Jeremy
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PHOTOGRAPHS BY GEOFF JOHNSON & BEAU KESTER
H STORY BY JEVON
JEREMY DAVIS AND CLAY JOHNSON HAVE BEEN FRIENDS SINCE THEY
WERE YOUNG BOYS. THEY DID EVERYTHING TOGETHER INCLUDING GET-
TING MARRIED TWO WEEKS APART! BOTH MUSIC LOVERS SINCE CHILD-
HOOD, THEY HAVE JOINED FORCES IN THE FABULOUS EQUINOX ORCHES-
TRA, TAKEN THE SHOW AROUND AMERICA, AND NOW HAVE BIG PLANS FOR
THEIR BAND, WHICH JUST ENTERED ITS 15TH YEAR.
B
But this isn’t your grandfather’s music.
When you go to an Equinox show, you get a
ramped-up ready-to-rip band of expert musi-
cians who throw everything they have learned
along this journey into it. Entertained you
will be. Laugh and dance you will. The force is
strong here. These two transplants from Loui-
siana mean big business
Growing up a Jazz musician, Jeremy
Davis’ heroes blew saxophones. A career in
jazz seemed like something he wanted. But
somewhere along the way, spreading joy and
seeing a wide variety of people come together in
the name of music took precedence. The word
“jazz” gives us all a preconceived notion right
away. Are the guys in the Fabulous Equinox
Orchestra great musicians? You can bet they
are. But they also realize the importance of
entertainment. Goals. You’ve all read about
them on Instagram. “Getting people to ‘unplug’
from their digital lives” is something Jeremy
Davis said that resonates within all of us. A
team of arrangers have given new life to songs
by Roy Orbison, Huey Lewis and more. Can
these guys do Sinatra? Surely. But there is also
the “equinox thing.” You hear songs from other
genres that you wouldn’t expect. “This is my
job in the world,” states Davis. Playing music
across the U.S every gig became an “experiment
in humanity.”
Seeing people react in 54 different cities was
great, but there is much more, explained Clay
Johnson. “Did Jeremy tell you the story about
Arkansas?” Outreach is also something the guys
want to “teach the kids.....things you don’t learn
when you get a music degree.” For two days, the
jazz band at the University of Arkansas becam