Joe Davis (music publisher)
| Joe Davis | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Joseph M. Davis |
| Born |
October 6, 1896 New York City, United States |
| Died | September 3, 1978 (aged 81) Richmond, Virginia, United States |
| Genres | Jazz, R&B, pop |
| Occupation(s) | Producer, publisher, promoter |
Joseph M. "Joe" Davis (October 6, 1896 – September 3, 1978) was an American music producer, publisher and promoter in jazz, rhythm and blues and pop music.
Joe Davis was born in New York City. In the late 1910s and 1920s he worked as a songwriter and singer who recorded for Columbia Records. In the mid-1920s he had been responsible for placing dozens of blues and pop singers under his management with major and minor labels, while pursuing a radio and recording career as "Joe Davis, The Melody Man" and operating Triangle Music Publishing Co., which was founded in 1919 with the help of George F. Briegel (1890–1968).
He has to be considered as an important influence for Fats Waller, having actually talked the shy, reluctant Waller into considering a performing career. Davis pushed Waller to compose seriously for the piano (as "African Ripples" 1931). Davis' name was found as 'songwriter' of Waller songs such as "Alligator Crawl" (1927) and "Our Love Was Meant To Be", also the Andy Razaf titles "Alexander's Back in Town" and "After I've Spent My Best Years on You". Davis managed to cheat Razaf out of royalties to "S'posin'", which was written to Paul Denniker's music. As a publisher Davis worked with Porter Grainger ("Wylie Avenue Blues", 1927), Howard Johnson ("Florida Flo"), Chris Smith, Alex Hill, Spencer Williams, Carson Robison, Tom Delaney,J. C. Johnson, and Claude Hopkins. Davis dropped the Triangle imprint in the 1930s and replaced it with Joe Davis, Inc. He sold the firm in 1939 and went into the record manufacturing business.
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