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

• 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

• Davis had an occasional role as the piano player on the 1987-88 CBS television comedy Frank's Place which starred Tim Reid.
• Davis contributed to the soundtrack of the Clint Eastwood film "Bird".
• Davis is the father of pop-folk artist Alana Davis.

References

The New York Times, June 4, 1990.

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