fact that he also had a head wound and his shoes had been stolen.

Jesse Ed Davis is not as famous as such guitarists as Jimmy Page or Eric Clapton, perhaps because he generally worked as a sideman for other music artists and was never a part of a well-known successful band such as Led Zeppelin or Cream. Regardless, there is every reason he should be. As fans of 1960s 1970s blues and rock music known, Jesse Ed Davis was a gifted guitarist with a rhythmic style all his own, and be could play in a variety of genres, from old time rock 'n' roll to blues to rhythm and blues to even glam rock.