Artist Statement

 

Music is a language not beholden to notes, and language is music, not limited to words. The written word implies the sound of the human voice. So the elements of music - rhythm, tempo, timbre, accent and pitch, carry as much import as words and images. 

 

I rarely know what I’m trying to say until I’ve said it. Years ago, the great jazz pianist Joanne Brackeen, when asked how she composed music said, “I don’t really compose music…I observe it.” I had never thought about the creative process that way. Which is not to say that to observe, receive or be in wait for the muse implies a lack of discipline. To be aware and receptive is to be fully engaged. The discipline comes upon capture; staying with it as the grain of the wood directs and reveals the shape of the piece. It’s the work that isn’t work. And that’s a kind of love.

 

What matters to me is the telling of stories, whether they have a narrative arc or not. Most important is to tell the truth, to offer only the organic transmission of what bumps around and blows through the heart and mind.  Sometimes a piece is left with its imperfections on the page because quite simply, it’s done.  Other times the decision to put in the comma, take out the comma, becomes a wrangling that in the light of day seems overwrought.  It’s about seeking the golden middle between over-nurturing and benign neglect. And that’s a kind of love, too. 

 

Bio

 

Dee Kohanna Davis is a poet, lyricist, vocalist and voice and writing coach. She won the SuRaa award for short fiction for her story Green Dolphy and her poetry has been published in Porter Gulch Review and the Network. Her lyrics have been recorded by various artists, among them Janis Siegal of Manhattan Transfer.

 

Dee sings her original lyrics on a recently remastered jazz album, Little Theaters, which can be found on Bandcamp. She has taught at the Berklee College of Music in Boston, the Aula de Música in Barcelona and for the Norwegian Jazz Federation in Sund, Norway.

 

A native New Yorker, Dee came to Santa Cruz to study Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) at Five Branches University. Combining modalities of TCM with a broad spectrum of vocal techniques, she created Five Element Voicework.

 

In alignment with the principles of Chinese Five Element Theory, she offers analysis and coaching in order to open channels for expression that are genuine and compelling. Dee’s clients have included a political candidate in Pennsylvania, a yoga teacher in Jakarta and an industrial designer in Denmark. She is working towards certification as a Qi Gong teacher with an interest in the intersection of sound and the Chinese healing arts.

 

Green Dolphy, a collection of Dee’s work, will be released as an ebook with audio in early 2025.