JAY DAVENPORT - Drums
Born in 1960, Jay Davenport grew up on the south side of Chicago, listening to jazz, jazz-fusion and lots of 70's R&B. Particularly influenced by Billy Cobham and Steve Gadd, he set out to find his niche, playing with local soul and fusion bands early in his career. After a stint with south suburban Harvey's "The Dells," he wandered up north to the famed Kingston Mines, where he connected with blues/rock harmonica legend Sugar Blue, and Jay's blues career was quickly underway.

Early in their relationship, Blue wanted more expertise in traditional blues drumming, so he hooked Jay up with retired longtime Chess Records/Bo Diddley drummer, Clifton James, who agreed to mentor him. One day, Jay brought Cliff home to meet his parents, who, to his surprise, recognized James instantly. It turned out that Clifton was an old family friend from "back in the day," and after a warm reunion, the relationship really sparkled and the two got together frequently to play, discuss drumming and drummers- and life in general. James was adamant that Jay continue to infuse new ideas into his blues drumming-crediting his own creativity with his success and longevity-while mastering the fundamentals.

Jay blossomed into a high demand player on the Chicago Blues scene, playing with many relevant bands including Junior Wells, Valerie Wellington, Pinetop Perkins, Dion Payton, "Southside" Denny Snyder, Gloria Hardiman, Jimmie Johnson, J.W. Williams and Carlos Johnson. He has spent the past several years manning the drum kit for virtuoso west-side guitarist Melvin Taylor, whose most recent bass player was Greg Rzab.

When Greg got word that John Mayall was putting together a new blues band for 2009, he called Jay and asked him if he was interested in the prospect of playing some good down home blues-rock. John in turn liked the idea of having a Chicago rhythm section and the gig was locked. We hope that audiences around the world will be happy with the new interpretations of Mayall classics old and new.