Stanton Davis' Ghetto/Mysticism

Stanton Davis grew up in New Orleans and was around music his whole life. He was first exposed to it as a kid through the church and more specifically through second line funeral bands. Stanton studied piano and voice and performed in the school's marching and concert bands at an early age. At this time, along with the New Orleans music down on Bourbon Street, Stanton was also heavily drawn to the Delta Blues, R&B music, Professor Longhair, James Brown, the Dixie Cups, and Aaron Neville. More surprisingly, he had a deep love of opera and orchestra music. His next obsession - jazz music - led to him obsessing over the tunes of Louis Armstrong, Cannonball Adderley, John Coltrane and Miles Davis.

After winning a grant from the Massachusetts Council of Arts to record the track "Brighter Days," he pulled together a group of musicians later known as the Ghetto Mysticism Band. The band was soon gigging all over Boston. It was during these live shows that Stanton and the Ghetto Mysticism Band really put together what was to become the Brighter Days album. The album was originally released on a small local folk label called Outrageous Records out of Somerville, MA and only had regional distribution. By the late 70s most of the players on the album had moved on to play with famous names in jazz music and Stanton had accepted a position as Director of Jazz Studies at the Third Street Settlement Program in the Lower East Side in New York.