Seth Davis | Music Technology

Seth Andrew Davis is a performer, composer, improviser, technologist, and educator from the Kansas City area. Davis is involved in the improvised music/free improvisation, experimental, and electronic music scenes in Kansas City. Davis’ music runs the gamut of compositions for orchestral and chamber ensembles, performances with free-jazz/free improvised music ensembles and large groups, solo performance, collaborations with dancers and video artists, and the design and collaboration of autonomous and interactive artificial life agents and 3D environments. Davis graduated from the University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory of Music and Dance in Kansas City, Mo. in 2019 with a BM in Music Composition. Davis has studied with Jim Mobberley, Paul Rudy, Zhou Long, Chen Yi, Mara Gibson and Michael Miller. In 2023, Davis graduated with an MA in Music with an emphasis in Music Technology from the University of Central Missouri where he studied with Jeff Kaiser. 

Davis has performed and has had his music performed in the United States, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Malaysia, Mexico and Indonesia. Davis has had his work performed at various conferences and festivals including the New York City Electro-Acoustic Music Festival, Kansas City Performing Media Festival, Kansas City Contemporary Music Festival, NASA Regional IV Conference, Electronic Music Midwest, Exchange of Midwest Collegiate Composers, the International Navy Saxophone Symposium, National Flute Association Convention, Making Moves Dance Festival, MoxSonic, Experiments in Electronic Sound at CalArts, New Interfaces For Musical Expression (NIME), & the International Computer Music Conference (ICMC). 

Davis has had pieces performed by the Mnemosyne Quartet, Project C4, Dionysus, Second Nature Ensemble, Chi Him Chik, Sputter Box, Apply Triangle, loadbang, EMAS, No Treble Low String Trio, UCM New Technologies Ensemble, newEar Contemporary Chamber Ensemble, & the Symbiotique Nonet and has either performed, recorded and/or collaborated with Alexander Adams, Ishmael Ali, Ben Baker Billington, T.J. Borden, Kevin Cheli, Douglas R. Ewart, Timothy Daisy, Sandy Ewen, Vinny Golia, Jessica Ackerley, Dan Clucas, Kyle Hutchins, Jeff Kaiser, Scott R. Looney, Patrick Shiroishi, Damon Smith,Jason Stein, Weasel Walter, Will Yager, among others. Davis has performed with groups such as the newEar Contemporary Chamber Ensemble, Mnemosyne Quartet, Project C4, UCM New Technologies Ensemble & the UMKC IMP Ensemble. Davis’s music has been featured and released on labels such as EMAS Records, Lurker Bias, Neuma Records, Mother Brain Records, Personal Archives, Ramble Records, and Relay Recordings. Within the visual arts and dance worlds, Davis has collaborated with the BLEEPBLOOP collective and KC Contemporary Dance.

Davis’ composition and performance style has been described as “brutalist maximalism”, a “workmanlike Renaissance Soundman” (KC Studio Magazine). Davis’ playing has been described as “moving from bubbling liquid mercury and emotive string speculation to surgical-edged metallics and everything in between” (Brad Rose, Foxy Digitalis) and has been called a “master of pedals/effects'' (Bruce Lee Gallanter, Downtown Music Gallery). Davis’ music has been described as “confrontational” (Bill Brownlee, There Stands The Glass),  “engaging...thoughtfully composed” (Aaron Grant, DiaKCritcal), “fascinating and foreboding, eerie music that challenges and rewards with repeated listens' ' (Bryan Voell, Listen Local) & “futuristic bubbling soundscapes that teem with sonic life”  (Brad Rose, Foxy Digitalis). Davis was featured as an “Artist to Watch” by KC Studio in 2023 and along with Evan Verploegh as 2022’s “Plastic Sax” blog’s “People Of The Year.”  

As an artist, Davis works closely with performers and collaborators to create pieces, installations, and works that are unique to that partnership. Davis is an avid collaborator, having worked with choreographers, video artists, animators, playwrights etc. Davis’s artistic influences run the gamut from popular music, free-jazz, hip-hop, electronic music, film, literature, visual art, contemporary culture and from this Davis wishes to blur the lines between genres, composer and performer, and various artistic mediums. Davis is also a co-founder of Second Nature, a free jazz/new music/math-rock ensemble, was the guitarist in the new music ensemble Project C4 (2018-2020), and is a founding member of EMAS: Extemporaneous Music & Arts Society. Davis is also an active concert organizer in the Kansas City music scene as the Vice President of KcEMA (Kansas City Electronic Music Alliance) and as the Production Coordinator of newEar Contemporary Chamber Ensemble. In 2020, Davis co-founded Mother Brain Records with saxophonist & composer Michael Eaton. Mother Brain Records is a Midwest based label focused on releasing the works of artists in the experimental & improvised music scenes. From 2019-2022, Davis was an artist resident with Charlotte Street Foundation. In 2021, Davis co-founded EMAS (Extemporaneous Music & Arts Society) along with Evan Verploegh. EMAS is an improvised music & arts collective based in Kansas City that is dedicated to advancing creative work in Kansas City. Davis currently is an adjunct instructor at the University of Central Missouri teaching Applied Music Technology and at the Kansas City Art Institute teaching music technology courses.