11/25/2009 10:53:00 AM Mannheim Steamroller brings distinctive brand
of Christmas music to Prescott Valley
Musician Chip Davis, center, shares a light moment with members of Mannheim Steamroller group that will perform in Prescott Valley on Dec. 5.
Courtesy Photo/ SoundTrak Inc.
By Cheryl Hartz Reporter
When musician Chip Davis sought a record company for his first album under the Mannheim Steamroller name, everybody turned him down. So, he created the American Gramaphone label and sold it himself. Thirty years later, Davis has two bands to take his distinctive musical arrangements on tour.
"Who'd have thought?" Davis marveled in a recent telephone interview from St. Louis, where he was attending a horse show. "Most bands go backwards, but we're actually growing and going forward."
His West Coast tour is coming to Prescott Valley's Tim's Toyota Center Saturday, Dec. 5.
The cast includes original Mannheim Steamroller members Jackson and Almeda Berkey, a husband and wife team who play keyboard instruments and synthesizers. Ron Cooley, on bass, lute and classical guitar, also has been with the group "since near the beginning," Davis said. Percussionist/recorder player Roxanne Layton was a member of the Boston Symphony when she won a contest to attend a Mannheim concert.
"She came and played recorder, worked her way backstage and met me," Davis recalled. "I said, 'Want to play in the band?' She played percussion opposite me, now she plays opposite Logan Penington."
Penington, who handles drums and recorders, came to the band via his dad, Chuck, a 25-year band member and current conductor, keyboardist and percussionist in the East Coast tour group.
Becky Kia, conductor and violinist for the West Coast tour, is a relative newcomer in comparison.
"We're all great friends, with no egos and no problems. We get together outside of work. There's a reason we've been around for 30 years," Davis said.
His own role has changed, however. Following neck surgery for a pinched nerve - the ultimate result of going through a car windshield 30 years ago - Davis can no longer perform with the band. The right-hander lost the use of his right hand, but he's not bitter. Doctors had told him the surgery could be risky.
"They even said I might die, but I had such a massive amount of pain, I was blinded by it. I performed like that for two years," Davis said. "I don't think I'm ever going to recover. The nerve paths haven't grown back. But there's zero pain now."
The recovery included further difficulties when his wife filed for divorce and took the three kids, Kelly, now 18, Evan, 13, and Elyse, 10.
"It was the lowest I've been in my entire life," Davis said. "We rescaled the company, everything crashed and burned."
But six months later, his daughter introduced him to horse trainer, Sarah Jo Snell (and fifth generation granddaughter of Daniel Boone) and they found a diamond-in-the-rough in a Warlander horse (mixed Lusitano/Friesian/Andulasian), Storm Shadow, that's now No. 1 in the nation.
"He's stunning with a butterscotch body and black Friesian mane and tail," Davis said. "At two years he is 15-3 (hands) and probably will go to 16-2. I'm having a lot of fun going to horse shows. It's kind of the same as the music business but a diversion into a different world."
Davis found his fortune with a diversion from traditional Christmas music fare. But the Ohio native, who now divides his time between Omaha, Jackson Hole and Marathon, Flor., first went through stints as a music teacher and advertising jingle writer. The latter produced a hit single, "Convoy" by the fictional C.W. McCall, and a movie starring Kris Kristofferson, and contributed to the CB radio craze of the 1975.
After those huge successes, Davis recorded the first Fresh Aire album - what he called 18th century classic rock - but experienced only rejection from the music industry. Thus was born his own record label.
He since has produced many Fresh Aire albums, along with specialty offerings for Halloween, Valentine's Day and patriotic occasions, and his latest, Music of the Spheres, an ambitious project with NASA about space topics.
And, of course, his nearly annual Christmas albums.
"I remember exactly when I decided to do Christmas music," Davis said. "I had a record of Renaissance music with a lot of recorders in it from the 1400s. I was playing along with the records and thought, 'Why don't I do some of that?'"
He said what makes Mannheim music is a mixture of textures and three elemental styles: all acoustic using ancient Renaissance instruments, all electronic, and half and half. He often incorporates large ensembles on stage, from the 75-piece Prague Symphony to the 400-member Mormon Tabernacle Choir.
This Christmas season, he's released a 25th anniversary collection of old favorites with a new twist.
"I made it for the very reason that a lot of people have lost tapes over the years or had kids who took them to college," Davis said. "It's an opportunity to recreate, a compilation of the best of the best."
Although Davis doesn't perform with the group, he just might make a surprise appearance in Prescott Valley, as he said he will be at Canyon Ranch in Tucson promoting his health line.
"It's only about a 40-minute plane ride from there," he said.
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