by Caroline Gabsewics
Staff Writer
From teaching music at high schools and colleges around the country, to working at Disney World as the band director and currently the director of the St. Johns River City Band, Michael Davis still has more he would like to accomplish.
“I am a person who does a lot of stuff,” said Davis. “I love music and teaching, and now that I am retired I can do things that I want to do musically.”
Davis retired from his position at Disney World in 2001 because he wanted to write books and do some other things musically. Within the same year he interviewed for a job as the director of the St. Johns River City Band and was hired. Until Diantha Grant took over as executive director in 2006, Davis did both jobs.
“After being here and doing both jobs, I was away from home a lot and family issues pulled me towards home,” he said. “Diantha has been doing a great job as executive director.”
The ‘happiest place on earth’
Before coming to the St. Johns River City Band, Davis spent 25 years at Disney World and said Disney is a wonderful company to work for. Davis didn’t go to Disney World looking for a job. While he was at James Madison University as the director of bands, Disney asked him to be the director of All-American College Marching Bands. He accepted and lived in Orlando for the summers of 1979 and 1980. A year later, he was offered the job as band director for Disney World.
“For the first part of my time at Disney, I was known as ‘Major Mike’ while I was the band director,” he said. “I later became the manager of atmosphere, talent and educational programs. That (atmosphere) meant when you walked into an area of the park, there had to be entertainment there.”
Davis has many memories from his time at Disney and he worked with some of Hollywood’s and TV’s biggest names: James Earl Jones, Joan Lunden, Walter Cronkite and John Tesh, just to name a few.
“The list is endless,” he said.
Davis only conducted the band’s live shows at Disney, where he marched in front of the band with Mickey Mouse down Main Street USA in the Magic Kingdom. He also conducted the shows for the openings of both Epcot and MGM Studios, the openings of Disney World Paris, Tokyo Disneyland and Tokyo Disney Sea.
“I feel very lucky to have gotten that job (at Disney World),” said Davis.
Even though Davis retired from Disney he still works for the company as a consultant and does developmental educational workshops with a team of consultants. Davis developed the workshop while he was working there full-time.
The St. Johns River City Band
Davis doesn’t spend too much time in Jacksonville and when he is here it is for rehearsals, performances and administrative work for the band. When he isn’t here, Davis can be found in Orlando, where he lives. Or, he may just be somewhere around the world.
Davis said the St. Johns River City Band is similar to what he did at Disney World while he was the band director.
“The St. Johns River City Band is one of a kind,” he said. “There is nothing like it in the nation.
“The support we have from the Cultural Council is greatly appreciated and the community embraces us.”
Davis add that there is a lot of musical talent in Jacksonville and the educational system in music is excellent.
“The quality of musicians I work with is enjoyable,” he said. “We are working on getting the community understanding who we are and we are here for them.”
The St. Johns River City Band is more than just one band. The group breaks up into a brass band, big band, swing band, jazz band, Dixieland band, a brass quintet and a cornet band.
Aside from his position with the St. Johns River City Band, Davis is also the executive director of the All-Star Music Festival. Davis brings high school bands and choirs from all over the United States to perform in the Orlando area. Davis is teaching “Theme Park Management” at the University of Central Florida and “Music Appreciation” at Valencia College in Orlando.
“After I retired, it freed me to travel throughout the world,” said Davis.
Davis free-lances, meaning he conducts bands around the world. He has gone to places as far as Australia to conduct bands.
“I conducted the band in the opening TV segment of the Rose Bowl Parade (this year),” he said. “I will be going to Prague (Czechoslovakia) this summer to conduct the soundtrack to an animated feature movie.”
Davis’ children are also into music. His eldest son is following his father’s footsteps and works at Disney World’s Magic Kingdom. He is a professional jazz keyboard player and he also plays the drums. His middle child is a disc jockey and his daughter is an actress and does a lot of musical theater.
Davis said after retiring he was going to write books to be used in classrooms and they are nearly ready for publication.
The road to success
Beginning in sixth grade, Davis sang, played instruments and was a tap dancer. He received his bachelor’s degree in music and education and later got his master’s in teaching. Davis taught high school orchestra, band, choir and jazz bands from 1967-1976. He later went on to direct the marching band at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater before moving to James Madison University where he was the director of bands. Davis was at James Madison University from 1977-80 until he was asked to be the band director for Disney World.
Davis became interested in music after seeing his father as a Vaudeville performer.
“We saw pictures of him as a performer and he was always playing the drums in a band,” he said. “I followed that. I grew up on stage.”
Upcoming St. Johns River City Band performaces
March 11
Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens, 5-8 p.m.
March 30
World of Nations, Metropolitan Park, 7 p.m.
April 14
JacksonvilleJazz Festival, Florida Theatre, time TBA