Over a career that spanned some six decades, Richard Davis (4/15/30-9/6/2020) became a renowned international bassist, hailed as “Best Bassist” from 1967-74 in the Downbeat Critics Poll, extolling music through his educational efforts (having taught at the University of Wisconsin for 40 years) and left a legacy of literally thousands of recordings.
Though primarily known as a jazz bassist, he recorded with folk, jazz, and rock artists from Miles Davis to Bruce Springsteen; and performing under the classical batons of Igor Stravinsky, Leonard Bernstein, and many others.
Davis was born in Chicago where he studied double bass in high school under legendary music teacher Walter Dyett. It’s said Dyett “taught Davis to weave his skillset between classical works and the emerging, improvisational movement that was jazz in the late 1940’s.” Davis would continue his musical education under the tutelage of Chicago Symphony Orchestra double bassist Rudolf Fassbender at the VanderCook College of Music (now part of DePaul University).
After college, Davis would start working in dance bands where he connected with pianist Don Shirley. In 1954, they would embark on a career in New York.
They would work together for a couple of years. After a brief stint with the Sauter-Finegan Orchestra, Davis would become part of the rhythm section for jazz singer Sarah Vaughan, working with her throughout the 1950’s. “You could say I went to the University of Sarah Vaughan,” Davis said in an interview in Isthmus. “She was so musically skilled. And playing with her brought me to play with her accompanist Jimmy Jones, whose knowledge of chords was phenomenol…And the great percussionist Roy Haynes, and he had such an amazing concept of rhythm.” He continued, “One you’ve proven yourself with musicians at that level, other vocalists start to call you, because they figure you must know something.”
Over the next couple of decades, it was more than vocalists. He would get called in for sessions with guitarist Kenny Burrell, pianist Andrew Hill, vibraphonist Bobby Hutcherson, reedman Eric Dolphy and a host of others.
Finally in 1967, alongside drummer Elvin Jones, Davis released his first album as co-leader Heavy Sounds (Impulse). It was the following year when Davis would put his most indelible stamp on his career as music director for Van Morrison’s album Astral Weeks. His work arranging the material for Morrison has Rolling Stone magazine calling Davis’ work, “the greatest bass ever heard on a rock album.”
That catapulted Richard Davis into the rock world where he would be called in on sessions with everyone from Paul Simon and Bonnie Raitt to Bruce Springsteen, Buffalo Springfield, Judy Collins, Carly Simon and a host of others.
The first half of the ‘70s found Davis genre-hopping. He would release a dozen albums of his own as well as working with Charles Mingus, McCoy Tyner, Gil Evans, et al.; as well as classical conductors Leopold Stokowski, Pierre Boulez and Leonard Bernstein. His versatility as a bassist kept him in constant demand worldwide.
Ultimately, travel took its toll. And Davis kept getting a call from the University of Wisconsin in Madison to teach. In 1977 he accepted that role, which he held for nearly 40 years, retiring in 2016. During his tenure he would establish the Richard Davis Foundation for Young Bassists, which holds annual master classes for bassists ages 3-18 at the university. He also became involved with the university’s diversity programs delving into issues on equity and multicultural differences.
Over the years Davis has been honored with numerous awards including the prestigious title of Jazz Master by the National Endowment for the Arts, an honorary doctorate o Humane Letters from Edgewood College, the Spencer Tracy Award for Distinction in the Performing Arts, as well as the Manfred E. Swarsensky and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Humanitarian Awards.