John Trudell & Jesse Ed Davis - Heart Jump Bouquet 1987

Jesse Ed Davis was perhaps the most versatile session guitarist of the late '60s and early '70s. Whether it was blues, country, or rock, Davis' tasteful guitar playing was featured on albums by such giants as Eric Clapton, Neil Diamond, John Lennon, and John Lee Hooker, among others. It is Davis' weeping slide heard on Clapton's "Hello Old Friend" (from No Reason to Cry), and on both Rock n' Roll and Walls & Bridges, it is Davis who supplied the bulk of the guitar work for ex-Beatle Lennon.

Born in Oklahoma, Davis first earned a degree in literature from the University of Oklahoma before beginning his musical career touring with Conway Twitty in the early '60s. Eventually the guitarist moved to California, joining bluesman Taj Mahal and playing guitar and piano on his first three albums. It was with Mahal thatDavis was able to showcase his skill and range, playing slide, lead, and rhythm, country, and even jazz guitar during his three-year stint.

In and out of clinics, Davis disappeared from the music industry for a time, spending much of the '80s dealing with alcohol and drug addiction. Just before his death of a suspected drug overdose in 1988, Davis resurfaced playing in the Graffiti Band, which coupled his music with the poetry of American Indian activist John Trudell. The kind of expert, tasteful playing that Davis always brought to an album is sorely missed among the acts he worked with.The period backing Mahal was the closest Davis came to being in a band full-time, and after Mahal's 1969 album Giant Step, Davis began doing session work for such diverse acts as David Cassidy, Albert King, and Willie Nelson. In addition, he also released three solo albums featuring industry friends such as Leon Russell and Eric Clapton. Born and raised on the Santee Sioux Reservation, on the border of Nebraska and South Dakota, Native-American poet and activist John Trudell spent the majority of the 1970s as the national chairman of the American Indian Movement (AIM). Trudell left Native-American politics in 1979 after his wife, mother-in-law, and three children were killed in a fire at their home on a reservation in Nevada. The fire, which Trudell was convinced was no accident, came just 12 hours after he had set fire to the American flag on the steps of the FBI Building in Washington D.C.

Trudell began reciting his poetry in public appearances and eventually, encouraged by musician friends like Jackson Browne and Bonnie Raitt, released a cassette of his poetry backed by traditional Indian chants and drums. When he met guitarist Jesse Ed Davis, Trudell found the collaborator he had been looking for to compose music to back his poetry.

In 1986, with Davis, he put out a self-produced cassette entitled Original A.K.A. Grafitti Man which Bob Dylan called the best album of the year. Trudell's musical career was put on hold two years later, following Davis' death from a drug overdose, before teaming with guitarist Mark Shark to record another cassette of rock & roll and poetry, Tribal Voice (Beautiful Fables and Other Realities).

Rykodisc signedTrudell in 1992 following a tour opening forMidnight Oil. The subsequent record, also called A.K.A. Grafitti Man, features re-recorded songs from his self-released cassettes, saving Davis' preexisting guitar parts. The album also features collaborations with Davis, Shark, and Native-American vocalist Quiltman, and was produced by Jackson Browne. Trudell, with help from Shark andQuiltman, released a follow-up entitled Johnny Damas and Me for Rykodisc in 1994. Five years later, Trudell tweaked his poetic nature for Blue Indians. Nothing short of traditional vocal chants and rhythmic worldbeats, Blue Indians was a critical success. The new millennium saw a continuation of Trudell's deep reflections of his Native-American heritage. In 2002, he issued Bone Days on Amy Ray's Daemon Records and more passionate and inquisitive pieces of work surrounding politics and social issues. AMG.

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