Richard Davis (bassist)
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Richard Davis (born April 15, 1930) is an American jazz double bassist. Among his most famous contributions to the albums of others are Eric Dolphy's 1964 Blue Note LP Out to Lunch!, Andrew Hill's Point of Departure and Van Morrison's Astral Weeks, of which critic Greil Marcus wrote (in The Rolling Stone Illustrated History of Rock and Roll), "Richard Davis provided the greatest bass ever heard on a rock album".
Biography
Early life
Originally from Chicago, Richard Davis began his musical career as a singer with his brothers, singing bass in his family vocal trio.[1] In addition to his earlier years of singing, Richard Davis began studying the double bass in high school with his music theory and band director, Captain Walter Dyett. After high school, Davis studied the double bass with Rudolf Fahsbender of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra while attending Vandercook College. In 1952 Richard Davis received a BME from Vandercook College.
After college, Davis performed in dance bands. The connections he made while performing various gigs led him to meet pianist Don Shirley. In 1954 Davis and Shirley moved to New York city and performed together until 1956, when, Davis began playing with the Sauter-Finegan Orchestra.[2]
Career
In 1957, Davis became a part of Sarah Vaughan's rhythm section, touring and recording with her until 1960. The 60's proved to be a particularly busy and fruitful period for Davis. He was increasingly in demand in a wide variety of musical circles. He worked with many of the cutting edge small jazz groups of the time including those led by Jaki Byard, Eric Dolphy, Booker Ervin, Andrew Hill and Elvin Jones. He was a member of the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Jazz Orchestra from 1966 until 1972 (now known as the Village Vanguard Orchestra).
In addition to his contributions to the jazz community, Davis was also active performing with rock and popular music acts. He recorded on some of the period's greatest albums including Laura Nyro's Smile, Bruce Springsteen's Born to Run and Van Morrison's Astral Weeks. A long-time educator, Davis' former students include William Parker and Karl E. H. Seigfried. After living in New York City for 23 years, he moved to Wisconsin in 1977, where he has been a professor at the University of Wisconsin–Madison ever since, teaching bass, jazz history and improvisation.[3]
Davis is a recipient of the 2014 NEA Jazz Masters award.[4]
Discography
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- Heavy Sounds [with Elvin Jones] (1967)
- Muses for Richard Davis (1969)
- The Philosophy of the Spiritual (1971)
- Epistrophy & Now's the Time (1972)
- Dealin' (1973)
- Fancy Free (1977)
- Divine Gemini [with Walt Dickerson] (1977)
- Harvest (1979)
- Way Out West (1980)
- Tenderness [with Walt Dickerson] (1985)
- Persia My Dear (1987)
References
External links
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- Pages with broken file links
- 1930 births
- Living people
- American double-bassists
- Hard bop double-bassists
- Jazz fusion double-bassists
- Mainstream jazz double-bassists
- People from New York City
- People from Madison, Wisconsin
- Post-bop double-bassists
- University of Wisconsin–Madison faculty
- Muse Records artists
- Impulse! Records artists
- Palmetto Records artists
- Galaxy Records artists
- Cobblestone Records artists
- American jazz double-bassists
- American classical double-bassists
