Walter Davis, Jr.

 
Artist:

Walter Davis, Jr.

Born:
Sep 02, 1932 in Richmond, Virginia

Died:
Jun 02, 1990 in New York City

  • Genre: Jazz
  • Active: '50s, '70s, '80s
  • Instrument: Piano

Biography

An often remarkable and inventive bebop and hard bop pianist, Walter Davis, Jr. once left the music world to be a tailor, but returned. He's a solid soloist, bandleader and accompanist who's amassed a good body of work, while never becoming a high profile name even within the jazz community. Davis played with Babs Gonzales's Three Bips and a Bop as a teen, then moved from Richmond to New York in the early '50s. He played with Max Roach and Charlie Parker, recording with Roach in 1953. He joined Dizzy Gillespie's band in 1956, and toured the Middle East and South America. He also played in Paris with Donald Byrd in 1958 and with The Jazz Messengers in 1959. After retiring from music for a while to run his tailor shop, Davis returned in the '60s, producing records and writing arrangements for a local New Jersey group. He studied music in India in 1969, and played with Sonny Rollins in the early '70s. Davis had another stint with The Jazz Messengers in 1975, then led his own group in New York. Davis has recorded for Blue Note, Mapleshade, Debut, Denon, Red and for French labels. He's done sessions with Roach, Rollins, Sonny Criss, Jackie McLean, Pierre Michelot, Archie Shepp, Kenny Clarke, Byrd and Blakey among others. Davis currently has some dates available on CD. ~ Ron Wynn, All Music Guide

Representative Albums:

Davis Cup, Scorpio Rising, In Walked Thelonious

Similar Artists:

Art Blakey, Kenny Barron, Herbie Nichols, Tommy Flanagan, Albert Dailey, Walter Bishop, Jr.

Influences:

Art Tatum, Bud Powell

Performed Songs By:

Thelonious Monk

Worked With:

Jackie McLean, Benny Golson, Rudy Van Gelder, Donald Byrd, Sonny Stitt, Wayne Shorter, Archie Shepp, Lee Morgan, Dizzy Gillespie
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Wikipedia: Walter Davis, Jr.
Walter Davis, Jr. 1982
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Walter Davis, Jr. 1982

Walter Davis, Jr. (September 2, 1932 in Richmond, Virginia; – June 2, 1990 in New York City) was an American hard bop pianist.

Born in Richmond, Virginia, Davis performed as a teenager with Babs Gonzales and his group Three Bips and a Bop. In the 1950s, Davis recorded with Max Roach and played with Roach, Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie. In 1958 he played a highly successful, extended engagement in Paris with trumpeter Donald Byrd at Le Chat Qui Peche and shortly after realized his dream of becoming pianist and composer-arranger for Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers.

After retiring from music in the 1960s to work as a tailor, he returned in the 1970s to perform with Sonny Rollins and again with the Jazz Messengers. He recorded with many other prominent jazz musicians, including Kenny Clarke, Sonny Criss, Jackie McLean, Pierre Michelot, and Archie Shepp.

Davis was known as a prime interpreter of the music of Bud Powell but also recorded an album capturing the compositional genius and piano style of Thelonious Monk. Although few of Davis' recordings as a pianist remain in print, he is likely to be periodically rediscovered and long remembered for his strikingly original, adventurous and challenging compositions, several of which served as titles for noteworthy albums by Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers. Combining traditional harmonies with modal patterns and featuring numerous rhythmic shifts along with internal melodic motifs within operatic, aria-like sweeping melodies, Davis's fresh and forward-looking compositions included "Scorpio Rising," "Backgammon," "Uranus," "Gypsy Folk Tales," "Jodi," and "Ronnie Is a Dynamite Lady."

Davis died in New York on June 2, 1990 from complications of liver and kidney disease. He was 57. He is survived by four daughters, Evin Yager, Alana Davis, Sareenah Davis and Aisha Davis.

Discography

Illumination, 1989
  • Davis Cup (1959)
  • Night Song (1979)
  • Blues Walk (1979)
  • 400 Years Ago Tomorrow (1979)
  • Live au Dreher (1981)
  • In Walked Thelonious (1987)
  • Illumination (1989)
  • Scorpio Rising (1994)

Trivia

References

The New York Times, June 4, 1990.


 
 

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Copyrights:

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