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Richard Davis

Richard Davis is an NEA Jazz Master

Richard Davis is an international performing musician and Professor of Bass (European Classical and Jazz), Jazz History and combo improvisation at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Chicago born, he came to the UW-Madison in 1977 after spending 23 years in New York City establishing himself as one of the world’s premier bass players. Downbeat International Critics Poll named him Best Bassist from 1967-74. He has recorded a dozen albums as a leader and 3000 recordings and jingles as a sideman. His performance/recording credits include Sarah Vaughan, Eric Dolphy, Don Sebesky, Oliver Nelson, Bruce Springsteen, Van Morrison, Frank Sinatra, Barbra Streisand, Miles Davis, Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Band, Dexter Gordon, Ahmad Jamal and a host of other notables.

​Mr. Davis is equally at home in the world of euro classical music, having played under the batons of George Szell, Leopold Stokowski, Igor Stravinsky, Pierre Boulez, Gunther Schuller, and Leonard Bernstein. His great versatility as a bassist keeps him in constant demand for worldwide concert appearances. For nearly fifty years he has drawn enthusiastic audiences in Japan, Europe, Russia, South America, Puerto Rico, Cuba, The West Indies, Hong Kong , Israel and United States. His most recent CD release (May 2000) , The Bassists: Homage to Diversity (King Records) was recorded in Japan. This CD was inspired by experiences related to diversity dialogue. His second CD with King records So In Love was assembled with the idea of embracing the oneness of humankind.

In 1993, he founded the Richard Davis Foundation for Young Bassists, Inc. which  annually brings in 17 masterful bass instructors/performers to teach young bassists  ages 3-18.In 1998 he created the Retention Action Project (R.A.P.) focused on open dialogues in subjects that educate all of us to multicultural differences. R.A.P. collaborated with Vice Chancellor Paul W. Barrows (student affairs) and Seema Kapani, Diversity Education Coordinator/Trainer (Equity and Diversity Resourse Center).He has been instrumental in bringing to the UW campus renowned speakers and social change activists such as Peggy McIntosh, Jane Elliott, Francie Kendall, Nathan Rutstein, Victor Lewis, Hugh Vasquez (Color of Fear, Stir Fry Productions,1994) and Allan G. Johnson (Gender Knot). Prof. Davis is devoted to equity issues and shares freely his wisdom, home, and resources with one and all to help create an environment where all can experience dignity and  peace. He has also initiated a chapter in Madison  of the “Institutes for the Healing of Racism, Inc.”

Prof. Davis has received honorary doctorate degrees in Musical Arts and Humane Letters, and the Hilldale Award for distinguished teaching from former Chancellor Donna Shalala, and a honorary doctorate of Humane Letters from Edgewood College, Madison, in 1998. In 2000 he received the Manfred E. Swarsensky Humanitarian Award from the Rotary Club Of Madison.  In 2001 he received the Governor’s of Wisconsin Arts Award.

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Liner Notes

Raul De Souza: Colors

Read "Raul De Souza: Colors" reviewed by Arnaldo DeSouteiro


Raul De Souza's life can be seen as a one-of-a-kind story. Indeed, it would make a perfect novel or film script. It may not be as big a tragedy as 'Round Midnight or Bird, but it has drama, love, adventure, and great music. Picture this: a poor child grows up in Brazil working as a weaver and practicing trombone in conversations with a buffalo in the jungle, dreaming of someday becoming an internationally famous jazzman. Suddenly, this dream ...

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Album Review

Albert Ayler: More Lost Performances Revisited

Read "More Lost Performances Revisited" reviewed by Chris May


A state-of-the-art sonic restoration of obscure but historically important Albert Ayler material by Switzerland's ezz-thetics label, which with its parent label, Hat Hut, has been creating an audiophile archive of Ayler recordings with the support of his estate since 1978. All too often, “more" in an album title means “Beware: barrel scraping in progress." Not in this case. More Lost Performances Revisited is primetime Ayler. The disc draws from three sources over a five-year timespan. The earliest ...

10
Album Review

Dorothy Ashby: With Strings Attached, 1957-1965

Read "With Strings Attached, 1957-1965" reviewed by John Chacona


Imagine if Sidney Bechet, Charlie Christian and Jimmy Smith were barely remembered and recordings of their music were long unavailable and known only on the geekiest corners of Discogs. That is essentially the status of harpist Dorothy Ashby. Like the three figures cited above, Ashby essentially created a language for her chosen instrument, the harp, where virtually none has existed before and established it as a legitimate and expressive vehicle for jazz improvisation at the highest level. Just how brilliantly ...

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Album Review

Tony Williams: Life Time & Spring Revisited

Read "Life Time & Spring Revisited" reviewed by Maurizio Comandini


Tony Williams è uno dei più importanti batteristi della storia. Non solo del jazz, ma della musica in generale. Solitamente questa considerazione, ampiamente condivisa, fa riferimento alla sua lunga esperienza come batterista dei quintetti di Miles Davis della seconda metà degli anni sessanta ed eventualmente al suo ruolo di leader del gruppo Tony Williams Lifetime nato nel 1969 e durato un paio d'anni. Due contesti di assoluta eccellenza che quindi giustificano il giudizio dal quale siamo partiti. Questa ottima ristampa ...

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Album Review

Anthony Williams: Life Time & Spring Revisited

Read "Life Time & Spring Revisited" reviewed by Chris May


Drummer Tony Williams' first two albums as leader, recorded for Blue Note in 1964 and 1965--Life Time when he was only eighteen years old, Spring when he was nineteen--still sound delightfully fresh all these years after their original release. At the time he made them, Williams was a rising star with Miles Davis' second and third quintets, the first a short-lived unit with saxophonist George Coleman, the second a longer lasting one with Wayne Shorter. One of ...

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Album Review

Joe Henderson: The Complete Joe Henderson Blue Note Studio Sessions

Read "The Complete Joe Henderson Blue Note Studio Sessions" reviewed by Scott Gudell


If an artist stamps his jazz passport with any one of these labels--Blue Note, Verve, Milestone--it's pretty much a guarantee that you've arrived in style. Tenor saxophonist Joe Henderson has traveled with all three and more. The 2021 reissue from the prestigious Mosaic Records focuses on Henderson's 1960s tenure with Blue Note offers a new opportunity to experience an abundance of rich and creative jazz from the decade. Big band and bop were duking it out in the ...

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Album Review

Chico Hamilton: The Dealer

Read "The Dealer" reviewed by Zachary Weg


Although it came out in 1966, Chico Hamilton's The Dealer (Impulse! Records) still sounds as fresh as Long Beach mist. Leading a quartet that introduced the late guitar virtuoso Larry Coryell and which placed saxophone master Archie Shepp on piano, drummer Hamilton made a record that both showcased his fellow jazz princes and radiated his signature charm. He also crafted an as-yet-unheralded, unexpectedly resonant work of art. Hamilton, who played in high school with Charles Mingus and ...

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Interview

The New NEA Jazz Masters: Richard Davis

The New NEA Jazz Masters: Richard Davis

Source: Rifftides by Doug Ramsey

The 2014 NEA Jazz Masters will receive their awards in a ceremony at New York’s Lincoln Center Monday evening, January 13. The four recipients are pianist Keith Jarrett, saxophonist Anthony Braxton, bassist Richard Davis and—in the jazz advocacy category—publisher, recording executive and musician Jamey Aebersold. They will be the 32nd group in the jazz community to be so honored since the National Endowment for the Arts established the recognition program in 1982. The affair will include performances by young musicians ...

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Event

Bass Hits: Richard Davis, Eddie Gomez, Buster Williams

Bass Hits: Richard Davis, Eddie Gomez, Buster Williams

Source: All About Jazz

New York, NY - May 21 - Three elite bassists whose combined credits represent a Who's Who in Jazz will share the stage on Monday, May 24 in New York City in a special “Bass Hits" program at Merkin Concert Hall at the Kaufman Cultural Center Goodman House (129 West 67th Street). Jazz masters Richard Davis, Eddie Gomez and Buster Williams will appear as the featured performers, accompanied by the dynamic drummer Lenny White and renowned pianist James Williams. Tickets ...

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Education

Virtuoso Bassist Richard Davis in Clinic Crafters Workshop at Birdland Sunday, May 23

Virtuoso Bassist Richard Davis in Clinic Crafters Workshop at Birdland Sunday, May 23

Source: All About Jazz

From the audience, a great performance comes across like a seamless miracle. If you could get the performer's commentary on what he does, though, you'd learn that each combines theory, technique and tricks of the trade with his talent in a totally individual way - and that's what students and fans have the opportunity to discover in an intimate series of workshops at Birdland, 315 West 44th Street, New York, NY 10036 from 1pm - 3 pm.

Richard Davis is ...

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Event

Bass Hits: Richard Davis, Eddie Gomez, Buster Williams

Bass Hits: Richard Davis, Eddie Gomez, Buster Williams

Source: All About Jazz

Bass Is The Place At Merkin Hall Three elite bassists whose combined credits represent a Whos Who in Jazz will share the stage on Monday, May 24 in New York City in a special Bass Hits program at Merkin Concert Hall at the Kaufman Cultural Center Goodman House (129 West 67th Street). Jazz masters Richard Davis, Eddie Gomez and Buster Williams will appear as the featured performers, accompanied by the dynamic drummer Lenny White and renowned pianist James Williams. Tickets ...

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Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

With Strings...

New Land Records
2023

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More Lost...

Ezz-thetics
2023

buy

These Are My Roots:...

Pure Pleasure
2021

buy

The Complete Joe...

Mosaic Records
2021

buy

Jazz Alchemy

Labor Records
2013

buy

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