MORE ABOUT JESSE ED DAVIS

“From the Rolling Stones’ 1968 Rock and Roll Circus to George Harrison’s 1971 all-star Concert for Bangladesh to an arena tour with Rod Stewart and the Faces, through his brotherly bond with John Lennon, Jesse Ed Davis shaped the sounds of popular music. When few Indigenous musicians appeared on major concert stages, radio waves, and record store walls, Davis was seen and heard, from Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York to London, Paris, and Berlin. Maneuvering between Hollywood studios and the courts of British rock royalty, he was a producer, insider, and key collaborator.

As frontman, sideman, guitarist, pianist, producer, bandleader, and more, the multi-talented Davis worked with over one hundred major artists, including Bob Dylan, John Lennon, George Harrison, Ringo Starr, Johnny Cash, Gram Parsons, Taj Mahal, the Rolling Stones, the Allman Brothers, Jackson Browne, Eric Clapton, B.B. King, John Lee Hooker, Emmylou Harris, Leon Russell, Harry Nilsson, Leonard Cohen, Gene Clark, Arlo Guthrie, Joe Cocker, Steve Miller, Cher, Rod Stewart and the Faces, and too many more to list here.

Davis also made three solo albums during the early 1970s, while simultaneously becoming one of the most coveted session guitarists in Hollywood, contributing to eight top-ten albums, seven top-ten singles, and dozens more top-twenty and top-forty records. He worked in pop, folk, jazz, rock, country, blues, and more. ‘My discography would be as long as my arm, probably,’ he said. That was an understatement.”

— Douglas K. Miller

The Legacy of Jesse Ed Davis

Presented by the Venice Heritage Museum in partnership with the Bob Dylan Center