One of the premier jazz bassists in history,
Richard Davis is widely recorded, not only in jazz settings but also in the pop, rock and classical genres as well. In addition to his prowess on bass,
Davis is a noted educator, having been a professor at the
University of Wisconsin-Madison since
1977.
Part of the
Chicago generation of musicians that included
Johnny Griffin and
Clifford Jordan, Davis studied bass in high school under the direction of
Walter Dyett. He then attended Chicago's
VanderCook College of Music while playing with both classical orchestras and jazz combos at night, including gigs with
Ahmad Jamal and
Sun Ra.
In 1954, he moved to
New York City commencing a now six-decades-long performing and recording career. Davis toured with
Sarah Vaughan from 1957-60, including a tour of
Europe, and worked as a sideman on numerous recordings in the
1960s, but was in special demand by
Jaki Byard,
Eric Dolphy,
Booker Ervin,
Andrew Hill,
Elvin Jones, and
Roland Kirk, with whom he cut several albums each. He was a member of the
Thad Jones/
Mel Lewis Orchestra from 1966-72.
Proficient in any style, Davis was in demand in pop and rock circles as well, playing on albums by
Paul Simon,
Bruce Springsteen, and
Van Morrison (on whose
album Astral Weeks legendary rock critic
Lester Bangs called Davis' bass playing "something that has been touched, that's in the realm of the miraculous
."). Davis was equally at home in the classical world, performing for some of the music's finest conductors:
Leonard Bernstein,
Pierre Boulez,
Gunther Schuller,
Leopold Stokowski,
Igor Stravinsky, and
George Szell. He is still in demand as a performer, often touring internationally.
A longtime educator, Davis' students have included
David Ephross,
William Parker, and
Hans Sturm, among others. In
1993, he created the Richard Davis
Foundation for
Young Bassists, which annually assembles a team of master instructors/performers to work with emerging talent to expand "the horizon of the student in terms of how they perceive their own potential and that of the bass itself." In
1998, Davis created the
Retention Action Project (
R.A.P.) on the
UW-Madison Campus to discuss multicultural differences by bringing together university representatives and social change activists. Additionally, he founded the
Madison Wisconsin Institutes for the
Healing of Racism in
2000 to raise consciousness about and address the history and pathology of racism.
Davis has received many honors and awards, including DownBeat magazine'
s Critics Poll, which named Davis "
Best Bassist" from 1967-74. He also has received two honorary doctorate degrees; a Hilldale
Award for distinguished teaching, research, and service from the University of Wisconsin-Madison; the
Wisconsin Governor's Arts Award (
2001); the
Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Humanitarian Award, bestowed by the
City of
Madison, Wisconsin (
2003); and the
Spencer Tracy Award for Distinction in the
Performing Arts, presented by the
Wisconsin Historical Society.
Selected Discography:
Eric Dolphy,
Out to Lunch,
Blue Note, 1964
Richard Davis/Elvin Jones:
Heavy Sounds,
Impulse!,
1967
The Philosophy of the Spiritual, Cobblestone,
1971
Bassist: Homage to
Diversity,
Palmetto Records, 2001
Blue Monk,
King Japan, 2008
- published: 08 Jan 2014
- views: 3491