St. Louis Blues

Spanky Davis

Ronald J. "Spanky" Davis (March 6, 1943, Indianapolis, Indiana - October 23, 2014, Manahawkin, New Jersey) was an American jazz trumpeter.Davis played early on with Charlie Palmieri (1979), Sam Jones (1979–82), Machito (1980–81), and Benny Goodman (1982–83). He toured Ireland with Al Cohn in 1983-84, then played with Bob Haggart in 1984-85. Concurrently, he also led the house band at Jimmy Ryan's in New York City from 1980, directly following Roy Eldridge 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, Joe Muranyi, and Eddie Locke. Davis led a quartet with Locke, Richard Wyan… more »