Richard Davis (jazz musician)

Richard Davis, 2010

Richard Davis (born April 15, 1930 in Chicago , Illinois ) is an American jazz bassist.

Live and act

Davis learned the double bass privately in the 1940s and 1950s and studied at the VanderCook College of Music in his hometown. He worked in various orchestras in Chicago. In the early 1950s he performed with Ahmad Jamal , Sun Ra , Charlie Ventura and Don Shirley . In 1954 he moved to New York, where he accompanied Sarah Vaughan and Kenny Burrell for several years . In the 1960s he increasingly worked with classical symphony orchestras under the direction of George Szell , Leopold Stokowski , Igor Stravinsky , Pierre Boulez , Gunther Schuller and Leonard Bernstein . His jazz partners during this time were Eric Dolphy , Booker Ervin , Andrew Hill ( Point of Departure ), Ben Webster , Stan Getz , Earl Hines , Jaki Byard , Alan Dawson and Rahsaan Roland Kirk . He also appeared on the (jazz-influenced) Van Morrison album " Astral Weeks ".

With Michael Fleming , Lisle Atkinson , Milton Hinton , Ron Carter and Sam Jones , he has been part of Bill Lee's New York Bass Violin Choir since 1968 . Between 1966 and 1972 he was a member of the Thad Jones / Mel Lewis Orchestra . He has been teaching at the University of Wisconsin in Madison since 1977 , and has also performed at numerous international festivals. His students include David Ephross , William Parker and Hans Sturm . With the New York Unit of Tatsuya Nakamura , he accompanied from 1990 soloists like George Adams on annual tours in Japan. In 1993 he founded the Richard Davis Foundation for Young Bassists , which is dedicated to promoting young double bass players .

Davis released a dozen albums as a band leader and appeared on over two thousand recordings as a sideman. The drummer Eric McPherson is his grandson.

Prizes and awards

Between 1967 and 1974 Davis was named best bassist in the Down Beat Critics' Poll. He was also awarded two honorary doctorates as well as the Hilldale Prize from the University of Wisconsin – Madison and the Art Prize of the Governor of Wisconsin (2001). In 2014 he received the NEA Jazz Masters Fellowship, the highest American award for jazz musicians.

Discographic notes

• Eric Dolphy : Out to Lunch! (1964, Blue Note ); Musical Prophet: The Expanded 1963 New York Studio Sessions (2018, Resonance Records )
• Roland Kirk : Rip, Rig and Panic (1965)
• Miles Davis : Live at the Oriental Theater 1966 (Sunburn, ed. 2014)
• Elvin Jones & Richard Davis: Heavy Sounds ( Impulse ! , 1967)
• The Philosophy of the Spiritual ( Cobblestone , 1971), with Chick Corea , Sam Brown , Bill Lee , Sonny Brown , Frankie Dunlop
• Now's the Time (1972) with Joe Bonner , Freddie Waits , Clifford Jordan , Marvin Peterson
• Forest Flowers (32 Jazz, 1975-80) with Stanley Cowell , Ted Dunbar , Billy Hart , James Spaulding , Eddie Henderson , Billy Cobham , Chick Corea , Frankie Dunlop
• Persia My Dear (DIW, 1987) with Freddie Waits , Sir Roland Hanna
• Live at Sweet Basil (Evidence, 1990) with George Cables , Ricky Ford , Cecil Bridgewater , Ronnie Burrage , Roland Hanna
• The Bassist: Homage to Diversity (Palmetto, 2001) with John Hicks

Web links

• The Richard Davis homepage
• NEA Jazz Masters: appreciation of the life's work (Engl.)
• Richard Davis at Discogs (English)
• Works by and about Richard Davis in the catalog of the German National Library