N. Glenn Davis - Reaping the benefits of maturity and experience.

Life has a way of dictating the direction of musical careers. Although jazz drummer N. Glenn Davis studied drums with master drummer/teacher Bob McKee as a child in Cleveland and got his bachelor's degree in performance from Boston's Berklee College of Music in 1979, it's only this week that he's releasing his first CD, titled A Different View, under his own name. It's the culmination of years of playing with a host of musicians in bands of all types from serious jazz combos to orthodox Jewish wedding orchestras to Motown groups.

"I've been playing for years and years, in Boston and in New York [where he moved after attending Berklee] and back to Cleveland," Davis says. "My son was born in New York. We lived there about a year. But with the housing prices - we wanted to raise our kids in a place we could afford."

But he never left performing behind. He recalls, "I immediately got into [the local music scene]. I've played everything, private events, weddings, Motown, R&B, blues. I'm more of a jazz drummer, but you adapt and do what you need to do to make a living. I'm not a purist who will only play jazz."

Currently, Davis co-leads pop special-occasion group Images, and turns up around town playing behind blues artists Becky Boyd and Charlie Christopherson and jazz artists Dave Sterner and the Joe Hunter Trio.

Davis continued to compose his own material over the last 30 years whenever he had the time. It's that material that's really the star of his new 11-track CD. Whether it's the bright, upbeat "The Happy People," the languid "In Passing" or "It's Late," with Dave Sterner unspooling its shapely melody on a throaty tenor sax, the numbers have the easy charm and accessibility of standards. And the quartet of musicians, although all highly schooled and skilled on their instruments, doesn't showboat. Solos are brief and a listener probably won't notice any particular player most of the time, so organic are these performances which were recorded, jazz-fashion, over a three-day period at SUMA Recording in Concord Township.

In addition to Clevelander Sterner, the players include ubiquitous bassist Dallas Coffey and pianist Larry Porter, originally from Shaker Heights but now based in Germany.

"We attended Berklee at the same time but I didn't know him," says Davis. "He came back when his mom died and we were doing a gig at Turner's Mill in Hudson, subbing for other players. He checked out my stuff and liked it. He came back over in October and I gave him copies of the tunes. He went back to Germany, and Dave and Dallas and I had a couple of rehearsals. When he came back we had three or four rehearsals plus we know each other, so it came out like a working band."

It was Porter who suggested that Davis shop the CD to labels. It landing with Denver, Colorado-based Jazzed Media.

"I intended on putting it out and selling it on my own," says Davis, "but he said, "It's very good, you should be able to get this on a label.' So I contacted several labels. It's a good thing because it gives me national exposure. When I was shopping around, I went, "This is a classy kind of label, more classic jazz.' My CD fits into that. It's well-recorded, it's got a good sound, some swinging things, some different grooves. Everything on the label sounds first-class so I'm in good company."

THE OHIO SKY

The Ohio Sky (Approaching Storm)

theohiosky.com

This EP shows a lot of promise for a band trying to make it out of the local scene. Two of the songs, "Vanish" and "The Getaway," were produced by Logan Mader, who has done work with both Soulfly and Machinehead, and you can tell which two Mader did. "The Getaway" definitely seems like it's the track that will help push these four buckeyes to the top. Unfortunately, the band also sound a lot like Hurt, Hinder and Breaking Benjamin. And yet, TOS has just enough originality to keep it different. "Vanish" has a good mix of soft and hard vocals with melodic bass and guitar to keep the track exciting. - Abby Ausperk

ELEPHANT IN THE LIVING ROOM

Elephant in the Living Room (self-released)

myspace.com/elephantinthelivingroom

With musicians as young as age 17, Elephant in the Living Room is a band with a very soft but unique sound. Although its indie sound may still need some tweaking, these four guys show strong potential for getting rid of that local label with this EP. "Birds Have Landed" is a little slow but is very well-written and really shows what these guys are capable of. Having made the High School Rockoff Finals two years in a row has definitely helped EITLR's reputation among local crowds. The band's also gigged regularly around town and has a full-length in the works. - AA