This songbook is the culmination of a journey that composer-pianist Roger Davidson undertook seriously in the late 1980s, when he began to devote a considerable slice of his talents to jazz. He was already well on his way to becoming the musician he now is: a polyglot with a passion for exploring a rainbow of styles, from chamber and symphonic works and sacred choral music to tango, bossa nova, klezmer, and, of course, jazz. His wealth of recordings on the Soundbrush label reveal an artist with a mission to break down walls; to unite, not divide.

The one hundred original jazz songs in this book share the threads that mark all of Roger’s work: a dedication to melody and a desire to communicate through beauty. According to Michael G. Nastos of AllMusic Guide, Roger has a way of “reaching for the inner soul” in his jazz work. That has always been his goal.

“I think jazz is much more than a set of chords you blow on,” he says. “To me, the harmony is super-important but the melody is paramount. Some tunes are particularly good to improvise on. Since I’ve always been an improviser—that’s what I’ve been best at as a player all my life—I fell into jazz very naturally.” Now Roger has gathered a hundred of his jazz compositions in this book as a font of fresh material for improvising musicians and arrangers.

He was set on this path by a hallowed name in jazz: the manager and producer Helen Keane, best known for her association with Bill Evans in the last seventeen years of his life. “It was Helen,” says Roger, “who introduced me to jazz when I was a little kid.” Though born in Paris to a French mother and an American father, Roger grew up in New York, and he and Keane’s son Chris were best friends in elementary school. “We’d listen to music together all the time. His mom took us to recording sessions a number of times, including one by Woody Herman. She gave me what I think was the  first jazz record I ever had, a duo recording of Bill Evans and Jim Hall called Intermodulation.”

By the early 1990s, Roger had earned a master’s degree in composition from Boston University and another one in choral conducting from  Westminster Choir College in Princeton, New Jersey. In 1987, Keane attended a performance of a choral work he had written; Roger himself was the pianist. “She said, ‘Great performance—wonderful playing. So how about jazz?’”

That question had long been in the back of his head. It was magnified at Stanford University in Northern California, where he attended jazz workshops  led by Stan Getz, Dizzy Gillespie and Jim McNeely. Roger accepted Keane’s challenge. She went on to produce his first jazz album, a trio date with two exceptional musicians, bassist David Finck and drummer Dave Ratajczak. It was later released on Soundbrush Records under the title Ten to  Twelve.

On it he played a mixture of standards and some of his first jazz originals. Hundreds have followed. In that time, Roger has grown in his admiration for certain jazz composers who came before him; he mentions not only Evans and Gillespie but Benny Golson, Mel Tormé, George Shearing and Andy  Razaf. Like all of them, he feels that good jazz melodies “have to flow very well” over a bed of “harmonies that support improvisation.” Then comes the matter of rhythm. “For me, the core of jazz is swing rhythms and the blues. Most of my jazz tunes are in various kinds of swing rhythms, even if they’re  ballads. But to me jazz is not only about swing: It also builds musical bridges. Stan Getz was a bridge-builder between Brazil and the US. So was Dizzy Gillespie, in multiple ways. And I love bebop, so I’ve written a couple of tunes that come out of that vein as well.”

Other influences inform these songs. A favorite childhood album of Roger’s was Stan Getz and João Gilberto’s Getz/Gilberto, which helped create the  genre of Brazilian jazz. That record launched Roger’s lifelong fascination with the music of Brazil. That love affair that has been borne out in several of  is albums, including Rodgers in Rio, Journey to Rio, Bom Dia, Brazilian Love Song, and Music from the Heart; and in various compositions in this book.  Blue Samba” is a pulsing example of Roger’s approach to Brazilian jazz, while “Autumn” (originally “Outono,” the Portuguese translation of that word) is  surging ballad with an unusual chord progression that goes to unexpected places. It evokes hazy twilight and the approaching turn of season; you  an almost see the leaves and sky changing as you listen.

Nature is a prevailing theme in Roger’s songs; it surrounds him in his two homes, one in upstate New York and the other in San Diego, California.  Country Drive” evokes a breezy sense of whizzing through winding pathways and turning sudden corners. “To me this song conveys a feeling of a jaunt in the country, maybe in a little antique car,” he says. “It’s like a quick fox trot. Because I’ve done a lot of dancing, the music has to make me dance,  specially if it’s an up-tempo tune.” 

The wistful, reflective “Clouds Above” is “about as melancholy as my music ever gets,” Roger notes. “It conveys grey clouds above — but the sunshine comes back at the end of the tune, when it ends on a major chord. I always try to bring the mood up at the end of a tune, not down.” As he knows, jazz often grew out of struggle, frustration, and loss, but his approach is a lot brighter. “There can be some sadness in my music, but not darkness. I have a lot of feelings and I put them into all kinds of music, but I don’t get lost in sadness.” That’s why his brand of blues—exemplified by “Bubbly Blues” and  Blues in the Morning”— is generally upbeat.

Other historic jazz traditions are represented. “Along the River” is an irrepressibly joyful portrait of New Orleans as jazz was being born. “A lot of my influences come from New Orleans,” says Roger. “I love Dixieland. I find myself going back there musically quite often.” Another of his favorite eras  s captured in “City Bop,” a throwback to an age when bebop songwriting was tuneful, toe tapping, and catchy. “To me this song conveys the activity  and the frenetic pace of the city,” he says. Dizzy Gillespie’s bebop touchstone, “A Night in Tunisia,” gets a passing wave.

Roger’s classical roots crop up even in his jazz tunes. “Sometimes,” he explains, “I find myself quoting from earlier composers.” The book contains his spoof of Richard Strauss’s Till Eugenspiegel’s Merry Pranks; he calls it “Till Eugenspiegel’s Blues.” Roger’s half-French heritage is another running theme in his work. “Valse de Rêve” (Dream Waltz) is the product of his love of the French impressionists, notably Ravel and Debussy. “Les Toits de  Paris” (The Roofs of Paris) is one of the more recent songs in this collection, but it sounds, he says, “as if I wrote it a hundred years ago.”

The book contains quite a few songs that were inspired by key people in Roger’s life. “We Remember Helen” is the title song of his 2011 CD homage to Keane. Two other pieces, “For Helen” and “A Tune for Helen,” give further proof of the deep impact she had on his life. “Harold’s Jaunt” salutes  Harold Danko, the veteran jazz pianist and educator, known to many for his associations with Chet Baker and the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis big band. “I  wrote this tune in 1998 while I  was a student of his in New York,” says Roger. Brisk and angular, “it adds another bebop flavor to the book,” he says.

His wife Nilcelia is one of his constant inspirations. He composed the ballad “Love So Rare” for her—“because it is literally a love so rare that we have.  I’m grateful for her every day.” Greg Wall is a saxophone player with whom he recorded the 1995 album Mango Tango; Roger immortalized the  kindness of Greg and his wife in “Ballad for Greg and Rona.” The perky, buoyant theme of “New Morning” occurred to him as he dove into the compositions of Lewis Nash. “I got an idea from one of his tunes and I used it to begin this song, which has a clear motif that repeats itself.”

Everyone who knows Roger is aware of his deep connection to spirituality. Years ago he founded the Society for Universal Sacred Music, created to  nurture music “with a message of unity and aspiration that includes all humanity.” The Society, which produced concerts over a period of several  years, presented new choral pieces by composers from around the world. And it’s no surprise to hear Roger say that gospel music has been “a major  influence for me.” He wrote “Dance of Faith” during a recording session with David Finck and Lewis Nash; they recorded it instantly. The song conveys  Roger’s vision of the rollicking, euphoric spirit of gospel.

Within these pages is a broad swath of his jazz composing, with all its many shapes and sounds and its grateful nods to styles from all over the globe. The main motif is optimism — for Roger Davidson’s musical world is a place where hope reigns and songs are meant to uplift.

—James Gavin, New York City, 2023

[James Gavin’s books include biographies of Chet Baker, Lena Horne, and Peggy Lee; his articles have appeared in the New York Times, Los Angeles  Times, NPR Music, and Time Out New York.]