Anthony Davis (composer)

Anthony Davis (born February 20, 1951 in Paterson , New Jersey ) is an American composer and jazz pianist.

Davis, whose father was a college professor, grew up on the Princeton campus and state college in Pennsylvania. His father knew Art Tatum ; one of the neighbors was the pianist Billy Taylor . Davis took piano lessons and joined the early 1970s his music studies in Yale from. During this time he met trombonist George Lewis , with whom he also played. Between 1974 and 1977 at the latest, when he played with trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith in his group New Delta Akhri , he became familiar with the principles of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians , which influenced him. In 1975 he led his own quartet with Ed Blackwell , Jay Hoggard and Mark Helias . In 1977 he moved to New York City , where he worked with Anthony Braxton , Oliver Lake , Barry Altschul , Chico Freeman and George Lewis. During this time his first album, Song for the Old World, was created . At the beginning of the 1980s he worked in various formations with the flautist James Newton and gave concerts as a solo pianist.

In 1981 he founded the octet Episteme to perform not only his own compositions but also those of other composers (e.g. Earle Howard and Alvin Singleton ). In his chamber music compositions, influences of Javanese gamelan music and African scales are evident.

1985 was his first opera X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X at the New York City Opera in Manhattan premiered on the life of Malcolm X is based. The world premiere of his fifth opera Wakonda's Dream was in 2007 at Opera Omaha . It deals with the life of an Indian family and their history. In both cases led Rhoda Levine Director .

Davis received awards in Down-Beat- Poll both as a composer and as a pianist . In 2020 Davis received the Pulitzer Prize for Music .

As a professor at Yale University , he taught both composition and 20th century music history; since 1998 he has been a music professor at the University of California, San Diego .

Davis is married to soprano Cynthia Aaronson-Davis and has one son.

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personal data
SURNAME	Davis, Anthony
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	American composer and jazz pianist
DATE OF BIRTH	February 20, 1951
PLACE OF BIRTH	Paterson , New Jersey