Keys to His kingdom

>> House legend Roy Davis Jr. keeps the faith

by RUPERT BOTTENBERG

It's been said that God works in mysterious ways, but sometimes He's pretty straightforward. Like when He sabotaged the alarm clock of a singer due for a session with Chicago house luminary Roy Davis Jr.

"Singing was nothing I really used to do, to be honest," says Davis. "What happened was a vocalist didn't show up in the studio one day, and I had to get this song out of my system. So I just prayed and asked God to allow the holy spirit to work through me and my music, so that it would touch people--and I found myself singing. My cousin, who was my manager, just flipped out. My whole family was coming around to hear it, and it brought tears to their eyes. That's when I knew that the gift God gave me was supposed to be used."

Davis' devotion to Christ is what fuels Traxx From the Nile, his excellent new CD on the Bombay label. Numbers like the deeply moving "Join His Kingdom" radiate an honest, uplifting spirituality--something one can argue has eroded within the house scene.

"When house started out back in the day, with Marshall Jefferson and Ten City and those guys, it was a spiritual thing and it was all about love. The times change, and as they do, more people get involved. So sometimes you have a dark side to it. But when I was young, going to parties and everything, it was a peaceful and lovable kind of vibe. Everybody got along, there was no racial tension, there were no people trying to bring you down. Everybody was just dancing for the joy and the love."

Davis knows there's still room for that. He brings his faith to the club scene in good faith, leading through example, not intimidation. "All my life I was raised in church. Then I got out into the world, and when my music gradually started to change was when I found out that God was still there with me. I went through so much drama in the music industry, so I thought, well, these people are going to need a chance, an opportunity to see what I've found. So I just try my best to help by giving information and all in my music, if I can. I'm not trying to say, 'Oh, you should be this religion or that.' It's just about believing in God and Christ."

Soul rebirth

The other example Davis offers is that of quality tunesmithing. His track record runs back to the dawn of Chicago house, but it was his '96 hit "Gabrielle" that catapulted him to the forefront. Subsequent efforts have seen him reaching back to the glory days of the '70s and the creator-driven soul of Curtis Mayfield and Stevie Wonder, through live instrumentation and tracks that evolve as songs, not endless loops.

"I love the electronic side of it, but I also have the soul side in me, just by growing up watching my uncles and my mother playing instruments. That had to rub off on me, and eventually I was able to incorporate it into my house music. As I kept going and went past the future stage of total electronics, I started to become who I was, as an individual, and tried to insert live bass players, or play live percussion myself, or strum on a guitar and come up with things."

Having worked with the likes of D'Angelo and Mary J. Blige, Davis is happy to note a similar reawakening in R&B. "In the late '80s, it became so computerized that the brothers lost their soul! There were so many computers around and we used the MIDI so much that we forgot how to play. Now is a time when we're getting musicians out of churches and we're actually re-teaching ourselves to create."

Creating successfully, Davis agrees, is a matter of passion and stamina, not shortcuts and gimmicks--"In order for it to have what I call that eternal sound, a sound that can go on from generation to generation. I want my kids to be able to know about their father, who I was as an individual. When they go back the past and listen to my albums, they'll say, 'Wow, so this is what dad was trying to tell us.' You never know how long you're going to be around. When life is short, it's good to leave something sweet."

These days he's gearing up to sweeten the soundtrack to the next Blade film, thanks to his friendship with actor Wesley Snipes, with whom he's now starting a production company. It'll be interesting to see how Davis brings his healing light to the very dark world of Snipe's vampire hunter. "I'm not trying to force any issues, or put my music somewhere where there's a stab scene," he laughs. "I'm very careful about all that. Whatever God allows my music to be, without any headaches, I'm down with that."

CD launch at Sona bar on Saturday, Dec. 16, 10pm, $25