Ronald J. "Spanky" Davis (b. March 6, 1943, Indianapolis, Indiana

Indianapolis, Indiana

Indianapolis is the capital of the U.S. state of Indiana, and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city's population is 839,489. It is by far Indiana's largest city and, as of the 2010 U.S...

) is an American jazz

Jazz

Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...

 trumpeter.

Davis played early on with Charlie Palmieri

Charlie Palmieri

Charlie Palmieri was a renowned Bandleader and musical director of salsa music. He was known as "The Giant of the Keyboards".-Early years:...

 (1979), Sam Jones

Samuel Jones (musician)

Samuel Jones was a jazz bassist, cellist, and composer.Sam Jones was born in Jacksonville, FL and moved to New York city in 1955. There, Jones played with Bobby Timmons, Tiny Bradshaw, Les Jazz Modes, Kenny Dorham, Illinois Jacquet, Freddie Hubbard, Dizzy Gillespie and Thelonious Monk...

 (1979–82), Machito

Machito

Machito , born as Francisco Raúl Gutiérrez Grillo, was an influential Latin jazz musician who helped refine Afro-Cuban jazz and create both Cubop and salsa music...

 (1980–81), and Benny Goodman

Benny Goodman

Benjamin David “Benny” Goodman was an American jazz and swing musician, clarinetist and bandleader; widely known as the "King of Swing".In the mid-1930s, Benny Goodman led one of the most popular musical groups in America...

 (1982–83). He toured Ireland

Ireland

Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

 with Al Cohn

Al Cohn

Al Cohn was an American jazz saxophonist and arranger and composer.-Biography:Alvin Gilbert Cohn was born in Brooklyn, New York. He was initially known in the 1940s for playing in Woody Herman's Second Herd as one of the Four Brothers, along with Zoot Sims, Stan Getz, and Serge Chaloff...

 in 1983-84, then played with Bob Haggart

Bob Haggart

Robert Sherwood Haggart was a dixieland jazz double bass player, composer and arranger...

 in 1984-85. Concurrently, he also led the house band at Jimmy Ryan's in New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

 from 1980, directly following Roy Eldridge

Roy Eldridge

Roy David Eldridge , nicknamed "Little Jazz" was an American jazz trumpet player. His sophisticated use of harmony, including the use of tritone substitutions, his virtuosic solos and his strong influence on Dizzy Gillespie mark him as one of the most exciting musicians of the swing era and a...

 in this position. Jimmy Ryan's closed in 1983, but Davis continued to lead this band in other performances as Jimmy Ryan's All-Stars; this ensemble continued to be active into the late 1990s, and counted among its sidemen Ted Sturgis

Ted Sturgis

Ted Sturgis was an American jazz bassist.Sturgis started on piano at age five and played alto saxophone, guitar and drums in addition to bass. He primarily played double-bass, although he played electric bass on some recordings late in life...

, Joe Muranyi

Joe Muranyi

Joseph P. "Joe" Muranyi is an American jazz clarinetist, producer and critic.Muranyi studied with Lennie Tristano but is primarily interested in early jazz styles such as Dixieland and swing. After playing in an United States Army Air Forces band, he moved to New York City in the 1950s and...

, and Eddie Locke

Eddie Locke

Eddie Locke was an American jazz drummer.Locke was associated with the Detroit jazz scene in the 1940s and 1950s, playing from 1948 to 1953 with drummer Oliver Jackson in a variety show called Bop & Locke...

. Davis led a quartet with Locke, Richard Wyands

Richard Wyands

Richard Wyands is a hard bop pianist best known as a side-man. He began playing in his teens in San Francisco, but later moved to New York City. He worked with Kenny Burrell in the 1960s and also played in Gigi Gryce's quintet...

, and Murray Wall

Murray Wall

Murray James Wall is an Australian jazz double bassist.Wall was an autodidact on double bass, having learned by playing along with records by Oscar Pettiford. He began playing professionally in 1962 and played with visiting musicians such as Clark Terry, Mel Torme, and Billy Eckstine...

 from 1986, in addition to playing with the Savoy Sultans

Savoy Sultans

-Savoy Sultans :The original Savoy Sultans were formed by saxophonist Al Cooper, and played at the Savoy Ballroom from 1937 to 1946. This small swing jazz ensemble was comprised, at various times, Jack Chapman, Sam Massenberg, Jesse Drakes and Pat Jenkins on trumpets; Skinny Brown, Rudy Williams,...

 from 1984-91. In the mid-1980s he did work with Arvell Shaw

Arvell Shaw

Arvell Shaw was an American jazz double-bassist, best known for his work with Louis Armstrong....

 as part of Armstrong Legacy. He played as a sideman with Buck Clayton

Buck Clayton

Buck Clayton was an American jazz trumpet player who was a leading member of Count Basie’s "Old Testament" orchestra and a leader of mainstream-oriented jam session recordings in the 1950s. His principal influence was Louis Armstrong...

 from 1986 to 1992 and toured with Buddy Tate between 1986 and 1990; he also accompanied Ruth Brown

Ruth Brown

Ruth Brown was an American pop and R&B singer-songwriter, record producer, composer and actress, noted for bringing a pop music style to R&B music in a series of hit songs for Atlantic Records in the 1950s, such as "So Long", "Teardrops from My Eyes" and " He Treats Your Daughter Mean".For these...

 in 1989, Annie Ross

Annie Ross

Annie Ross is an English jazz singer, and actress, best known as a member of the trio Lambert, Hendricks & Ross.-Early years:...

 in 1991-92 and Frank Sinatra

Frank Sinatra

Francis Albert "Frank" Sinatra was an American singer and actor.Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became an unprecedentedly successful solo artist in the early to mid-1940s, after being signed to Columbia Records in 1943. Being the idol of the...

 in 1991-93. From 1997 he played in Chuck Folds

Chuck Folds

Chuck Folds is a musician living in North Carolina. More notably he is the younger brother of the piano playing pop/rock star Ben Folds. Chuck has played bass in a number of bands since the late 1980s, including Bus Stop with Evan Olson, Britt "Snuzz" Uzzell, and Eddie Walker. Bus Stop...

's group at Sweet Basil in New York.